Hopping Around Butterflies

I entered the closed area filled with flora and fauna, hundreds of butterflies, each one more beautiful than the other, all shapes and sizes and of different designs, all fluttered around me at the ‘Butterfly Center’ The temperature was just right ( 25-29 degrees centigrade and 80% relative humidity) and a soft music played in the background. I stretched my hand and one butterfly came to rest on my hand, “Leave it free, if you touch it, it will die the next day, Butterflies are very fragile, you must not disturb it while they are feeding on flowers” said the supervisor. I let it free after few moments of bliss.

‘Butterfly Center’ is just opposite my shop at Icod de los Vinos and many tourists visit it everyday. I remember one day, a lady had entered my shop to buy a souvenir, as soon as she opened her purse to pay, one large beautiful butterfly escaped from her purse and flew around me. I saw her look and realized that she had stolen it.

Indeed, Butterfly center had beautiful butterflies. They have many species directly imported from special breeding centers (Malaysia, Philippines, Costa Rica,  Australia, etc.)

I pointed to this one and asked her, where was this one from, and she said “India” Ah well!

The dust that covers the butterfly wings is actually tiny scales that give color and design to the wings. These scales give the name to the butterfly (Lepido=scale, and petron=wings). There is no other insect that has got scales.

One of the women had one particular species of butterfly surround and follow her wherever she went. She was curious as to why that particular species followed and not the others, on enquiring the attendant, she was told that they followed one particular type of scent. I asked her what cream she applied and she said that she used Aloe vera products. (no wonder!)

Butterflies mainly feed on the flowers’ nectar. They also like to suck on ripe fruit juices, as well as trees’ sap and even animal secretion such as tears or urine, from which they obtain salts and minerals.

There were tortoise, fishes and reptiles too. The children were more amused with that, so while they chased the butterflies, they stood to gape at animals too.

I had never seen so many butterflies under one roof. I was filled with awe and waited at one spot, still and quiet, almost holding my breath, hoping that many butterflies would surround me too.

Celebrating Children’s Day 2010 Virtually

I remember celebrating this day with gusto when I was a kid. Every year this day would be celebrated in school with snacks (popcorn, wafers, glucose biscuits and candies), some balloons, gifts, games and same boring speech by our principle.

Every year we would hear the same story that November 14 is celebrated as Children's Day across India to mark the birthday of India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlala Nehru. He loved children very much and was popularly known as 'Chacha Nehru' (Uncle Nehru)!

Every year I would hear our teachers say “Children are the future of tomorrow, you must grow up to be good citizens” and I would anxiously wait for the future when I would be fully grown up.

But I never grew.

The child in me refused to grow up. (what to do?) I am still excited by the rainbow on a cloudy day (yayaya!!). I will still run after a colorful butterfly. (Yipeee!) I still laugh heartily at a good/bad joke (Hahhaaha). I still get annoyed when people ignore me(eeewww). I will still cry/sob when I am sad.(sniff! sniff!)

This year, children’s day was on a Sunday. Normally, my virtual world is closed on Sundays.

Sunday is the family time and I try to avoid going online as much as possible, (although not always successful). There are moments when I peep into my smart phone for a while, stealing some moments from the family time. And with BB within my reach, it is easy to do that. Actually I don’t do it but that child in me does it. (So not my fault at all)

Thus, at the end of the day, when I finally went online on my desk-top (the proper proffessional way), I saw that I had missed a great party.

The great party was at twitter board.

People had tweeted about various things they did #wheniwasakid and (I had missed it, but noworries) I was happy to tweet on this hash even though I knew none of my friends were there online.

#whenIwasakid I would steal baby milk powder and eat it secretly when aunt would be asleep

#whenIwasakid i never knew how to swim or went for any extra class

#whenIwasakid I always worried abt fan falling off from ceiling n crushing me

#whenIwasakid I was afraid of every person in uniform, be it police or a nurse or even a nun

#whenIwasakid I was terribly afraid of earthquake and had tied mom's pallu to my little finger n followed her wherever she went

People had chatted about the things they did in their childhood at #bachhpan too and had posted their childhood pics. It was interesting to read all those tweets. My friend saw me online and asked me to post my childhood picture.

