THE FLOATING DIARY (Short Story Journal – 27): FIREFLY

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.