Where did the fireflies go……

Gaganpreet kaur

8898008889                                                    Word Count : 700

Living in a  metro comes with its own pros and cons. I was just sitting in my balcony in Pune and enjoying the view. There are mountains right outside my balcony and they seem at just at arm’s length. There is a green patch and I see nature at  its best!! “Nothing can be better than this”, I thought. Life is peaceful yet we are living in a city which is full of madness. One of   the  IT hubs of India.  People from all over India come to this part of the world which is also known as the Oxford of India.

The city is beautiful. It has old time’s charm and metro’s facilities. The weather is awesome… great relief from Mumbai weather where my husband was last posted.

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I did not realize when my 3 years old daughter got up. She was watching cartoons as I came inside. I wondered how much life has changed since we were kids. We never woke up to TVs and as soon as we were up, we would run off and played outside. Playing with cousins- one extended family in the verandah of our ancestral house.

Summer vacations was a special time since all of us would be free and would play games, go out to near by river for a swim in the fiery afternoon, picking up mangoes from a nearby grove, chilling them in the river and enjoy the dripping juices of the fruit!!

“ What beautiful days and what an amazing childhood I had,” I sighed. My daughter was still immersed with the cartoons..saying chatpata chatpata chat..rhyming with a TV commercial. I smiled. As I gave my daughter breakfast, I thought about the evening walks that we as a family took.

We lived in a small village. My father was an Engineer and had a govt. job. He loved his village so much that all his life he never accepted any promotion because a promotion would mean transfer to a new city. He loved his ancestral place too much to trade it for the world. He loved nature. The evenings were fixed for my ma and papa’s leisurely evening walks. Sometimes, we would also go along. Me and my elder sister. I would tease my sister and run off, I knew she will not be able to catch me ever. We used to sit near river banks, try to catch fish with our hands or dupatta that we carried specially for this purpose.

We used to see fireflies in our backyard. What an amazing creature. I was always mesmerized by them. They glowed beautifully…I would run after them and catch them in the hands..and show it to my sister who would run away screaming. I just loved them. I was wondering where all the fireflies have gone!! I haven’t seen them in years! The very thought that my daughter would never be able to see such a beauty made me sad.

I was brought back to my present by the phone. I picked it up and it was my friend, Sonia. We had a small chit-chat. I sat beside my daughter. I asked her if we could play together, she was too happy to oblige. So, we started playing switching off the TV. I was happy that she agreed, even though her favourite cartoon “ Chhota Bheem”.

My daughter made me tea, snacks and yummy yummy tomato soup as she played. She was pretending we were on a train and she was one of the guys who continuously came in to serve us.

She asked me,” mama aap udaas kyon ho? Ka ho gya?” My heart melted as I smiled and said,” Nothing Bache.” She hugged my tightly and said,” main hun na! Fir ka zaroorat hai!” This was her way of saying that when she is sitting right beside me, then how can I be sad!!! I laughed. She laughed with me, imitating me and started running..mujhe pakdo!! Naturally I had to chase her and catch her. She is my firefly, my angel I thought.

May be one day, I will be able to show her a firefly. Till then, I have my little firefly to chase!! We laughed as I ran after her.