I didn’t have any.

Perhaps my family was not very rich or maybe I was not that pretty enough for my parents to invest money on camera or maybe- both. I don’t have any childhood pictures. There are few pictures clicked by rich uncles and aunts who must have visited my family during that time, but there is none of me alone. But since my friend wanted me to upload my profile picture, I stole one from baby wall-papers on net and posted at a collage titled twitter #bachpan 2010.


I was happy to see my picture in that collage

When I visited google to search for a picture of babies, the picture on the google page was a pleasant surprise created by 14 year old kid from Mangalore-Akshay Raj who won the second Doodle4Google India 2010 competition!

His logo was up on Google India's homepage throughout the day. He named it as 'My dream for India in 2030'. I must appreciate his thoughts as it clearly speaks of his dream, his maturity at such a young age. The logo simply sums up every aspect of growing India

Last hour of the children’s day was spend reading about my friends childhood memories and having a good laugh, and like every other day, I need a midnight feast, walked to my kitchen to extract a box of sweets , thus ended the day with a bite of cold sweet laddoo – sinfully

Find me at twitter at pushpz

World Tourism Day on 27th September can be best celebrated in Icod De Los Vinos.

A theme for this year is ´Responding to the challenges of climate change and global warming. And Icod De Los Vinos challenges nature against all odd. A ten-thousand year old Dragon tree called Drago Millinario stands there erect in Icod De Los Vinos, greeting the tourists, who bend in all the possible angles to get the best shot of this tree which has the appearance of a giant frayed rope. People are fascinated by its unusual characteristics that include the gnarled wood, geometric buds and the sheer longevity of each specimen have earned it plenty of attention and respect over the years. Guanche ( the early inhabitants of Tenerife) elders and kings held court beneath the canopy of these trees, and the people believed the tree could foretell the future - a fine blossom pointing to a fine harvest. But the dragon tree's most striking feature - the bleeding of red rubbery sap, or dragon's blood, when cut - has not only given the tree its name, but has also been used in a wide variety of applications. The Guanches used it in various healing salves, to keep their teeth healthy and even in their mummification process. More recently it has been used as dye in toothpaste, marble, Italian violins and Venetian ladies' hair. Besides the attraction of this Dragon Tree, there is also another place that has proved to be very popular with visitors and locals alike, and that is the Mariposario del Drago, butterfly gardens and centre. This is at the end of the road known as Avenida de Canarias, very close to the dragon tree. There are exotic flowering plants, bushes, creepers with glass gardens included, which really looks like enchanted paradise with butterflies flittering away all around you. Relaxing music adds to the spell as you wander through the path admiring flowers and butterflies all around you. You go down the steps to see the exhibition room with charts and display model of life cycle of a butter-fly as well as cases of mounted specimens of butterflies that died of natural causes in the garden. There is cinema room that provides screenings of interesting films about all sorts of insects, butterflies and moths. You can spend a whole day in the Icod De Los Vinos. There is a Hindu Bazaar called Tejban S.L. on the other side of the park called Plaza Andres De Lorenzo Caceras´`, which sells local wine, cigars, cameras, watches, accessories and the souvenirs to take back home. The owner, Mr Suresh Moorjani, speaks English and Spanish fluently and is very friendly. While you are there, you could also feast your eyes with the beautiful painting that are exhibited at ´Casa De Los Caceres´ which is the cultural centre of Icod. During the festivals there are musical, drama and poetry performances held there which are performed by talented artists. And don’t forget to enjoy the typical cuisine in Icod. To celebrate the world Tourism day, there are special events in Icod De los Vinos. From 10am to 2 pm there will processions with music and dance and free entry into the park.