A brilliant capture by blogger friend Magiceye, of an Oak Leaf Butterfly, at the Ovalekar Butterfly Garden , on the outskirts, north-east of Mumbai, and posted as part of the Mumbai Daily: Camera Critters series. At first I thought it was a dried leaf, involuntary pushed along by the wind, blocked by a trash can . And was soon amazed to know that it was an oak leaf butterfly, thanks to its legs !
Oakleaf Butterfly (Kallima inachus),is native to tropical Asia, India and Japan. With its wings closed it looks like a dried leaf with darkish veins. While it displays drab woody colors on the outside , brilliant colors like blue and orange are visible when it opens it wings.
There is a native intelligence about when and where to behave like a leaf, and when to display its real colors, and an abiding respect for the environment in which it thrives.
Which is more than I can say about some folks I read about in the papers......
(photograph by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)
pretending to be
what they are not.
Crooks
pretending to be
saviours;
Mafia types
pretending to be saints;
Quacks
pretending to be doctors;
Water in Mumbai
pretending to be potable;
Trash in Mumbai
pretending to be invisible.
All fail,
because
what they are
and what they strive to be
is not on the same
line and length.
And then there's
this butterfly,
so enamoured of
its own life
in the woods,
that
it pretends
inobtrusively,
to be a leaf
slowly flitting in the breeze,
one side stuck
amidst lines of the trash basket,
as it peers
and climbs the lines,
to see if any flowers
or rotting fruits
are inside....
The trick to being accepted
is never
money,
power,
or size.
It's about being one
with
those around
where you live.
