The
Clouds of Fireflies
Story by
Bhupendra
Kumar Dave
W
e
were six enjoying a cross-country drive. With me were my neighbour Shah with his ten year son Suberto, my cousin
Puneet with his cute five year son Sonu and of course my four year old darling
Kittu, the youngest in our group.
‘Why are forgetting to mention my
Taddy Bear, Papa!’ yelled Kittu.
‘Yes, that sweet fluffy Pinki is the
seventh in our group,’ I said and saw that Kittu was proudly holding Pinky over
his head and waving him in the air.
We were on a road wandering through
the fields. We could see verges floating on both sides --- the grassy verges
all green. It was a delight to see the beautiful landscape with birds perched
on tree tops and a number of them singing their song o delight.
We were almost unaware of the speed of
time with which it was gliding away until we saw a cloud of sparkling light
deep into the forest. The thick forest otherwise looked all dark.
The sun had gone down a long time back
and the night was almost dressed up to cover the landscape. We stopped for a
while before taking a ‘U’ turn. Just then we observed that the thick cloud of
sparkling light was advancing towards us with speed. Before we could go back in
the car, the cloud had covered us. The kids got scared and started crying.
‘Don’t cry,’ Puneet said, ‘They are
only fire-flies and are not dangerous.’
‘Yes, that is correct,’ said one of
the fire-flies, ‘We have come to here to see if you need our help.’
Now the boys became tremendously excited. They found
an empty glass jar in the boot. The children tried to catch the flying fireflies
by snatching them in the air. The fireflies dodged and laughed and some deliberately
entered the jar making the boys happy.
I, however, continued to clean the front glass of
the car as lot of dust had gathered on them. As turned to go back to clean the
rear glass, I noticed that two glittering eyes were constantly gazing at us.
‘It must be some wild animal,’ I whispered making Shah alert. He was quick to
order the kids to enter the car.
Our movement caused stir in the bushes. Puneet lost
no time to jump into the car and to switch on the head lights. We saw a huge
leopard slowly coming out of front bushes. The fireflies too had observed the
wild cat and their group moved towards a Sal tree that was on the left side of
the car.
In order to avoid the glare of the head lights the
leopard too walked slowly but steadily towards this Sal tree.
Leopard is the shrewdest animal and can easily climb
trees. It has patience enough to wait for hours watching and studying the
movements of its preys. Puneet probably knew this and to scare away the animal
tried the trick of switching the head lights ‘on and off’ intermittently.
But nothing could disturb the animal. It remained
firm and glued to the place near the Sal tree like a goalkeeper at the the goal
post.
A firefly came in our direction and proposed to keep
the lights down for some time. Puneet dipped the head lights and the firefly
shook her head in approval.
For about ten minutes nothing happened. Then we saw
that the fireflies had suddenly descended from the tree and surprised the
leopard. The fireflies had made a very dense cloud and leopard was not prepared
for such an attack. The terrified leopard had no choice but to run away. The
fireflies chased the leopard for sometime and then returned back to us.
The kids who were shivering with fear at the sight
of the wild cat welcomed the fireflies.
‘You have done a great job,’ said Suberto.
‘You have just in time to help us,’ said Sonu wiping
his big tears.
‘Ye! I have been praying God all this time and God
has heard my prayer,’ said Suberto.
‘I too was praying and it is He that has sent the
fireflies to help us,’ said Sonu.
‘It was my prayer that was heard first,’ Suberto
argued.
It prompted Sonu to put up his point and he said,
‘No, my prayer was more powerful.’
‘Stop arguing,’ interrupted Puneet,
‘Won’t you thank these friendly fireflies for the good act performed by them?’
The children immediately obeyed and
gave thanks to fireflies as if singing in chorus.
Kittu, the youngest, who was so far only admiring
the fireflies moving is varied forms of geometry in the glass jar , got up from
his seat and said, ‘Aye, simple thanks are not enough. We must release these
captured ones and let them join their friends.’
‘Yes, it is a good idea,’ said Sonu, ‘every good act
deserves appreciation and a reward that honours the act reciprocating in the
same way.’
‘Giving freedom is the most valuable gift that a
good soul can give to another soul,’ Sobarto said giving support to the
suggestion given by Kittu.
And all the children cheered as the fireflies came
out of the glass jar one by one and flew joyously to join their friends.
But as Puneet was trying to take a ‘U’ turn, the
head lights went off and total darkness engulfed us. The fireflies quickly
lined up in front of the car and guided us to turn our car.
‘Will you permit us to guide you and help you to
reach your destination,’ an oldest looking firefly asked.
So we moved on as the fireflies guided us flying
right in front of the car so as to illuminate our path. They helped us right up
to our garage.
‘Will you not say ‘good bye’ my boys?’ said the
fireflies.
‘Why not!’ we all wanted to say, but Kittu suggested
that the fireflies should stay with us in our garden.
‘Yes, that will add beauty to our garden,’ I said
supporting the idea, ‘We would like our garden to have sparkling look where our
good friends will appear like sparkling stars all the time. Your light is no
less than the stars and your presence resembles the presence of the Almighty.’
‘All right,’ they said fluttering their wings more
happily.
The boys formed a ring and sang a song they had
prepared
“Twinkle,
twinkle, bright fire flies
Let us
see how the light glides
Amongst
all the roses coloured bright
And
make the garden a place of delight.”
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