On fireflies, bats and more …

He said: The lights of Las Vegas – incomparable! Stunning! I could gaze at it all night!

I asked: When was the last time you saw a firefly?

He: What?!

Me: You know, fireflies. When was the last time you saw one?

He: What does that have to do with the lights in Las Vegas?

Me: It just came to my mind when you said ‘night’ and ‘lights’.

He: Oh, I see. So what’s so much about a silly firefly?

Me: I see these fireflies every night. Midnight to be more accurate. To see them, you have to wait for all the lights in the neighborhood to go off.

He: You wait for them?

Me:  Not really.  As I switch off the lights in my bedroom at night, a firefly arrives and settles at the outside of the window, glowing faintly in the pitch dark. And if I have left a window slightly open to let in some air, the firefly finds its way in.

He: It comes in? And then?

Me: Its blinking light shows me its path in the dark. Soon it settles on the ceiling and continues blinking. I lie down gazing up at it.

He: Hmm…

Me: At that moment, in pitch darkness and complete silence, it seems like it’s just me and that glowing creature still awake while the rest of the world sleeps. We seem to be connected in some mysterious way.

He: God! Why am I even listening to all this?

Me: (Ignoring his comment and continuing) A few minutes pass and more fireflies arrive. A few of them join the first firefly on the ceiling while the others dance around the room, treating me to a light display. An enchanting light display created, choreographed and performed by Nature!

Every performance is unique with different moves and formations.  No action replay of the light dance. If you miss today’s performance, that’s it. Tomorrow it will be something different.

He: This is crazy!

Me: There’s more to it. After some time, the fireflies begin to leave. They crowd around the opening in the window for a second before vanishing into the darkness. Only the first firefly still remains on the ceiling, his faint light going on, off, on, off,…I continue gazing at it until I drift off to sleep. It is the last thing I see every night.

He: Just a minute. All you wanna say is you see some fireflies every night. Right? Why this long speech then?

Me: I believe everything in nature is interconnected in some way. We are related not just to the apes but to everything else – to the plants, trees, birds, flies, animals, reptiles...everything living. I don’t know why, but I believe that firefly is my guardian angel who drops in every night to make sure I am ok and then waits until I’m deep in sleep before slipping off.

He: Your guardian angel is a firefly? Ridiculous!

Me (again ignoring his comment): Like the song goes, “I believe in angels, something good in everything I see…”

He: (joining me) “…I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me. I’ll cross the stream, I have a dream…I have a dream, a fantasy, To help me through reality…”  Hey, feels good to sing that after so many years.

Me: I know. The right song at the right place can work wonders.

He: hmm…I love these songs but I’m not much of a nature lover. The sight of a kitten at play may seem enchanting for you, but I don’t give it a second glance.

Me: Good thing you mentioned that. I was just about to tell you about the bats.

He: What bats?

Me: The two brown bats I used to see.

He: Those bats were your guardian angels as well?

Me: No. I believe those bats were people in their last life. People who knew me and people who are long dead.

He: Strange. Why do you say that?

Me: Well, these bats first appeared around the time I had delivered my first son. The two bats would fly in through the ventilation and flutter above my baby for a few seconds before flying off. This continued until my son was about a year old.

Three years on, after I had delivered my second baby, the bats reappeared. The ritual was the same – enter through the ventilation, fly in circles above the baby and then disappear. This time too it continued until the baby was about 10 months old. I have never seen the bats after that.

He (giggling): Must have gone to visit someone else’s baby.

Me: You think the whole thing is a joke?

He (trying hard to suppress laughter): No. I’m serious. Maybe the two bats have no kids of their own. And they make up for their loss by visiting human babies.

Me: You’ve got it all wrong. The bats are people from the past visiting their next generation.

He: Seriously, have you gone nuts? People from the past in the form of bats? Where do you get such ridiculous ideas from?

Me: May be it’s the nature lover in me conjuring up reasons to love even detested creatures like bats.

He: Thank God I’m not a nature lover.

Me: You will learn to appreciate nature sooner or later. Someday you’ll love the rejuvenating rains, the crunch of dry leaves under your feet, the song of a cuckoo, the cool taste of tender coconut water, the strong west wind blowing through your hair, the waves of the sea washing your feet…someday you’ll be overwhelmed by the awesome presence and power of nature…someday…my friend….someday…

He (silent)

But I can clearly hear the sound of rain beginning to fall on his window and with a spreading smile on my face, I visualize him enjoying – perhaps for the first time in his life - the refreshing rains and the sweet smell of wet earth.