A 20-Minute Vacation

I had a lucid dream this morning. It's when you know you're inside a dream, and you control what happens, and though you know your dream is a dream, you feel everything like it's real. 

I was in my garden back home. Tall wild cool green, everywhere. I was barefoot. Knowing I couldn't stay asleep for long, I hastened to go to the place I miss most when I'm awake. 

I opened the gate and ran to the beach. 

The smell of salt hit me. It was like seeing your best friend after years. The sand was cool and damp as I gathered a handful in my palms. I dived into the waves. It was a dream but the water pulled me into an embrace that might as well have been real. 

The sun set on the horizon and the sky went through its motions: bright yellow, purple, crimson. And the sea changed colours too. And there I sat with the skirt of the breeze brushing my cheek and the sand cooling the back of my feet, watching the water and the light share an intimate dance. 

Then I woke up in Delhi. 

Who is to say that reality is exclusive to those who are awake?