A firefly goes for a night drive on the rough mountain roads.
It’s night and my room, high on the mountain, has a large glass window with a view of nameless mountains and their valley down below, somewhere near Suwakholi on the way to Uttarkashi from Mussoorie in Uttarakhand. At night, while sitting on my bed, I can only see three things:
- trees outside and near to my room, faintly lit by the butter-yellow bulb in my room.
- lights of small villages scattered around in the valley down below.
- vehicles that pass on the road, which is on the mountains to my right.
Every day at around 9:30 pm, I notice a peculiar vehicle on the dark road on the right side of my window view. It’s not a vehicle but an enormous firefly, with police officers inside, one of whom is in control of the drive.
A firefly goes out for a drive every night on the rough mountain roads, looking for love.
From the distance, from my window, I can see two colors that the firefly emits: stark red (stable) and stark blue (blinking). The stable red is for his lonely heart and the blinking blue signals longing and pain. I can also see a long shaft of yellow light emitting from its eyes. I find myself mesmerised by this and keep looking until the firefly goes out of sight. I keep looking until it takes a right turn at the end of the long stretch of road.
Every day, I find myself waiting for the firefly to emerge for his drive, and I prepare myself for this small phenomena by finishing my dinner by 9:15 pm.