Seated near the garden in the backyard of our house, I was imbibing the serene joy of the fog-mantled wintry morning illumined by the sun. Suddenly, there came my spouse. Stepping into the garden, she began gazing keenly at each plant. My eyes darted towards her movements.“Oh my God, again these devils have come,” she screamed, touching the leaves of a plant. Startled, I rose and watched the plants to find out what she was talking about. But I couldn’t find anything devilish in the garden except her screaming. Baffled, I asked her, “What are the devils?” “Come close to these plants,” my wife muttered. Curiosity aroused, I went where she was standing. “See for yourself,” she urged me.
I gazed at the leaves. There were a couple of caterpillars, their bodies so soft, hairy, moving sluggishly, exhibiting queer fleshy folds. Peering at them, I let out a laugh to the discomfiture of my consort and said casually, “They are not devils. They are just caterpillars. Creeping slowly, in a few minutes, they’ll disappear. They are harmless creatures.”
“You say they are harmless creatures. See this leaf. These devils have eaten half of it. Gluttons. Wretched devils.” She began sprinkling pesticide over the caterpillars and they were falling off the leaves. Horrified, I said, “Why don’t you throw them away? Maybe they are ugly and harmful to the plants now. But they are all butterflies-to-be.” “No, I can’t let them survive.
If I throw them away, they’ll come back and cause more damage to the plants,” she replied. “If you leave them, they’ll survive and metamorphose into colourful butterflies bringing more beauty to the garden. Not just that, they will serve the plants as pollinators,” I told her. But she disagreed.
Caterpillars then ceased to appear on the leaves of the plants. My spouse was delighted. I wondered if there would be any more butterflies visiting our garden. The wheel of time rolled by fast. One morning, my wife woke me up, pulling off the blanket and led me by hand into our garden. “You said there would be no butterflies in our garden.
Now, see them here,” she said with a triumphant smile. In immense amazement, rubbing sleep off my eyes, I gazed into our garden. There were many butterflies, their rainbow wings flying, hovering and flitting around the blossoms blooming in our garden.Nature has its own mysterious designs for safeguarding its creatures and perpetuating its wondrous creations. Elated by this realisation, I got enlightened about Mother Nature.