This is a tale,
from long ago
When I was a
child
With my Granny,
near the foothills
Of the great
Himalayas
In our village,
one of many such hamlets
Was I
Days were special
and nights spectacular
In the rural setting
Days filled
with games, cows, buffaloes, hens
And aimless
wanderings
Nights with the
magical song of silence, except for crickets
And the shimmer
of a thousand stars
What could be
more magical than this?
For a child
Something truly
extraordinary is going to happen
Said Granny one
day
The little me
didn’t think it was possible
But oh boy, was
Granny right
That night was
moon-less, stars seemed scared to come out
It was pitch black
Granny held my
hand and led me to an open field
The whole village
was there
Nothing
wonderous about people standing in the dark
I thought
Till, one by
one, each of them lit a lantern and held it aloft
Open-mouthed I
stood
So, this is
glow, glower, glow-est I thought as the lanterns lifted
Comparison I understood
now
Slowly each
lantern rose and it looked like a fairy land
Night was aglow
I tilted my
head to keep up with their skyward journey
And fell on my
rump
Granny laughed
and I smiled but my eyes were on the lanterns
Slowly they
disappeared
Granny sat
beside me and wiped the tears I was unaware of
I sat on her
lap
I had never in
my little life seen something so transcendental
That night is
still in my memory.