hoverfly

I'm in Himachal Pradesh, staying at my favourite guest house here: Horizon, by Gallu Temple. The last couple of days have been very warm and sunny. And this warm spell has brought out many hoverflies, and I am intrigued by these flies. As their name suggests, they like to hover, staying still in mid-air.

And a moment ago one of these hoverflies landed on my finger. It was exquisite. I could see all the detail of this little insect. Its wings were reflecting the light with some interference pattern producing the colours of the rainbow. There were its compound eyes, its slender legs, and a proboscis that was licking something off my finger, salt, or perspiration perhaps. It tickled a little. I could feel every footstep as it slowly wandered around on my finger. And mostly I could feel the cool, slightly damp touch, of its proboscis.

And watching this hoverfly, it made me realise just how much beauty there is in small things. Because we don't really have a measure for beauty, we get carried away by the size of things, the bigger the better. But it is not so. Even a tiny insect like this hoverfly is overflowing with beauty.

And another thing I realised, as I was looking at the fly, was just how much detail I can see when I'm relaxed, when I'm fascinated by something. Contrast this with the way I have to squint to read newspapers or other tedious human stuff. When I'm in nature, suddenly I can see. It's remarkable.

Anyway, I was very happy to spend a few moments, intimate moments, with a hoverfly, as it licked my finger.