Butterfly, Fly Away!

(Based on a real incident) 

The morning was beginning on a rather dull note. I sat alone and had my breakfast amidst a huge crowd of my colleagues at the office cafeteria. I noticed one of my breakfast buddies sitting a few tables across from me. I tried to call him using my Apple watch, but like any technology, it was just the right amount of a tedious process for me to give up and continue munching alone. I stared outside the window at the bright sun rays lighting up the broad leaves of a tree and was soon lost in the thoughts of my early morning retrospection. With the last sip of my coffee that was now cold, I was finally done with another day's breakfast.

Scuffling through the maze of tables and onwards to the washbasin, I chose to ignore everyone on my way out of the canteen. A solitary soul like me sometimes just wished for a quiet morning to start my day. Outside the food court, I felt a deep relief seep through me. The serenity of the surrounding trees and fresh breeze over my face was indeed relaxing. I was headed towards my cubicle when my eyes fell on the vibrant red and black wings of a butterfly on the ground. It was still. I halted in my path, afraid that it was dead. Instinctively, I tried to gently poke it with the front of my shoes to verify my suspicion. Thankfully it was alive! It moved but didn't flutter or fly away. That piqued my curiosity as to why this beautiful butterfly with grand and intact wings couldn't fly. A part of me wanted to help it but the other part thought to leave it to its fate. After all, I was no butterfly expert, but I knew it was quite impossible to resuscitate an injured butterfly. Besides, I had work to attend to. In this dilemma of a few seconds, my heart won over my head and I bent down to pick it up. It moved its long and narrow legs and climbed onto my palm quite voluntarily. That came by as a surprise! I was not able to observe what was wrong with it. So I decided to bring him some food, hoping it will help.

I walked to the back of our office building where there was a grove of hibiscus trees in bloom. The butterfly was perched on my finger all the way along. I hoped the sweet nectar of the flowers would revive the struggling thing. But alas when I reached the garden, there were no flowers! They had all withered under the blazing sun of yesterday. I frantically searched for any fresh flower in that green patch of land. Luckily, the violet hued periwinkle flower at a corner caught my eyes. I rushed towards it and placed the butterfly gently on one of them. It still seemed to be unreceptive and was reluctant to leave my finger. I was worried that the summer's heat had probably dehydrated this tiny being, so I wet some tissues with water from a nearby washroom and placed it under the butterfly. It showed no interest or relief either from the flower or the water. I was perplexed since nothing I did was helpful. I knew I had to do more. I looked at its presumably eyes, which looked like two big dark dome-shaped buttons on either side of his slender body, and said, "You will be alright dear, don't worry".  For a moment it felt like the butterfly was looking right back at me and somehow it understood what I said. Encouraged by this acknowledgement from the butterfly, I hastened to my cubicle to find the cure online.

A couple of blogs on the Internet explained that the butterfly could have been affected by parasites or the cold. Feeding it some honey or sugar mixed in water could help it. I was already late for my work. But I could not bring myself to abandon this helpless thing. So I decided to arrange some sugary solution. There was a paper cup at my desk. Using a pair of scissors I cut the cup horizontally to almost its base, to shape it like a petri dish. I picked a few crystals of sugar from the closest tea counter and mixed it with some warm water, swirling my finger in that paper cup to make the concoction of sugary syrup. Eagerly I tried to feed the butterfly, but it  was more interested to sit on my finger than have a tasty meal. It started walking on my finger when I tried to dip its proboscis in the solution, as if to protest how bad my cooking is. Since it was not showing any signs of recovering, I was starting to worry a bit more. In the meantime, another of my colleagues had joined to witness the drama ensuing between us. We both observed the wings of the butterfly carefully to declare that it was strong enough to fly. While all this discussion was going on, a few other colleagues also passed by. I wonder what they would have thought about this crazy woman wasting her time on a butterfly. But I was oblivious to all the judgemental glances being thrown my way. Helping this gorgeous creature was my top priority.

God hears sincere prayers. He heard mine. Suddenly the butterfly flapped its wings and soared up and away from my fingers in a flash of a second. I had never been so happy to see a butterfly take wings! I followed it as it made its way to the grove and out onto the open sky. In leaps and bounds it started flying higher and higher, and with every inch that it was gaining above me, my heart was pounding with joy! I had all the gadgets with me to record this beautiful moment but no digital record could capture what I was feeling deep inside. This moment froze in my memory forever. 

Humanity is all about the connection with Nature. I will always distinctly remember looking into the complex compound eyes of this tiny insect which seemed to understand my warm words of strength and support to get all that it needed to take off into the big wide world! No food, no water, but only love and warmth conquered today.

"Butterfly, fly away", I whispered to my friend and left for my cubicle with a smile on my face and the warmth of kindness and love in my heart.