Of Dragonflies and Souls

I attended a mass at our family cemetery the other day. It was All Souls' Day. As the chapel is shockingly small, the service was conducted in the graveyard. Graveyards are not haunted places. Very honestly, I experienced a very holistic 45 minutes.

The people stood around their respective family's gravestones and crosses. The priest's gruff voice boomed over a terribly static sound system. I am an atheist by belief. Maybe an agnostic to some extent but definitely not a theist. As I stood there, I looked around. Observing the gravestones, the flower decorations adorning them and the people standing around them paying their respects. Somewhere in my head I could hear the priest praying for our departed loved ones. God bless them all.

Somewhere amongst the people I noticed Genelia, the Bollywood actess, standing with her family. Pretty young thing. She looked much fairer in real life than on-screen. But what truly caught my attention, was the tiny pair of shorts she wore. I mean, seriously, who wears shorts to church to attend mass? Especially on All Souls' Day? I think I'll let the moral police be the judge of this.

At some point then, I looked up. Maybe it was my stiff neck or maybe just plain boredom. But from that point on till the end of the mass and later, I did not wish to look anywhere else.

This is the point where the divinity of the mass stepped in. There were dozens of dragonflies hovering above us. With the cool evening breeze and the grassy graves with bright flowery decorations, the dragonflies completed the picture. At that point even that gruff voice over those insufferable speakers sounded like music.

I have heard that Hindu mythology believes a soul departs with a crow. Or that crows are our ancestors. Something along those lines. But I saw dragonflies. Hundreds of them. Hovering above us and the grassy graves. My cousin beside me noticed me staring at the sky and he simply had to comment. He called them souls. Then he went back to listening to the sermon, or was it just continue looking around for pretty young things. I was not bothered. I was in awe of the gentle buzz created by those helicopters. Since childhood we've always called dragonflies 'helicopters'. I guess it was because of their anatomy and the noise they made while flying.

I wish I had a camera then. I don't think the people would've taken too kindly to me taking photographs of them at that point, but I truly wanted to share that picture for you. Capture that moment for posterity. For I think I have made an extremely lame attempt at describing it. You see, it was all so surreal. The moment was meant to be experienced, not described.

Then as the mass got over and people started to move about, the dragonflies simply drifted away. I guess it was the movement and noise of the people that awoke the flies from their trance.

Or was my cousin right? Were they actually leaving because the mass had ended? See, this is why I tend to be an agnostic at times.

But the atheist in me rubbishes it all. He says its all too ridiculous to even consider. He believes in things that exist - in form, in shape, in reason. Like the Dragonfly.

But then the agnostic in me tells me there is a possibility. He continually asks, albeit annoyingly at times, those 'what if' questions. I think he takes it upon himself to be my sub-conscience - my soul.