Circle of Life!!

Growing up in the suburbs, my childhood was spent chasing butterflies and dragonflies that descended by the hundreds on the flowering plants in my garden. And, when it rained, I would eagerly await the arrival of snails and slugs, which would lazily cross the pathway during the long night.

Grasshoppers, prying mantis that churned the air endlessly, and frizzy caterpillars that carpeted the drumstick tree provided year-round entertainment. And, my pals and I would follow scorpions scurrying into the relative safety of their nooks inside the house, and shriek in surprise when harmless tree snakes occasionally dropped down from coconut and mango trees to check out the ground situation.

These days, my five-year-old son only reads about caterpillars and snails. And, wonders how a ponvandu (jewel beetle), a constant presence in our childhoods, looks.

Golden presence

Recalls Ananthan, who lived in Gandhigram, near Madurai, as a child: “Holidays meant hunting for the shimmering blue-green ponvandu. A band of the bravest boys would walk to Sirumalai, a hillock nearby, and search the prickly elandhapazham and kodukapuli trees where they were found in plenty. We would bring them back in matchboxes, feed them leaves whether they wanted to eat or not, and wait for them to reward us with e ggs.”

Shankar, a businessman, recalls how he used to scrounge for ‘light poochi’ (glow worms) in his garden. He would confine them in a matchbox, and have them perform for the family in a darkened room. “And, then, there was the smelly ‘train poochi’ that invaded homes after the rains. It could climb any surface, be it a pencil or paper, much to our amazement,” he says.

Disappearing act

Even butterflies, which used to flutter about without a care, have almost disappeared. And, watching these developments with sadness is macro photographer K. Jayaram. Over the years, he has seen his favourite subjects disappear from the very city in which he used to photograph them. He recalls a day in 1971, when his friend called to say that grasshoppers were crossing the road by the thousands near Kanuvai. “I saw thousands of huge painted grasshoppers, probably mass migrating. They feed on erukkai leaves, and earlier, you could see a couple of them in every plant.”

A whole lot of flying beauties, including damselflies and dragonflies, have been pushed away from cities, mostly due to our ignorance of their habitat. Some insects feed only on particular plants, and when you destroy them, you destroy an entire species. Did you know that when you clear the road edges of shrubs and grass, you deny butterflies and nocturnal moths a source of food? And, that by filling up swamps, you snuff out the lives of frogs and flies. Every time you spray pesticides in your garden, you create an invisible barrier for these insects.

But, not everything is lost. We can bring back the butterflies into our lives, says Jayaram. Remember the ‘thatha thatha talaiatti’ flower (Tridax procumbens) that you used to play with? It attracts 14 species of butterflies. The Skipper butterfly loves the fragrant Lantana camara, and moths and other nocturnals, any white flower. You could raise verbina, butterfly weed, pentas, Ixora (thechi), Nerium oleander (arali) and citrus. The Papillon butterfly loves lemon trees. Avoid exotics or hybrids. Insects keep away from them.

Small creatures remind us of the days when we had the time to stand and stare at a world peopled by things big and small. Some kids played havoc with insects, breaking their wings and showing their prowess with the catapult. But, they learnt to let them be.

As I type, a tiny bug follows the patterns on the computer screen. A bigger beetle is watching its potential dinner with interest. A hungry lizard eyes both, wondering where to move first.

Well, it’s the circle of life.