The formula for the successful capture of critters is to always, but always, have your camera, or at least the phone with you. I didn’t, that day. I was in my three-fourths without pockets, and it was drizzling, so had left the phone inside the home while taking Luci out for her post-lunch pee-run.

By the way, what’s with clothes manufacturers being stingy about adding pockets to women’s clothes? True, we have handbags, but hey, who are you to decide for us? Do you know the time I spend trying to find pants with suitable pockets? I look at the men’s clothes section and they are positively rolling in ROOMY pockets, at the hip, on their bum, thigh level and for all I know on their shin and ankles too. Pah. And what do we have for women, zilch! If I do find one with suitable pockets, not the decorative kind, so tiny and oh-so-dainty that it won’t fit a decent sized gnat in it, it is all I can do to not break into a song accompanied by all sorts of calisthenics that go by the name of dance in the movies churned out by the thousands in Bollywood.

Omg. I have done it again. Digressed big time. I’ll talk of pockets, because I have more to say, on another day.

I was talking of not having my phone with me while taking Luci out for her pee-run. And what should I see while waiting for her to finish doing her business? A pretty, and as yet (to me) unknown creature, flit around and settle on a raindrop-studded leaf. I thought it might be one of the usual suspects, one that I have already captured, so gave it only a casual glance. But that causal glance was enough to tell me this was someone new. I took a closer look. No, I had not seen or shot this one before. Where was the phone when I needed it? For that matter where was the pocket when I needed it… but I won’t go there because it will only make me go on a rant.

Trying to stand as stil as possible, I called out to the L&M. “I need the phone!” “What?!?” “I NEED my phone, a phone, …any phone. Quick!” Luckily for me, he obliged without asking too many questions. And that’s how I got this picture. I don’t yet know its name. I think it is a moth, not a butterfly. What do you think? Would anyone like to identify it for me?

© Shail Mohan 2020