“How does one become a butterfly?” she asked.
“You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar”
It was time to celebrate. Last week was spent on the laptop, fifteen hours each day of non stop work. Over the long weekend too, no less. And I have been just two weeks into my new job. This weekend though, I was free.
Ovalekar Wadi butterfly garden. Located in Thane, but well worth the effort. Set in two acres of green land, the garden houses many, many flowers; and in them roost butterflies, caterpillars, pupae, dragonflies. The whole pretty lot.
As I was trying to capture the Jezebel (very flighty, I must say), a man came running up to me.
“Do you have the macro function?” He asked breathlessly
“Yes, yes” I said, half in panic
“There, take that, very important snap”
I don’t like being told what to click. But I was curious, what was he talking about?
“There, see over there” he gestured to the shrubs by the side.
Perched on the rain-washed, smooth green leaves, were two of them having a go.
I asked him how he knew so much.
“It is my hobby; I gave up my job for this.”
“Really?”
“Yes, after I watched
3 Idiots. A friend of mine also gave up his job to become a cartoonist”
He worked with the Bombay Nature Lover Society.
Another interesting guy was BD, from
Bangladesh, in Mumbai on an exchange program. He confessed his shock on seeing
Bombay, which he had expected to be cleaner, more developed since after all “This is the financial capital of
India". Was migration to blame, we wondered. But I am an immigrant; I love this city, pay my taxes and avoid litter. No, he said, it was also some apathy. Such few dustbins on the roads!
Finally….as some other wise man said, “If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies”. Good to know.
Ovalekar Wadi: On Thane’s Ghodbunder Road. Open 7 AM to afternoon. The best time to catch those butterflies is early in the morning since they are cold blooded. There is an entry charge of Rs 50 and some extra for breakfast and tea.
