Patiently I watched it everyday until one morning I was rewarded by the sight of a newly hatched butterfly. It’s wings were not quite dry but the markings and colour were beautiful.
By Lisette Fernandes
Meta is an American tech company that owns several social media apps that we use – Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram… It is only when we get off these reel platforms that the real Magic begins.
In today’s fast-paced world, I prefer the slow pace of reading physical books, crocheting and gardening. In my small balcony, I grow what I call my own little jungle. In my jungle you’ll find a variety of vegetables and herbs like lemon grass, aloe vera, mint, lemon balm, tulsi (holy basil), basil, Indian borage, lime, curry leaf, chillies, karela, brinjal… flowers like gardenia, bougainvillea, button mogra, peace lilies, yellow alder, pink periwinkle, Indian snake weed and a few foliage plants like spider plant, snake plant, bamboo, aglaonema, pothos.
At first, I was just growing them for the sheer joy and excitement of watching the flowers and vegetables bloom and grow. Until I began noticing little miracles.
It all began early one morning when I noticed my thriving, healthy curry leaf plant (kadi patta / sweet neem) was suddenly almost bald! As I looked at it totally aghast and bewildered by this overnight transformation, I spied a quiet movement. It was a caterpillar. An itty-bitty, ugly thing, splotchy brown and yellow in colour. My first instinct was to shake the pest off my precious plant until I realized this caterpillar was going to undoubtedly turn into my favourite insect – a butterfly.
The balding curry leaf plant became my new obsession and I stalked the caterpillar everyday. From an ugly baby s/he grew into a stunning green caterpillar almost exactly the colour of all the curry leaves it consumed. It ate a lot of leaves (and I mean a lot!) I was afraid my plant was going to run out.
Luckily, for both of us, before that happened, it changed into a Pupa hanging off a stalk, camouflaged by the leaves. I started worrying about birds getting to it and so gently shifted the pot to a more sheltered spot.
My beautiful butterfly rested all day, drying it’s wings and gaining strength. That evening it flew away.
It was a truly magical experience to watch every stage of the metamorphosis.
Since then, my balcony has attracted many caterpillars and butterflies.
If you want to experience the magic here are some plants that will help. The Common Mormon Butterfly likes to lay it’s eggs on the Curry Leaf plant and Lime plants – yes it’s possible to keep that in a pot! I grew mine from seeds. My Gardenia plant (Cape Jasmine or Gandharaj) was once consumed by nine, (yes! nine!) Hawk Moth Caterpillars. When they gobbled up every single leaf, and few were in turn gobbled up by birds, Google suggested I transfer them to a Periwinkle plant (Sadabahar). Besides host plants for Caterpillars, a good garden must have flowers for butterflies – Marigolds are a good choice, Zinnias, Cosmos, Ixora. It’s a good idea to add some leafy plants to the mix for shelter and hiding spots. I hope your garden brings you as much joy as mine gives me!
Butterflies are fascinating. My favourites are the Tiny Grass Blue Butterfly, Common Mormon(of course!), Monarch and the Common Wanderer. If you love butterflies, you should check out Ovalekar Wadi Butterfly Garden, Thane or visit Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali.
(The writer is Coordinator at St Joseph’s Convent International School, Bandra West
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