THE DAMSELS
I always had this doubt. Why are they called dragonflies? These slender beautiful long tailed flies cannot be dragons.
Finally, I killed my curiosity by logging onto the website of `Odonata of India.' I found that they were damselflies and not dragon flies. I couldn't help but smile. Whoever named them have done an excellent job. Damsels they are.
Every year, soon after Onam, they are everywhere in the garden. Mostly hopping around in pairs. Like how we have to stop and watch an aeroplane fly by, these damselflies have to be beheld too.
Our room can be reached through the stairs outside the house only. So every time I pass by the small garden below the stairs, I see them flying joyfully. It is an unkempt green space, with plants like turmeric, sugar cane and lots of tulsi. There is a curry leaf tree by the side and a betel tree at the far end of the compound. I see these damsels flying around from one tulsi to another jasmine and to a lily. I stop and settle on the last step to watch them and some days even try to catch one.
I have caught hundreds of them, even made them lift small stones. Hearing this, my kids wanted to catch them too. I said they are so fragile that they need to be handled with extra care, Last week after school, as we reached home and were going upstairs to change, we saw around five of them. And decided to catch one.
The trick is patience. And silence. They will sit as if totally dead to their surroundings. But they are so alert that they take off a moment before we have their fingers on them. We positioned ourselves exactly behind one and almost got one when my daughter sneezed. Another five minutes went by, before we could finally get to hold one. I held it on its tail, but my husband said I should be holding it by the wings. Its tail can break. So I held it by the wings and put upon a stone which it lifted. There was a cheer from all four and then we let it fly away. But I still think its tail is good to be held not the wings.
Every now and then, my daughter is trying to catch one. She screams `thumbi thumbi' as she sees one. The damsels deserve that joy for the beauty they spread. In the coming weeks, we are expecting the dragon flies too. Hundreds of them will roam around in the pond behind our house at this season. It is a sight to behold. But they are not damsels. So nobody cares.
Finally, I killed my curiosity by logging onto the website of `Odonata of India.' I found that they were damselflies and not dragon flies. I couldn't help but smile. Whoever named them have done an excellent job. Damsels they are.
Every year, soon after Onam, they are everywhere in the garden. Mostly hopping around in pairs. Like how we have to stop and watch an aeroplane fly by, these damselflies have to be beheld too.
Our room can be reached through the stairs outside the house only. So every time I pass by the small garden below the stairs, I see them flying joyfully. It is an unkempt green space, with plants like turmeric, sugar cane and lots of tulsi. There is a curry leaf tree by the side and a betel tree at the far end of the compound. I see these damsels flying around from one tulsi to another jasmine and to a lily. I stop and settle on the last step to watch them and some days even try to catch one.
I have caught hundreds of them, even made them lift small stones. Hearing this, my kids wanted to catch them too. I said they are so fragile that they need to be handled with extra care, Last week after school, as we reached home and were going upstairs to change, we saw around five of them. And decided to catch one.
The trick is patience. And silence. They will sit as if totally dead to their surroundings. But they are so alert that they take off a moment before we have their fingers on them. We positioned ourselves exactly behind one and almost got one when my daughter sneezed. Another five minutes went by, before we could finally get to hold one. I held it on its tail, but my husband said I should be holding it by the wings. Its tail can break. So I held it by the wings and put upon a stone which it lifted. There was a cheer from all four and then we let it fly away. But I still think its tail is good to be held not the wings.
Every now and then, my daughter is trying to catch one. She screams `thumbi thumbi' as she sees one. The damsels deserve that joy for the beauty they spread. In the coming weeks, we are expecting the dragon flies too. Hundreds of them will roam around in the pond behind our house at this season. It is a sight to behold. But they are not damsels. So nobody cares.
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