A Butterfly Smile

Mathangi Subramanian

"Line
up class! Let’s go to the park," Laila Miss says.
All
the students hold hands, chattering away. Kavya stands by herself.
As
they start walking, Laila Miss asks, "Does anyone know what a
caterpillar becomes when it grows up?"
Kavya’s
stomach flips. She knows the answer! Should she say something?

Kavya
and her family have just moved to Bengaluru from her village.
They
live at the construction site where her parents work.
It’s
hard living in a half-finished house. The air smells of smoke, and
the honking traffic makes it hard to sleep. The towering buildings,
zooming cars, and busy people make her feel very, very small.

Kavya
has been coming to school for a week. She still hasn’t spoken to
anyone.
What
if they make fun of her accent? Or tease her because she’s never
been to school before?
Kavya
takes a deep breath and raises her hand. In a noisy city like
Bengaluru, she can’t be quiet forever.

"When
caterpillars grow up, they become butterflies," Kavya says.
"That’s
right!" Laila Miss says.
"Caterpillars
are only caterpillars for a few weeks," Kavya says. "They spend
that whole time eating leaves."
"They
must get very big," says Mary, her classmate.
"They
do!"
"After they eat and eat and eat, caterpillars weave cocoons on the sides of plants. They go inside, where they grow and change," says Kavya.

"That’s
correct," Laila Miss says. "They stay in the cocoons for about
two weeks. When they come out, they are butterflies."
"Look,
we’re at the park!" Mary says.
Kavya gasps. The park is covered in butterflies!

Blue
butterflies the colour of rivers.
Yellow butterflies the colour of
sunlight.
Orange
butterflies the colour of ripe chikoos.
Black-and-white butterflies
the colours of starry skies.
These are all the colours Kavya misses from her village.
She feels her heart flutter.

"Every year, butterflies travel thousands of kilometres to come to this park. They are here for more food, better weather, and a safe place
to lay eggs," Laila Miss says. "This journey is called
migration."

"Don’t
they get tired, flapping their wings for so long?" a classmate
asks.
"If
there is a strong wind, they don’t have to flap their wings,"
Kavya says. "They spread their wings and glide."
"That
must be bumpy," Mary whispers to Kavya.

Kavya
thinks about the bus ride to Bengaluru – squeezed in between all
the luggage. Bumping and tumbling for hours and hours and hours.
Is
that how a butterfly feels on the wind?

"When
butterflies migrate, they follow rivers. To stay healthy, they stop
along the riverbank to soak up minerals with their feet. It’s
called mud-puddling," Laila Miss says.
"Mud-puddling?"
Mary says. "That sounds like fun."
Mary
and Kavya smile at each other.
"It
is," Kavya says. "But now puddles are hard to find."
In
Kavya’s village, men in trucks take sand away from the river. The
weather gets hotter and hotter. There is less and less rain.

Last year, the river went dry.
The butterflies
didn’t have enough water to mud-puddle.
Kavya’s family didn’t
have enough water to farm.
That’s
why they moved to Bengaluru.

"You
know a lot about butterflies, Kavya," says Laila Miss.
"That’s
because they are my favourite insects," says Kavya.
"Why
do you love butterflies so much, Kavya?" asks Mary.
How
can Kavya choose just one thing?
She
loves how their bodies are sometimes spotted and sometimes striped.
How they drink nectar with their long noses. How they spread pollen,
which makes more flowers grow.

"They
fly far, but wherever they land, they make new friends," Kavya
says, squeezing Mary’s hand. "They’re very small, but they’re
also very brave."
"Just
like you," Laila Miss says.
Kavya
smiles a smile as wide as a butterfly’s wings.

Make
a Butterfly Rest Station
Butterflies
in India migrate twice a year. Their journey is getting harder and
harder because our forests and rivers are disappearing. Butterflies
don’t have enough places to rest. Many get tired along the way.
One
way to help butterflies is to make safe spaces for them to stop and
have a good meal.

Here’s
how to make a butterfly rest station:
Find
a flat vessel with high edges, like a thali or
a
plate.
Butterflies
love bright colours. Paint the vessel red, yellow, or orange.
Fill
the vessel with butterfly food. It’s easy to make! Mix four cups
of water with one cup of sugar.

Add pieces of over-ripe fruit. Butterflies love bananas, guavas, mangoes, papayas, and oranges.
Keep the vessel out on your veranda, windowsill, or anywhere outside.
Clean and refill the vessel every two to three days.
To attract even more butterflies, plant flowers that butterflies love. You can plant verbena, geraniums, dahlias, or sunflowers. You don’t need a lot of space – you can plant them in pots on the ground, or keep them on windowsills.