Pupa was happy and getting on with his usual life when Mamma came visiting. And not just any visiting...she came with her new larvae, a healthy young caterpillar. Now our Pupa, the sweet Pupa that it is, was quite happy to see its new sibling. But you know how it is with parents...the last minute emergencies they have to rush to...well yes...i think you get it!
Let me put it in simple words - Pupa had to baby-sit the young one. And as Mammas always do, this specific Mamma also assured Pupa that caterpillar was just such a darling that it would just sit on its cabbage leaf and eat without a murmur till Mommy comes back. And away she flew.
Pupa was visibly nervous. Ok the pillar was cute but baby-sitting was so not his type of work. But you got to do it if you got to do it. Besides pillar looked quite tame, greedily munching on its cabbage leaf. So Pupa with nothing better to do, dozed off.
Pupa yawned and remembered the gluttony charge he had under his care. Lo Behold!!! Where was the darn crawly young-ling. Pupa shouted and screamed for the pillar but it never answered. Now Pupa as is obvious could not go looking for the thing so i was sent an SOS text.
Being the good friend that i am i did agree to help and finally found him with a locust. The latter tagged along with us. The pillar happily informing me that they had become great friends and they intend to continue to be friends.
Pupa did not know how to react. He was visibly angry, very angry. But the pillar was so young that it seemed ruthless to shout at him. So with a few curt words he got his point across over safety and responsibility. And then he saw the locust.
"What is a locust doing with you?" "And you locust, where are your Mum and Dad?"
The locust did not breathe a word but the pillar said loud, " He is lost and he is hungry and i intend to share my cabbage leaf with him and take him home with me." Now this was some declaration coming from someone so young. Pupa was aghast...a locust in a butterfly colony!! And horror of horrors Mom will know that the pillar had been away.
Now the minion pillar had the nerves to actually ask, " Are you two with your last century attitude going to give us trouble? Better not..my friend locust here can finish off a lot of your food supplies only if i tell him to." Boy!! kids can be so utterly innocent these days!! While we were pondering over what to do, Mumma zoomed in. She thanked Pupa, took the pillar and got ready to leave, not even acknowledging the locust.
The locust slipped in the shadow of a mushroom. But the young blood would not go till his friend locust was taken along. He howled and cried and tumbled and jiggled. But moms are so used to all these tantrums. So Mommy just flew away with him ranting. We exhaled a sigh of relief that the little rascal was gone. But there was something bigger to worry us - the locust.
We asked him if he knew where his family was. He did not. He was an orphan and a vagrant. Now that was some bit of information. What were we to do with it? If we did keep it with us the butterfly society might ostracize us. If we shoo it away the poor thing might just get killed or eaten or starve. But was it not natural for the weakest to die? But would we knowingly push someone to death? Would we conform to the societal norms or would be be renegades? And if we did drive it away, would we be living with the guilt? As we went on and on aloud with these musings..the locust cleared its throat to get our attention.
He said, " I am leaving. It was really sweet of pillar to have shared his cabbage with me. Give my thanks to him. "
Pupa blurted out, "but where will you go? You can stay here if u like." I nodded my head vigorously to give my approval.
But what the locust said next, stays on with me, " Thank you, but no thanks. I am better off by myself. If God wills it I shall one day be a proud grasshopper in the midst of my kind. Not everyone is a pillar who looks at a person's heart. Others think of the tags attached to a person. And actually it is funny how scared we are of the very categories we have bounded ourselves to. And i am really thankful to both of you for making the generous offer. However, what good is it living in a place where your very identity is your biggest curse. My identity makes you suspicious of me without even having spoken to me even once. I don't want to be judged through templates set by someone else. I am an individual and i wish to be that first and foremost before i am bounded up by these categorizations. Not every rose on a rose plant is identical in shape. Some are shut, some open, some half-open. We are all like them, its we who decide when to open out to the world and how much. But none can deny that the sweetest fragrance comes from the one in full bloom and that is whom the world covets."
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