I was walking beneath the trees. It was morning.

I saw some leaves on the ground. They were twirling down from the tall kadamba trees, even though it was not the season for leaves to fall. Some of the leaves were green, some yellow, and some brown. The foliage was dense but not very dense, and a little sunlight filtered through. The dappled light spread on the ground, creating the impression of fallen leaves.

I started walking on the leaves and suddenly all the brown leaves turned into butterflies. The leaf of a kadamba tree is slightly large, many times larger than a butterfly, I should have thought about this. But I still felt that the leaves had become butterflies. It was as if there was a flood of butterflies, the air was filled with their fluttering. Only then did it dawn upon me that there were hundreds of them sitting on the ground. I drew in a sharp breath in amazement. Were the butterflies laying eggs? But butterflies lay their eggs on leaves, not on the ground. Then these eggs turn into caterpillars and so begins the process of their turning into butterflies. Just last week, I’d noticed some bugs on...

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