The Time Machine

CONFESSIONS OF A REBELLIOUS MIND

The Time Machine

Marwa Rakha

Did you ever feel that you were born into the wrong time? Did you wish you lived in another era?  I woke up today with this awkward thought in my head: I wanted to be Aphrodite!

I want to go back in time and belong to an epoch when women were worshipped – literally. I wonder how my life would have differed had I been Aphrodite - the goddess of beauty, love, and desire. Who would have dared ordered me to stay home? Who would have had the audacity to cover me up? Who would have had the courage to entertain the slightest thought of offending me? Who would have attempted to judge me? Who could have rejected me?

In my glamour and glory I would trod the universe like the free uninhibited spirit that I am; men would woo me, women would look up to me, and like a beauty queen of all times I would glance kindly their way promising them hope, fertility, love, and passion. On my altar men tore their chests open wide for me to see their hearts throbbing with my addiction. Others would lavish me with their handiwork of gold, silver, diamonds, and mother of pearls. In utter piousness they sing hymns of praise and admiration of the goddess that has become the center of their universe.

Let me take you back in time where incense filled my temples. I am Maya; the Indian goddess of illusion, dreams, and virtual reality. Let me take you to a desert, show you a river, an oasis, food, and women – only to take it all away in a blink! Let me show you the truth and the proof of its falsehood.  Let me take you down the road of deception where your mind can no longer tell fact from fiction.  Let me show you how Maya and Aphrodite are two sides of the same coin. Love, beauty, and sexual rapture are governed by Maya – it is all in the eyes of the beholder.

In a time before time mattered, you lost your dreams in the timelessness of despair … Aphrodite brought you back to life and Maya took it all away. Kneel! For I have invaded your mind!