Fireflies

Yesterday I saw the first fireflies of the year, as the monsoon rain moves inland and the warm summer becomes cooler .
This year the summer was really short and the heat unrelenting. For us hillies the fan which never usually sees the light of day was used over the day and night.
Fireflies usually come out during the middle of the monsoon, with the cicadas and the rhinoceros beetles, the former with its high and low notes and the latter beating against the windowpane. We have less cicadas than those who live on the western ghats.Our noisiest creature would be the headache bird or the Barbet whose "kutroo-kutroo"gets from one octave to the next and oft times is the harbinger of rain.

Somhow the years of living either in towns or cities have not stripped of my countryside love and time and again as I grew up and my life after marriage has brought me back to those roots.
I must be thankful to my Dad for that love for it was Him and his love for nature that gave me my lessons.
Fireflies, as I remember reading in many a Enid Blyton would be caught with a net into a glass jar by little boys chasing them as night fell. I don't recall my brothers doing that, too much energy would be required. I do remember the nights my father would catch a stray one and lay it on my palm. It would lie there unglowing  and then take off sending its little beacon as it searched for a way out.
Once we moved to the city and college beckoned  I forgot about most things country and loved every part of the colour and fast paced life that challenges one everyday .

The year my son was born however changed us. I had moved to the hills and I want3f him to know the thrills of seeing nature in all her glory (of course it now makes little impact the fact he didn't sleep all night ) and hubby and I would put him in the car and take him rambling through the dirt roads, mostly bereft of any vehicular traffic unlike today. We would stop on a road, witheither side darkened with coffee bushes and majestic silver oaks, cut the engine and wait.
Within a few minutes there would be tiny twinkling lights moving in from below the coffee bushes to above and  oh, they sometimes filled atree akin to a Christmas tree all decorated and we would hold our breathe and take it in..
I wonder somtimes how much we who live where we are take all this for granted. I wonder if the city could give you that much pleasure and if children yearn for a simple life. I am blessed that me children have like me a chance to savour both..


Today is father's day and there isn't a day I don't remember my father and many balmy nights when I look up at the stars I see him there and his spirit continues to guide me and I know no matter where I go and what I do hes there and the firefly is his way of telling me life goes on.

So whenever you can get to the country and the fireflies are there, be amazed and remember that even on a dark night the little beacon of hope will lift your heart as nothing else will and share the wonder with your chikdren.

I never was much of a coffee drinker, not in my youth anyway.
We drank tea.Loads of tea from a light green tea pot that sat on our dining table and was replenished by my mother. Most days they would be more than just the four of us and mum, , friends had a way of joining in on most meals at our house.Tea time was mostly spent regaling mum and friends with the days events at school.

Coffee was a luxury then, , while we drank tea from as early as 5 am (toget us to study) and then through the day, my mum had a cup of coffee after breakfast "Bru Instant"the only available coffee powder. We never drank the coffee that we grew on our little farm because there was no free trade...or so I think.
Robusta has a rather strong earthy taste and isnt to my liking though I didn't know it then.

I drank tea all through school and college and the little green tea pot lived a great many years listening to our tales .

It all changed the year l got married, cause I married a coffee guy and I haven't looked back since.
I could brew a lovely pot of Nonsuch leaf tea but I couldn't make that decoction my mother in law made.
This was no put a teaspoon of instant in a cup add sugar and hot water and milk.This was the real deal...at least thats what she said.
I watched and waited and wasnt really happy when she decided to go out of town and the manservant took the day off and I was left to make the coffee.
Well ! I didn't make a bad job of it. I had watched well and now years later I still make my coffee the old way.The coffee machine sits on the ledge ..I use it only in a rush
On a good day a great brew of home grown arabica is welcomed by all.
So what you do is this:


In a saucepan boil water.
Put 5 tablespoons of pure arabica powder in a large pot (make 5 to 6 cups decoction).
Pour hot water stirring well, wait and remove scum on surface . Cover and keep 10 minutes.
Pour decoction required amount and add hot milk. Drink and enjoy.
Use only the decoction. The powder settled at the bottom can be used as manure for plants.