a million stars

It was 2 in the morning when Akshara decided it was the right time to play. Thankfully, she did not disturb anyone but was comfortable playing by herself and making non-stop conversational sing song sounds. I woke up to these sounds and was just lying there, listening to their melody. Soon enough curiosity got the better of me. What exactly was she doing ? I looked into her bed...I had to get closer to the bed in that low light to get a better view. She was shuffling around her dolls and it looked like she was talking to them. Few moments later, probably feeling my presence, she turned around.  In that near-zero light, her eyes shone like a pair of light bulbs. From her perspective I probably appeared as a dark undifferentiated mass. I thought she might cry. However, she stopped her sounds and tried to focus better in order to deconvolve that silhouette. It was an amazing sight to watch. Her eyes appeared to literally zoom in on me as her pupils began to dilate more and more (and more) to collect extra photons. Those already enormous lit eyes became impossibly large and neon bright. As the photons traveled via the optic nerves and reached the brain, recognition dawned on her that the figure belonged to her father. Like an elaborate fountain suddenly springing to life, like a gorgeous butterfly spreading wings in the blink of an eye, like a thousand petaled lotus opening up at the whiff of dawn, she broke into a smile. It was but a little curve on those tiny lips, however its sheer brilliance was so dazzling that the whole room was enveloped with the effulgence of a million stars.

I looked outside. The stars did not try to compete. They were content to witness the moment, with a beaming smile of their own.