Tuesday 15 November 2011

{midweek monochrome}






My grandparents lived in Tezpur, a town in Assam, in a beautiful bungalow with many rooms. Their garden was always filled with the most colourful butterflies. When I was little, I would catch the small white ones, close them in a jam jar, watch them flutter about, and then open the lid and let them fly away. They were my only friends on those long, slow summer days.

One afternoon, Ma's sharp call for lunch broke up my game. I left the jam jar on the courtyard steps, and ran inside for my meal. I forgot about the jar. I forgot about the little white butterfly still fluttering inside. When I came back, my butterfly wasn't fluttering any more. It was as still as the afternoon.

I remember sitting on the stairs cradling the glass jar for a long, long time. And I remember, for the first time, feeling the heavy weight of responsibility about an irreversible sadness.

Empty jam jars still make me sad.




~~~





You can also find this on Susan's wonderful blog, The Well-Seasoned Cook, for Black & White Wednesdays.


12 comments:

  1. Extremely touching!

    - Soumya

    ReplyDelete
  2. yes, it's strange, the things that stick :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your writing is emotional, I feel it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So moved by your writing and photography,I instantly became your follower.Loved the brown post too.Hop into my space sometimes and hope you like what you see too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, wow. Pia, what you wrote resonated to one of my childhood memories; coincidentally, it also happened in grandpa's place.

    Very touching.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This made me cry :( I think now empty jars will make me sad too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @ Love and other Spices: Thank you so much for stopping by, and for your lovely comment! I'll certainly make my way to your blog :)


    Ah Annapet, what a strange memory to have in common. But beautiful in a way :)

    Soma, thank you for such a heartfelt comment.

    ReplyDelete
  8. thanks nashira! your touching comments always appreciated :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. You certainly learned a sense of responsibility quite early. I used to play with cricket, but luckily never had such a sad accident with them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. lacaffettierarosa: i know, hard little lessons :) but i'm glad i learnt it early though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. There is something sad about an empty jam jar, with time and breakfasts gone by and all that, but this has just made them even sadder! :( Emma

    ReplyDelete
  12. i guess we'll just have to make some jam and fill them all up, emma :)

    ReplyDelete

Your comments make this blog worth writing. Thank you.