Nini, The Butterfly

Nini was flying merrily in the orchard. She had the sweetest nectar today and was basking in its sweetness. Red roses were looking very inviting, but she would visit them later. For now, she was happy and full.

God had gifted her uniquely different wings. Her wings had splashes of shades of blue on an orange background, which gave the impact of a beautiful twilight. No wonder Nini was so proud of them and would spread them at every given opportunity. Her sisters Gini and Tini were so envious of her at times. Especially when Nanu, the heartthrob would try to gain her attention.
Today, Nini wanted to do everything; break all rules, cross all barriers, fulfil all her desires. And it wasn’t too long before that she realized what she exactly wanted to do. As soon as she flew over “Dana – The Secret Flower”, she knew that she wanted to conquer it!

“Dana” was very auspicious within their community. Her mother had strictly forbidden her three daughters to never even go near that flower. It was an age long habit and none exactly knew why. “Dana” looked very inviting with its large purple colored, curled petals and big red pollen grains. During their childhood, all of Nini’s friends secretly wished to sit on “Dana”. But as adolescents, they had learnt to ignore it. But Nini was different!

She carefully flew a circle over “Dana”, all the time carefully watching that no one was around to stop her. And with a joyful heart and eyes closed shut, she landed on it. She didn’t feel anything! Slowly she opened her eyes. “Dana” looked more bright and beautiful from close quarters. But still nothing strange happened! The eternal myth was today broken. Nini was too excited to stay there any longer. She was eager to tell her discovery to her mother and sisters. Her cries of “Mom, Mom ...” filled the air as she flew back to her home in a breakneck speed.

She was expecting to get soon a community award as she entered her home. Hearing her cries, all the members of the family turned towards her. But something was horribly wrong! All of their faces stood open in shock and horror. Nini was clueless. Before she could ask anything, she saw her image in the water droplet that was present on a nearby leaf. What she saw was enough to fill her eyes with tears and make her cry. She had lost the colours of her wings. They were absolutely colourless. “Dana” had done her job. Only Nini was late in finding it.

With a heavy heart, she told her mother everything. Gini and Tini were too shocked to react. For the first time in their lives, they wanted to lend Nini, some of their colours. But it was simply impossible. Nini was doomed for the rest of her life. She just wanted to hide in her mother’s wings.

Mother was determined to find a solution. She could not bear to see the sorry state of her little child. She decided to visit “Gora”, the oldest and wisest of them all. “He must be knowing the solution” she thought. Only problem was that he was highly untraceable and he seldom spoke.
For two days, mother with Gini and Tini did a frantic search for Gora. They searched every inch of the orchard – visited every flower, looked beneath every stone, asked everyone around. But still they were unable to trace him. Suddenly Gini suggested looking inside the old shoe that was present near the Banyan tree from months. Lo! Gora was exactly there enjoying his afternoon siesta. Mother delicately woke him up and narrated the entire story. But as expected, Gora was expressionless. Mother kept on pleading him to help, but he did not react. Now it was Tini’s turn to do the sisterly act. Secretly, she slipped from the shoe, went back to home and asked Nini the location of the flower that gave her the sweetest nectar two days back. Nini, who had decided to stay at home forever was only too happy to give away the location. Tini rushed there and carried back some nectar for Gora. Mother was surprised to see her return back with the nectar. Upon offering, Gora was quick in accepting the nectar. Even he had never tasted such heavenly nectar before. A faint smile spread on his lips. Mother heaved a sigh of relief.

Gora was now ready to speak. But before that he made them vow that they will keep both the incident and its cure, a secret for all their lives. It was to be disclosed only during emergencies. As per him, “Dana” closed its petals everyday at twelve midnight for three hours. Nini was required to sit on “Dana” just before it started closing and stay inside till it opened again. And then without another word, Gora flew away.

Mother was highly confused. But she decided to follow Gora’s instructions. With some difficulty they made Nini agree to do the needful. It was obviously little scary for Nini. But she was ready to do anything to get back her lovely colours. Without them her wings were useless.

At late night, the entire family went near “Dana”. With a silent prayer, just before midnight, Nini sat on the secret flower and closed her eyes. The three onlookers could not control their cries as the petals closed around Nini. They spent the next three hours in great anticipation. Time was simply not passing. Each minute seemed like a month. At last it was three am and “Dana” slowly started opening. As soon as it was fully opened, Nini opened her eyes and flew outside. Apparently she was in deep slumber for full three hours. Everyone wanted to check Nini’s wings, but it was too dark for that.

They returned back to their home and decided to wait patiently for the dawn to break. Within a hour and a half, faint rays of sunlight started appearing on the horizon. All the three sisters had gone to sleep. The previous day had been too exhaustive for all. But mother had to see her beloved Nini in perfect condition. Only then she could rest. She tried to analyse Nini’s wings in the available dim light but could not see any change. She was overwhelmed with a feeling of deep sorrow. How will she face Nini once she gets up? Perhaps even the old Gora was clueless about Nini’s cure. Sad tears started filling her eyes. But soon they turned into tears of joy! With the full rising of the sun, Nini’s wings miraculously got back their old colours. Each and every shades and line was same as before. Her beloved daughter again became one of the most attractive young butterflies of their community. Mother gasped with joy, loud enough to wake up her three daughters. Now it was their turn to shriek with joy.

Nini was ever so thankful to her family for their individual efforts in curing her back. She kissed them all and vowed never to go anywhere near “Dana” again.

 

Thanks for reading and appreciating.