Dragonfly Kiss

A dragonfly exemplifies nature’s ultimate genius in avionics. It demonstrates extreme maneuverability that is far beyond the grasp of human engineering at this time. As a child with limitless curiosity, I have observed that the human innovation, the helicopter, is the one that comes closest to the agility of a dragonfly. A dragonfly can hover in midair, move front a few paces at rapid speed, and come to an instant stall, do the same thing in the opposite direction in the blink of an eye. It can climb up vertically like a VTOL aircraft, and zoom down great speed and park in an instant on a very thin branch of a bush or a tree. My mother always said that dragonflies announce the arrival or rains and the rainy season. My mother would always say that dragonflies predict an oncoming monsoon rain shower. Every monsoon season, I saw the same three varieties of dragonflies. First is the big fat one, with a fat body the size of a small candy and having a long tail at least 3 mm in diameter. I have seen them in dark blue, brown, and grey colors. They look rough and tough and act like the boss of the swarm. The second variety is of a medium build, body about the size of peanut, with a thin long tail. They also come in the same three colors as the fat ones. The last variety, which is my favorite, is a thin fly, head only as thick as the head of a pin with a long thin tail. Overall, it will be about two inches long, with even thinner wings. These thin ones come in multi-color patterns of blue, green, purple, brown, red, and grey.

The fat and medium ones are hardy fliers and they fly high, about 10 feet off the ground and normally roam around near the trees. They are the favorites of the rowdy boys from neighborhood slums. These boys, who roam the streets, often without a shirt, and wearing dilapidated shorts because of poverty, enjoy a bit of free entertainment during the dragonfly season. They would catch the fatty ones and tie a long string to their tails. They would hold one end of the string and release the dragonfly. The poor fly would think it is free and would rapidly try to get away and fly up. The kid would be holding the other end of the string, hence the unsuspecting fly would reach the maximum length of the string and would struggle hard to get away, but the kid would keep yanking at it and make it fly like a kite. The boys would have a great laugh and keep taunting the pitiable dragonfly. Sometimes, there would a bunch of boys doing the same thing and the strings would cross over each other, and the boys would argue and try to pull all the files back to ground and attempt to untangle. Ultimately, the dragonfly would exhaust its energy and would fall to the ground, unable to fly anymore. The boys would simply dump them on the side, with the string attached, and run off to play another game. The dragonfly will slowly die and a passing sparrow may take pity and expedite the process by consuming it for a quick snack.

My favorite needle dragonflies are so small and normally roam the bushes close to ground. They are fascinating to observe as they fly in a zig-zag manner getting blown off track even by a gentle breeze. They would often land on the thin branches of the December flower bushes in our backyard. I would gingerly go behind it and catch its tail. I would then hold it while it would flutter its thin film of wings in a desperate attempt to escape my grip. There is a myth shared among the kids in our neighborhood that if a dragonfly lands on your forehead and kisses, you would get lucky and find a one-rupee coin that day. Instead of waiting for this impossible random event to happen, I would catch the dragonfly, make it stay on my forehead for a while, and then go looking for that mythical one- rupee coin around the house. Sometimes, I would actually find one but not because of the dragonfly. My father would have a bunch of coins in his shirt pocket. When he takes it off, a few would fall accidentally and run away under a cabinet or a bed. My father would never pick it up and when I find it after the dragonfly incident, I would attribute it to the magical powers of the dragonfly kiss. When it is not a season for dragonflies, we would see butterflies and the legend has it that even butterflies have this magical power and if it lands on your forehead and kisses, it would bring good luck.

During the day, the dragonflies fly inside our home and wade out since our home always had the doors open. In addition, right in the middle of our home, we had a courtyard that opens up to the sky. Hence, I have seen multitudes of dragonflies buzzing through our home during the monsoon season. However, if any of them fail to get out before dusk, they are in for big trouble. After sunset, as it becomes quickly dark, we would switch on the five-foot long fluorescent tube lights. These flies would then hone in on the light thinking they are exiting out, but instead, simply bang against the tube light and flap their wings as fast as possible thinking that they could break the barrier and enter the open sky. Alas, they would simply be buzzing around the tube light all through the evening. That is when I would observer the delicate dance of the predator and prey. In our old house, a group of house lizards, about six inches long and white skinned, lived among the crevices of the roof during day and venture out to the area near tube lights during night. They are well aware that several insects get fooled at night and would be buzzing around the tube light area. Dragonflies, moths, and even common houseflies can be observed doing the stupid buzzing around the light at night. A dragonfly would be the best meal that the lizard can get. The lizard would move stealthily and slowly, inch by inch. Along the way, it would be analyzing the path taken by the confused dragonfly and position itself such that it can make a quick grab as it bangs and buzzes in its direction. Sometimes, the dragonfly would change its mind and go the other direction or fly into the hall, but without fail, it would always propel itself to bump into the tube light and buzz around it. The lizard would wait patiently, keep changing its alignment and when the time is right, it would make a slight forward movement, open its mouth wide, extend its sticky tongue that would trap the fly and pull it into its open mouth. The entire sequence would be perfectly orchestrated in a fraction of a second and the pathetic insect would be trapped between soft jaws of the lizard. It would still try to buzz and attempt to fly away, but the lizard would move its head left and right, opening the mouth at appropriate intervals and slowly swallow the still buzzing fly. Once the fly completely vanishes inside, with a bulging body, the lizard would walk back with a swaying gait to its hiding place among the tiles to savor its meal.