How Butterflies chartered my entrepreneurial Journey?

The Grass Yellow Beginnings

I can still picture the monsoon of 1992, when I reared my very first caterpillar—a tiny Grass Yellow. The eggs were neatly laid on the leaves of Cassia tora (Takala), that humble monsoon herb-vegetable sprouting along roadsides. Within three days, they hatched into fragile green caterpillars. A week later, the pupa formed, and soon after, the miracle unfolded—a delicate adult butterfly emerged. In just two weeks, I had witnessed an entire life cycle. That small transformation left me awestruck.

The experience lit a spark in me, and by 1993, while at BNHS, I was determined to make butterflies the focus of my master’s research. Yet fate nudged me elsewhere. My mentor, the late Mr. Naresh Chaturvedi, gently diverted me towards moths—a detour that became my lifelong journey.

Fast forward to today, and that first Grass Yellow has echoed through everything I have built. Ladybird Environmental Consulting LLP, iNaturewatch Foundation , and Birdwing Publishers —all three entities, in different ways, orbit around butterfly conservation.

If someone asked me when my butterfly story truly began, I could give many answers. Perhaps it began at BNHS, when I launched Breakfast with Butterflies in 2004, introducing families to the joy of morning field walks. Or maybe it began in Karjat, when we created Kehimkar’s Butterfly Garden and hosted another Breakfast with Butterflies in 2024, bringing the circle full turn.

But if I am honest, my butterfly story doesn’t have a single beginning or end. Like the butterflies themselves, it has been a journey of transformations—each stage flowing seamlessly into the next, each chapter preparing for the one to come.

Since this month is Big Butterfly Month, I felt it was the perfect time to share not just the story of butterflies, but also my own journey with them in this week’s edition.

The Seed of a Movement

Big Butterfly Month (BBM) began in 2018 as a vision to bring together scattered butterfly events across India into one unified celebration. At the time, butterfly walks and surveys were already happening in different corners—small, passionate groups wandering through parks, sanctuaries, and gardens, noting species and teaching identification. The spark of BBM was to connect these dots, to take what was happening locally and scale it into something nationwide.

It was a bold but simple idea: for one whole month, India would celebrate butterflies. People would walk, observe, record, photograph, and share their sightings. All for free, all guided by volunteers, all data feeding into open citizen science platforms like Butterflies of India, iNaturalist, and India Biodiversity Portal.

When I first heard of BBM, it felt deeply familiar—almost like an echo of what I had already seen with Breakfast with Butterflies and later with our butterfly gardens. Just as a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis fully formed yet fragile, BBM emerged as a delicate but powerful idea—ready to spread wings across the country.

What's Breakfast with Butterflies?

Back in 2003, as a young Fulbright Fellow, I had the good fortune of visiting the Bronx Zoo. One morning I found myself at an event charmingly titled Breakfast with Butterflies. Americans have a knack for coining catchy names—there seems to be a word for every experience in their dictionary.

The event was held inside their Butterfly Garden, where families mingled with caged butterflies. There were activity stations too—tanks with curious critters, meant to introduce visitors to the “ancestors” of butterflies. The only surprise? There was no actual breakfast, apart from what you could buy at their café—an amusingly American twist on hospitality.

When I returned to India, I carried the idea with me. At the time, I was working at the Bombay Natural History Society ( Bnhs ) ’s Conservation Education Centre. In October 2004, we announced our own Breakfast with Butterflies. The title itself sparked enormous curiosity, and the event drew an overwhelming response.

Our version was designed for families and had all the flavors of a multi-cuisine spread—except instead of food, it was everything butterflies. We had guided butterfly walks, quiz corners, photography booths, gardening tips, baiting demonstrations, even face-painting for children. Of course, unlike the Bronx version, we also served real breakfast—tea, snacks, and the joy of sharing a meal while butterflies flitted freely around.

The formula was an instant hit. Soon, every October, whenever we announced the event, it would sell out quickly. The idea spread beyond BNHS—other organizations and even other states began hosting their own versions. For me, the deepest satisfaction came 20 years later, when I organized an independent Breakfast with Butterflies under our nonprofit iNaturewatch Foundation, carrying forward the tradition in my own way.

The Spark That Became a Movement

Every great idea starts as a whisper. For butterflies, it might be the gentle cracking of an egg, or the first tentative nibble of a caterpillar. For Big Butterfly Month (BBM), the whisper began in 2018.

Butterfly walks and surveys were already happening across India. Local clubs, schools, and NGOs would gather small groups for weekend strolls through gardens, forests, or schoolyards. Each group was doing valuable work, but in isolation. The spark of BBM was to connect these scattered dots into a bigger picture: what if, for one whole month, we all celebrated together?

