Granny and her butterfly paintings

Granny and her butterfly paintings

She was in her late 70s, a body that looked too fragile, a hundred wrinkles telling a hundred stories, a breath so deep but irregular, shivering legs which had walked distances of time and experience.A mother , a grandmother, a mother in law, all relations had become hollow since the one sided love from granny never received anything from the other end.

Yet she was not alone. Once a drawing teacher in primary school she had a great fascination for butterflies and thus she painted her imaginations of butterflies with scintillating wings and vibrant colors. She painted at night when everyone in family was asleep. A relation between her and those paintings was established, her heavy heart wanted to fly with those butterflies.

She was insulted by her family members often, but that day all limits were crossed. She was taunted of being a "burden". With moist eyes she rushed to her room. She grabbed her brush and painted a butterfly with stars embedded in its wings. As she finished her drawing a tear from her eyes dropped and coincided with those stars in the butterfly's wings. She kept her brush and left to sleep.

That night she dreamed of all the butterflies she had painted throughout her life. They were flying all around her and she felt as if her life was entering theirs. She could feel herself free. Imbibing the magnificence of the sky she felt light and much more happy. She had left behind all her sad feelings and she could feel a truth which said her "you are beautiful!a beautiful butterfly!which knows only flying! For sky is its limit". She was enthralled.

SHE DID NOT WAKE UP THE NEXT MORNING. Her family members prepared for her funeral. Her body lay wrapped in white cloth, and all the relatives were sitting around to offer their condolence, who had never showed up when she was alive.  As her son opened the windows of the house something really enigmatic and enchanting happened. They could not believe their eyes.

From the two windows of the house, flew inside a hundred butterflies. Blue, red, purple, green, orange, yellow coloured butterflies with the liveliness of divine beauty. They flew all around granny's body. As the relatives watched in astonishment, a butterfly which had wings with the Colors of sparkling stars elegantly flew and then sat gently on granny's feet. It started raining outside. Raining emotions....