When was the last time you witnessed a swarm of glowing fireflies?
For the first time in many years, on a cold night after a heavy rain, I spotted a solitary firefly glittering in my pitch dark backyard among the plants. The sight was an enchanting one. I thought how beautiful my village had been, some five decades ago before it metamorphosed into a busy city which is what it is today.
In the eastern corner of my ancestral land, there was a large pond which gradually merged with a canal that meandered along the fringes of our compound. The point of where pond and canal met was a marshy patch surrounded by tall grass. During hot and humid summer evenings, we were delighted by the marvellous sight of swarms of fireflies that imparted an ethereal setting to the night sky. We, the children, were particularly delighted by the magnificent nightscape as we were fed on innumerable stories about fireflies by our ammumma. Whenever we saw fireflies, all those tales told by grandma came alive in our imagination.
My friend Robert was adept at catching those innocent bugs with cupped palms. He would transfer the helpless beings into a small glass bottle, closing it tightly with its rubber lid. When kept inside a dark corner of the room, the flies would emit golden light intermittently, much to our joy. In those days when there was no electricity, the entire village would be drowned in darkness after nightfall.
Amma, however, would scold us for our cruel deed. She would shout, “Eda, let them free, otherwise they will die.” Later, we would release them, though reluctantly.
My closest friend Obby had his house by the side of a lake. A nearby swamp with mangroves was an ideal and safe haven for hundreds of fireflies.
But time has brought many inevitable changes in our once beautiful landscape. The pond in my courtyard no longer exists as it was filled up; the canal which used to flow silently along our homestead is now a village road; the marsh alongside Obby’s house has given way to encroachments. The village grew into a town; electrification has robbed us of the velvet darkness that gave the best backdrop for fireflies to display their magical glow.
Only very of these glittering insects remain now. Though we are blessed with many amenities now, development has taken many of the natural wonders away.
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