"I mess with your senses,
And your perception of time;
I'm a way to escape,
Who am I?"

  If an event had these rhymes on its advertisement poster, would you attend? You should, because Tricky Festival (the answer to the riddle) is, in my opinion at least, something you can't afford to miss. It takes place on the 13th of April in numerous cities around the world and its organizers, of unknown origins, have one strong belief: nature is fun. The entire event was based on pills or candy made from plants or fruit, which had a certain temporary effect of the human body. I participated a few years ago,  but the astonishing experience is still fresh in my mind.
  My best friend and I went to the city center that afternoon because that is where the course started. The area was full of stalls selling corn dog, doughnuts, cotton candy, which although tempting us with their exquisite aroma, weren't the main points of interest so they were ignored. We quickly found the "Startline" and as we walked down the familiar road, we encountered a man who was selling lemonade. Turns out As it turned out, it was only freshly-squeezed lemon juice and we drank a sip to test out that it indeed lacked sugar. Of course, our faces puckered up. Next, we were given each a Strepsils-like pill, instructed to keep it in our mouths until it dissolved and then return.  We did and we got another sip of the fake lemonade. Only this time, it was sweet like apricot nectar. At the next level, we lost our ability to distinguish colors and we had to arrange some tiles to form gradients, which is harder than it seems. Then, we were no longer able to feel with our hands and were supposed to sort containers of water based on temperature. The next 2 pills took our sight (the task was to differentiate between almost identical objects) and hearing ( this only set the mood for reading the philosophical or inspirational sentences written on the walls of a dimly lit room). There were tons more challenges and we completed them all, even winning some prizes.
  As we were heading home, with the pale moon glowing softly behind us, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if, at that moment, I lost one of the 5 senses. Would I be able to cope with it or would I succumb to despair? I also realised that I was especially dependent on sight and I needed to develop in other directions as well. Just like a wise person wrote in that strange, quiet room: "Humans yearn for happiness and peace, yet it is the hardship that makes them improve and evolve".

Last edited by Cristina.without.h (2019-06-04 20:08:44)