One night, I went wailing to my grandmother, saying, “Ugh! Growing old is a real struggle; it’s a trap. I don’t want to grow old,” cribbing, for which she smiled and said, “Come here, my little caterpillar” Hugging me tight, “Did you just call me a caterpillar?” I complained, to which she responded, ruffling my hair, “Do you know the butterfly metamorphosis? Tonight, I will narrate the story of the cutest little caterpillar ever.

Not once upon a time, but once in recent times, there lived a small oval-shaped egg, which was beautiful because I could see a tiny caterpillar growing inside; one fine day, the egg hatched and then came a colorful, slimy little caterpillar crawling, whose aim was only to eat and sleep. 

As time flew, the caterpillar grew by shedding its outgrown skin like you as a kid shed your worries slowly; the caterpillar entered a stage called pupa after becoming immune to all of its surroundings situations and learning the abstract of the art of living. The pupa stage makes the little caterpillar look like it’s just resting inside its cocoon, but it’s busy building up its character and gathering the courage inside to turn into a beautiful adult. Then, after a lot of patience and penance, the caterpillar finally turns into a lovely adult with wings of freedom gained and understood by wisdom. If the caterpillar hated growing up, would it become a beautiful butterfly? Think of it, dear!” she concluded, kissing me a good night.

Samanvitha Oruganti is an avid storyteller who likes narrating stories about people, emotions, and places. She believes our world has innumerable tales, some hidden, some not, but all waiting to be told. She can be reached via email at samanvita.krishna@gmail.com