Beautiful as they are, glittering
across in the darkness, like stars embedded in the colossal vastness of the
night sky. Indeed, the FIREFLY is a magnificent and beautiful creature. A
reflection of aspirations to reach the stars! Most of my journal entries had
been records of my past learning, but there are many incidents that are worth
remembering too. Today’s story is about one such incident that I think is
pertinent and worth cherishing.
Today, I attended my high-school
reunion. It has been almost twelve years, ever since I left school! Due to the nature
of my profession I had lost touch with most of my friends. Moreover, due the
cosmopolitan lifestyle of modern India, many of my bosom friends in school had dispersed
across the breath of this country for prosperous career options. As a result,
in all these twelve years, we had hardly met.
As I entered the
auditorium of our school building, a nostalgia filled my senses. My heart
palpitated with excitement. There was a hope to meet my buddies after such a
long time. Evening had drawn its curtain across the horizon and a glistening marquee
was slowly revealing its cloudless canvas. I went inside the hall and sat in my
designated seat. I was one of the very first alumni guests to enter the venue. Presently,
one by one, everybody came. First came Suresh, then Amit, then Roshan and
Rahul. They were followed by Anees, Bipin and Rohit. Finally, came Richard and
Simon. I was the tenth member of this so called “Illuminati” of our batch.
The meeting and greeting
was an excellent session. We were meeting each other after more than a decade!
Anees is a businessman now, Rohit a doctor, Richard is a musician, Simon an
actor, Suresh is a CA, Amit an engineer, Roshan is a restaurateur, Rahul is a
real-estate developer and Bipin is a schoolteacher. I wondered, how we all have
matured over the years. The hairlines on our heads have receded while we have
become wiser! In school, we were a group of mischievous kids who were always up
to some pranks. Together, we laughed heartily as we remembered several
incidents from the past. The flashes of those fond memories zoomed passed our
eyes like those of a movie! Indeed, those were the days of fun and frolic. As
we chatted, the thin sheet of ice that had developed between up, over the
years, broke unknowingly. We were no more grown up individuals, matured in
their own professional fields. We again became small kids, sitting on wooden
benches inside our classroom, with eyes full of aspirations and hearts full of
fun and mischief.
The initial hour was
more of a cacophony as the old boys cracked jokes and socialized with each
other over cups of coffee and plateful of snacks. There were alumni from every
year of the past two decades and it was really interesting to see these overgrown
men becoming little kids once again! We met the old teachers and life left
soaked in nostalgia and I wished those years remained frozen in time. This was
followed by an hour-long performance of the current students. I bet, everybody
enjoyed the session a lot. Finally, it was dinner time. The dinner buffet was
spread inside the main hall-room and everybody headed there.
After dinner, Suresh
suggested, “Guys, this evening will not be complete unless we visit our famous
meeting spot. I hope it still exists. I wanted to go there for the last ten
years! I don’t want to miss this opportunity!”
“Yes our prized haunt is
a place that we must visit before we disperse today!” said Bipin with an air of
seriousness mixed with mischief. The others chuckled on observing his funny
expression.
Rohit added, “Dinner is
over. The night is dark! Let us head for this final adventure now!”
The ten of us went out.
There was a small wood behind our school. It existed to this day. Within the
wood, at a small distance from our school was a low mound. We used to gather at
this mound every evening, after school, and played. Many of our mischievous
rendezvous were planned at this place. As we reached the mound, the cloudless
night was dazzling with the glitter of the stars! All of us sat down on the
grass and stared at this beautiful scene. Among the woods, the fireflies were dancing
in the wind. There was a beautiful contrast of the glitter of the fireflies and
the dazzling stars in the endless sky.
Roshan said, “What a
beautiful scene. This looks so ethereal.”
Everybody spoke about
the ups and downs of their lives. We discussed about our struggles, failures,
mistakes and successes. It had been a rollercoaster journey for everybody. I couldn’t
hold myself. I revealed about my impending amnesia to my friends. A melancholy
grasped the mood and everybody became quiet. I tried to lighten the moment and
said, “I am happy that I have found back my buddies!”
Bipin had always been of
philosophical bent of mind. He sighed with a smile and said, “Look at those
fireflies. The glitter like the stars in the night sky. Perhaps they are trying
to be the eternal celestial icons. Yet, they do not know that mortality is
their fate. They might strive to become stars, but can never be so. Such is
life…”
Amit said, “Very true. We
all are like the firefly. Glittering in the darkness, trying to become stars in
our own horizons!”
Anees added, “We might
be like the fireflies but we are all making a difference in this wide world, in
our own way. We are special to our loved ones. That makes life worth living. We
might not become stars, but we are the enthralling fireflies that lighten up
the lives of our families. Mortality is inevitable, but we do make a mark!”
I commented, “I agree. We,
the fireflies have tried to fulfil our dreams and aspirations, and we have done
well. Just like the firefly tries to become a star, perhaps, we have all twinkled
in our own beautiful worlds!”
The mood became smoother
and a smile floated amid our hearts. The reunion was at last complete under the
canopy of the night sky, inside the woods adjacent to our beloved school.
As I write my diary
today, I feel a content and happiness whose reason I don’t want to find. I know
I am happy and that is more than enough for me. We humans, are all like a
FIREFLY, emitting our magical glows. We are individuals, we are unique and we
all make our marks. We might not be eternal stars but our enchanted presence makes
life worth living.
