Butterflies in our complex

[This post was updated with new sightings till December 2021. A total of 38 species were identified.]

All of us have surely encountered butterflies at some point in time (apart from the butterflies in our stomachs!). We learn about them in primary school. Sometimes they fly into us and make us jump. Often we see them just flutter by, so quick that we can’t even give them a second glance.

Ever since lockdown, we haven’t really been anywhere in Mumbai. No restaurants, no malls, no parks – except for the park in our Whispering Palms Complex, that is usually quite empty. Over the last few months during our daily walks, we looked forward to seeing the different birds in our backyard. More recently though, we noticed the many different butterflies – not surprising, given the sprawling gardens with abundance of trees and flowers, some wild and some nurtured.

Great Eggfly male sucking out nectar

Birds in our backyard

One of my earlier posts was about some of the purple and pink flowers currently seen in our Whispering Palms Complex. Where there are trees and flowers, there will be birds and other living creatures!

Over the last few weeks we’ve been trying to catch some afternoon sun between the rains, and in the process, we’ve become more aware of the presence of the birds in the campus. The silence during lockdown has made the bird sounds more audible and we try to search them out in the direction of their calls. Many of the birds have their favourite trees and branches, so these days, we look out for them at the same spots, and usually they’re somewhere around there. [Now we know how the guides on jungle safaris know exactly where to stop to show you certain animals.]

Some of the birds sit still for extended periods of time, and even if they fly off, they return to the same place. Like the Coppersmith Barbet that allowed me to go all the way back home to pick up my camera.

Coppersmith barbet

Waste Management Diaries – 3 (Clothes)

“I’ve always thought of myself as someone who cares about the environment. I’ve recycled for as long as I can remember, I’m on my way to having a plastic-free kitchen and I always try to take public transport instead of driving. But until last year I was guilty of unknowingly contributing to 1m tonnes of waste a year, more carbon emissions than the shipping and aviation industries combined, and microplastics ending up in the ocean – just by buying new clothes.” – Radhika Sanghani, writer (Read the article here.)

Clothes. We get, we use, and then we give or throw away.

Give or throw away could happen for many reasons such as…
– the article no longer fits (we have grown)
– the article is not fit to be worn by us anymore (faded, stained, worn-out, torn, broken buckle, etc.)
– we do not use it (it was bought on impulse or an undesired gift)
– we do not have space to keep it (we have more than we need)
– we are just bored with it (we’ve worn it a few times already).

Our society receives a variety of personal clothes on a daily basis. Some are deposited in the collection bins kept for the purpose, some are left by residents outside their doors along with the dry waste, and some are picked up from miscellaneous locations (most likely left by helpers who took the things given by their bosses but actually did not want them).

WPXX Waste Management Diaries – 1 (Tetra Paks)

Waste Management. This is a hot topic at Whispering Palms Xxclusives CHS, Kandivali East, Mumbai (WPXX),  these days, and one would not be wrong in attributing this majorly to the society’s composting efforts.

While interacting with residents over the past several weeks it has been most fulfilling to note that there are many who are aware that we are responsible for the mess we have created in our country and we have to try to set things right. There are many though, who still feel that they have no role to play, oblivious of the gravity of the waste situation, some relying on their good fortune to buy them out if the need arises.

The society was pushed to start managing its waste in an organised manner, through segregation at source, by MCGM’s 2017 notification. All credit to the MC and members of WPXX for taking strong steps to ensure compliance. In November 2017, we formed an informal team of waste management volunteers comprising of residents who felt they had the time and the inclination to implement the waste segregation guidelines developed for the society. It is this group that laid the foundation of the solid waste management system we have in place.

Colour My Township on Earth Day

This Earth Day, 22nd April 2018 (and the previous day), residents from the western suburb of Mumbai, Kandivali East’s Lokhandwala Township got together to participate in the “Colour My Township” initiative, organised by We All Connect (wAc) with the support of Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited.

wAc is a community group that was formed to promote bonding and oneness among residents of the township. A few months ago, the group painted a small wall together and members found that painting compound walls together with neighbours is a good way to get to know them.