Tuesday 3 July 2012

The Nights of the Firefly



Fireflies in a jar


The monsoon has just took an hiatus after barging on my window silts for what seemed like hours, the night still resounded with the faint dripping of the raindrops, yet there was an unusual silence about the dark veil it wore. The cold night which was reeling under the rain was just released and like a convict freed from the prison, it took in a deep breath, a profound, prolonged breath. The tress swayed and banged their heard on my bedroom walls. The night was poignant and yet there was one visitor who was not gloomy, one who was high in spirit, dancing around with a limy lantern on her tail.


Every monsoon she had came to visit me, day in and day after and this rainy night was no different, betwixt the occasional lashing of the coconut palms and the slow insidious murmur of the cricket. Slowly gliding into the darkness of my room, the strange ghostly lights, yellow, green and fluorescence of the chemical light, as though she in her gentle palanquin. She swayed and she glided, she smiled and she frowned and she sat on my bed with child-like innocence. A creature so pure, so beautiful, that her faint yellowish green glow has filled up more than just a room, it has filled my heart, the gentle sublime firefly!



“The fireflies o'er the meadow In pulses come and go.” 

- James Russell Lowell




Have you ever seen a lake at night filled with fireflies, if you have not then you have seen nothing. The beautiful sight of floating lights that embellish the nights in a festive canopy, they go on and off in a blaze with subtle demeanor. My room was filled with them many a times, gaining shelter from the tormenting rain that just went by they came in. I do keep my windows open and welcoming, they are never closed and hence I do have a large number of visitors day and night and my little friends here were more than just acquaintances. They would sit at the various places that they felt comfortable, transforming my room clad in darkness into a sight as serene as the night at the lake.


fireflies at night


But Alas! the times have changed and changed a lot too, the lantern like angels do not come visit anymore, the night skies are darker than the used to me, shrouded by darkness and the pessimistic cacophony of the rumbling concrete jungle on the rise. The fireflies have long been gone, but even today as the rain battles on my walls, trickling and spraying off my window rails, I dream of the lake, the dark, the blue, the silent lake filled with a million tiny sparks in the starry sky.




13 comments:

  1. I remember this song 'i would not believe my eyes when 10 million fire fliea lit up my room' on reading your post.
    Very nice read.
    Sad but true that they are gone. :-(

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  2. I have not heard the song yet, But I sure will check it out now!

    Its really sad that they just vanished and sadder still that we made them vanish!

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  3. I love the pic. Great post..
    www.rajnishonline.blogspot.com

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  4. I never knew what they were when I was a kid! I remember seeing them all around when I was sleeping at night! Amazing when I knew what they were!
    Good post!

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  5. Really a nice post..It really reminds me of the days they were in plenty but now in this age of concrete jungle they vanished somewhere..they do not come anymore..

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  6. good one! reminds me of the good old days when we looked at the fireflies with innocence, fascinated by the light that blinked. The times when we would hold it in our hands check again to see if it still blinks. i had almost forgot them until i saw this post today.

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  7. This is beautiful, simply beautiful. Correct me if I am wrong but I think the fireflies represent the small joys we have lost in the mad rush of materialistic development. I felt good after reading this.

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  8. Your style is fabulous and the way u kindle ur ideas is outstanding..keep it up bro!:) proud of ya:)

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  9. In Barapani about which i blog sometimes..in the evenings.. the empty grazing grounds would be full of fireflies..so many seemed like stars have come down on earth..lovely memories..

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come on! scribble down whats in your heart!