It was an idea as simple as nectar—and just as nourishing. September was chosen because it is the season of wings in India: post-monsoon skies are alive with Common Jezebels, Emigrants, Grass Yellows, and Tigers. Nature is bursting with life, and butterflies are at their peak.

The call went out: “Join us, wherever you are. Step outside, watch butterflies, record your sightings, and share them. No fees. No sponsors. No exclusivity. Just an invitation.

By 2024, BBM had grown into a pan-India celebration:

• 20+ states involved

• 80+ partner organizations

• 317 district coordinators

• 5,310 participants

• 135 programs in one month

These aren’t just numbers—they’re stories. They’re schoolchildren in Nagaland spotting their first Jezebel, senior citizens in Pune rediscovering childhood memories of chasing butterflies, and homemakers in Mumbai proudly identifying caterpillars in their balcony garden

Trivia Pause: Did You Know?

• The largest butterfly in India is the Southern Birdwing (Troides minos), with a wingspan of up to 19 cm—about the size of your outstretched palm.

• The smallest is the Grass Jewel (Freyeria trochylus), no bigger than a fingernail.

• Butterflies can “taste” with their feet. Imagine if you could walk into a bakery and instantly know which pastry was the sweetest—without taking a bite!

These snippets are reminders that butterflies carry stories both scientific and cultural. And BBM is where these stories come alive, not in dusty museum cabinets, but in fields, gardens, and even city sidewalks.

The Ladybird Connection to Butterflies

When I co-founded Ladybird Environmental Consulting in July 2011, butterflies once again became central to my work. It was the very start of my entrepreneurial journey, and I was still finding my footing in the competitive CSR space, where established nonprofits already dominated. I knew that to make a mark, I would need to offer something disruptive—something different enough to be noticed.

That’s when the idea took shape: why not offer plantation plans with a biodiversity twist? Instead of just planting trees, we proposed creating butterfly gardens, habitats, and parks—living spaces that would nurture both biodiversity and community engagement.

The concept clicked. Our very first client, Tata Motors, embraced the idea without much convincing. Their support gave us a breakthrough, and what began with them still continues to flourish 11 years later.

The model felt obvious, too, because I had Isaac Kehimkar—the Butterfly Man of India— as my partner. With his unmatched knowledge and passion, together we began designing and establishing butterfly gardens and parks under the umbrella of iNaturewatch Foundation’s CSR initiatives.

Over the past decade, this vision has blossomed into 45 butterfly spaces across India—each one a micro-ecosystem, a classroom, and a sanctuary rolled into one.

The iNaturewatch Connection

Back in 2014, I was fortunate to win the U.S. State Department’s Alumni Innovation Engagement Fund, a global competition that allowed me to bring a long-cherished idea to life. Through that grant, we developed three mobile apps—iTrees, iButterflies, and iNaturewatch Birds—under the project banner iNaturewatch Mobile Apps. What began as a digital experiment soon grew wings of its own. By 2016, it formally evolved into the iNaturewatch Foundation.

From the very beginning, the foundation became a hub for creative, accessible nature education. We organized butterfly-related events across communities, launched an online course called Butterflies for Beginners, and even ran Caterpillar Rearing Competitions for Schools, where children learned the magical life cycle of butterflies by nurturing their own tiny charges.

Among our most impactful projects has been Butterfly Patrol, a CSR initiative through which we created 15 butterfly gardens across Navi Mumbai police stations. These were not just green patches but symbols of resilience and healing—gardens that offered both biodiversity and a moment of calm for those working in one of the city’s toughest jobs.

Today, the foundation is deeply woven into the fabric of Big Butterfly Month. Every September, we step forward with a full calendar of events that combine fun, science, and reflection. In 2025, our schedule looks like this:

• Sep 6 | Gardening for Butterflies webinar with Isaac Kehimkar

• Sep 7 | Walk at Taloja Hill Forest with Roshni Tiwari

• Sep 14 | Walk at Kehimkar’s Butterfly Garden, Karjat

• Sep 21 | Walk at SGNP Mulund with Priti Choghale

• Sep 27 | Webinar: Butterfly Business with Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi

• Sep 28 | Walk at Ambivli Biodiversity Park with Gaurav Soman

Each event offered something unique: gardening sessions taught participants how to create butterfly-friendly spaces; walks offered direct observation in the field; webinars opened up discussions on science, conservation, and even entrepreneurship. Woven together, they became a kaleidoscope of learning—a reminder that butterfly conservation is as much about people as it is about insects. Visit iNaturewatch Foundation to register for these events.

