A Bug's Light

MILLIONS OF FIREFLIES LIGHT UP A SMALL VILLAGE IN MAHARASHTRA AND LEAVE SHARMISTHA CHAUDHURI SPELLBOUND

- Sharmistha Chaudhuri

The car jerked while-taking a turn and broke my slumber. Outside, the Mumbai traffic and the muggy summer weather had been replaced by a slight chill in the air. The high-rises had been replaced by a brown rocky landscape, interspersed with a house here and there. “This is Bhandardara,” said Omkar, my charioteer for the journey, as we whizzed past farmers tilling bajra and rice fields, blooming marigold patches and umpteen mango trees. My phone suddenly came to life. “Make your calls now,” he advised.

He was right. We reached Rajur, the last major town, 16 kilometres from my destination, and my mobile service died. But it was all okay. It gave me time to appreciate the natural beauty of rural Maharashtra. The brown earth and rocky trajectories, coupled with the various shades of green trees and fields gave me a sense of tranquillity—often missed in a fast-paced city.

I was on my way to Purushwadi, a small village in Maharashtra, about six hours away from the state’s capital, to see fireflies. As a city dweller, we often feel a disconnect with our primordial roots. While we decorate our homes with artificial fairy lights, it is a lot more thrilling to see nature’s fairy lights in the wild, or so I imagined. I smiled as we came to our pit stop.

A tall lanky man with a wide loveable smile greeted me. Introducing himself as Tahnaji, he played out my itinerary over cups of sweetened lemongrass tea. I was putting up at the Grassroutes campsite, a short walk from the village. A rural community-based tourism organisation, Grassroutes gives visitors a taste of the rustic life. Purushwadi is one of the villages the organisation works with.