The doorbell rings and all questions fly out of her mind. It’s Vaishali. Then Mangesh and Rahul arrive. Finally Radha. Radha is very excited. ‘I have something wonderful to show you.’ She sits at the dining table. The others gather around. From her tan leather tote bag she draws out a small jewel case covered in royal-blue velvet. She shoves the hair out of her eyes, opens the case and pushes it to the centre of the table. The others bend over it. ‘It’s a dragonfly,’ Mangesh says laconically. They gaze upon the iridescent blue, purple, green and silver of its gossamer wings and its two huge eyes that meet on top of the head.

Radha whispers, ‘I was at my computer when I heard a little plop on the table next to me. It was this beauty. I thought it would fly away, but it lay absolutely still, its wings spread out, the colours vivid and the eyes wide open. Much later I realized it was dead.’ The others continued to gaze in wonder at this lively form of death.

‘What’s the Marathi word for dragonfly, Bai?’

‘Chatur, I think.’

‘That’s what Ai said. But Baba said “bhingri”.’ Radha laughs. ‘Ai told him that must be his village word. Baba said, “I’ll ask Arvind.” He called up Arvind Kaka. Arvind Kaka said, “Let me look it up in my English–Marathi dictionary.” He came back with “patang”. Ai said, “What rubbish! A patang is triangular and dusty brown. It throws itself at flames and dies.”’

‘I think it’s “chatur”,’ Anima says, but tentatively.

‘Ai asked Arvind Kaka to look up “chatur” in his Marathi–English dictionary. There was no “chatur” noun there. Only “chatur” adjective. So Baba asked him to look up “bhingri”. It was there but the English for it was beetle. Ai insisted that dragonfly was chatur and proved her point by singing a nursery rhyme which went:

Oh you gullible little chatur

Playmate of my childhood

Baba said, “Rubbish! Chatur means clever. How can a chatur be gullible?” Ai said chatur as in dragonfly refers to its four wings. Chatur is four. Baba slapped his forehead and gave up the argument. Ai turned her face away from him and went “hrmph”. I sat in peace looking at this beauty. Where could it have come from?’

‘From North America or Japan,’ Mangesh offers.

As a general rule, nobody doubts Mangesh’s general knowledge. But this time Rahul thinks his suggestion is too, too far out. So he runs to the computer and googles ‘dragonfly’.