Undergraduate / 'I am bewildered' - commonapp essay-My love of nature [23]

A squirrel pokes out of my pocket and whispers a word in my ear. I sit up, stunned. But before I can say something back, she disappears in a flash of stripy fur and tail. As my mind begins to comprehend the possibility of talking squirrels, its thought process is interrupted by a heavy thumping. I look down and see a battalion of marching ants. They look up and start quoting Shakespeare to accompany their footsteps. "O Romeo, Romeo" One-two One-two "wherefore art thou Romeo?" One-two One-two.

I am absolutely utterly bewildered. Why are animals speaking? Have I gone bonkers? I look around and find myself in the neighbourhood woods. How did I get here? I struggle to piece together my last memory but a little green snake shatters my concentration. He slithers around my prostate body and then settles on my belly. "How are you?" he asks me, staring unblinkingly. Not so much at my wit's end now, I manage to mouth a reply "Fine, but how the hell are you talking?" "You are unaware of a lot of mysteries of nature, foolish human" he hisses back. "Ok, let me up then" I say, confident of my lack of intellect. From the time when I was 7 and chased butterflies, I have always been amazed by the surprises nature had to offer, the camouflaged chameleons, the cocooned caterpillars, the green grasshoppers and many others. This is just another one out of her kitty, albeit quite big. My curiosity and love of nature fuelled, I get up and ask the snake "What now?" "Follow me" he replies. "Okay" I start walking behind his crawling muscular shape.

We soon reach a familiar tree. He starts climbing. So do I. Without a word, we reach the top. As I look around, my memory hits me like a splash of icy water. I last remember sitting here on my favourite branch. But before I can guess what happened afterwards, I am immersed into a cacophony of sights and sounds. The leaves start singing as the breeze ruffles through them and the animals start chattering. I catch snippets of the conversation and am impressed by the knowledge contained in them. I learn from a crow that putting the first differential of an equation equal to zero gives maxima or minima. I am retold of the fact that Aluminium Oxide is amphoteric, by a spider, a honest to god silk spinning spider.

Unbelievable. It is like an academia bursting forth up here, intent on educating me. I have climbed this tree often before, seeking solitude to think things through and have never left disappointed. It is my favourite place on the earth. Now though, I love it even more. I can learn here. Suddenly I see a flash of light. The green snake has gone. The tree has grown silent. I wake up. Was it all just a dream? I unconsciously put a hand in my pocket and take out an acorn with little squirrel bite marks on it. "No, it wasn't" I say to myself, smiling.