Earth Sublime

Thursday, July 26, 2007

What immortal hand or eye could frame thy gentle beaut

What immortal hand or eye could frame thy gentle beauty (to alter William Blake’s poem a bit)

As they flit from flower to flower, they are like poetry in motion. I am, of course, alluding to the butterflies and moths. From the staid browns to the colourful blues, reds, yellows and mesmerizing blacks, they come in all colours. They carry off the beautiful patterns and the mix of colours so elegantly. Our creator was perhaps in a mood for experimentation (especially with colours) when he made these gentle, delicate beauties. At my home town in K R Nagar, there is village close by called Chandgal which has a lake. Many a bird I have seen hovering around the lake; butterflies and dragon flies are also present here in good numbers. During my last visits to the place (sometime in the first and third week of July), the lake was devoid of all these delicate creatures. The monsoon wind's had swept them off and now they had taken residence in the areca nut, mango and pepper plantation some distance away from the lake.
It seemed like a mass exodus had taken place; I saw all these butterflies had now made the plantation their home, spreading happiness and cheer as they flew, some being perched on the lantana bushes, and on the wild weeds adjoining the fence and the canal that bordered the plantation. Watching a palm fly in these dark, cool and quiet plantation habitat is truly a sublime experience!

My album is testimony to the beauty and fragility of these butterflies and moths.

I must also mention that I was welcomed by the farmers here who allowed me access to their plantation and were warm and friendly, narrating many a tale.

Please visit our web site for more photographs
http://picasaweb.google.com/earthsublime/ButterfliesJuly2007

Sunita Raghu