Why It Feels Like a Festival?

On a BBM weekend, it’s not uncommon to feel like you’ve stepped into a living fairground—only the attractions have wings.

• Guided walks become classrooms Naturalists and teachers lead gentle meanders through parks, campuses, and coastal paths. Along the way, people learn to read wings like stories—how a Blue Tiger navigates sunlight, or why a Peacock Pansy radiates color under morning light.

• Transects and timed counts—science in walking shoes Volunteers trace known paths or time their observing sojourns—15 to 30 minutes of butterfly tallying. Each note, each photograph builds the data map of Indian butterflies.

• Bioblitz weekends—the treasure hunts of nature For two days, everyone turns naturalist. Beginners thrill at their first “lifer” (first-ever sighting); veterans fill knowledge gaps. Across India, community records bloom.

• ID jams & photo clinics At event centers or under trees, volunteers coach participants through tricky identifications—Is it a Common Tiger or a Plain Tiger? Grass Yellow or Emigrant? Every query sharpens awareness.

BBM has even inspired creative pursuits: butterfly races span regions where participants photograph all life stages—egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly—like nature’s relay race

The Butterfly Man’s Childhood

Isaac Kehimkar, my friend and colleague, often shares how he first fell in love with butterflies.As a boy, he would wander through Mumbai fields chasing caterpillars, ignoring cricket matches. What began as play became a lifelong devotion. His “Book of Indian Butterflies” is now the Bible for butterfly enthusiasts in India.

When participants meet him during BBM, they realize passion can turn into profession. His story proves that following curiosity—no matter how small—can transform into a lifetime of service to nature.

The Birdwing Connection

Birdwing Publishers took flight in 2018, the same year I brought out my very first book, Field Guide to Indian Moths. The idea was simple yet powerful: to have our own dedicated publishing wing that could give shape to field guides, educational material, and resources on natural history. And so, Birdwing was born.

The butterfly connection was clear from the very beginning. We named the company after the spectacular Birdwing butterflies, among the largest and most charismatic butterflies of the world. True to its name, Birdwing Publishers began adding butterfly touches to everything we did—designing butterfly stickers as souvenirs for our events, creating exhibits and signages for butterfly gardens, and making sure every product carried both knowledge and charm.

Now, we stand on the threshold of another milestone: the upcoming launch of Isaac Kehimkar’s fourth butterfly book—Field Guide to Indian Butterflies. For Birdwing Publishers, this isn’t just another book; it is a celebration of our shared passion, a continuation of the journey, and a tribute to the butterflies that inspired our name.

Why Butterflies Matter

Butterflies are often called “nature’s jewelry,” but their true value lies in their work. They are pollinators, prey, ecological indicators, and even climate storytellers. I like to think of them as ecological thermometers—just as we measure fever with a thermometer, we measure ecosystem health with butterflies.

Pollinators

While bees take the spotlight, butterflies also pollinate. As they sip nectar, their legs and proboscis brush against pollen, helping flowers reproduce—especially wildflowers that depend on daytime visitors.

Food Web Links

Butterflies and caterpillars are staples for birds, spiders, frogs, and insects. A bulbul may feed dozens of caterpillars to its chicks each day. Without them, nature’s food economy would collapse.

Bioindicators

Most importantly, butterflies are sensitive to change. Their shifting ranges and flight times reflect rising temperatures and altered habitats. In the Himalayas, lowland species are climbing higher; in the Western Ghats, some now emerge earlier in the season. These are nature’s warning lights, telling us that the environment is shifting.

Threats to Butterflies

Of course, butterflies are under pressure. Habitat loss, pesticide use, invasive plants, and climate change are shrinking their numbers. In cities, manicured lawns and pesticide-heavy gardens often drive butterflies away. In forests, deforestation removes host plants.

During BBM walks, participants sometimes ask, “Why don’t we see as many butterflies as we did when we were children?” The answer is sobering: urbanization and chemicals have quietly erased many species from daily life.

This makes BBM not just a celebration, but a quiet call to action.

How you can help?

This is how I’ve chosen to stand by butterflies—by creating gardens, nurturing habitats, and turning my passion into projects that ripple outward. But what about you? How are you caring for the butterflies in your own patch of the world? Are you leaving enough greenery, planting native host plants, or simply allowing wild corners to thrive so that butterflies can work their quiet magic?

Supporting butterflies doesn’t always require big gestures. Sometimes it begins with a single plant in a balcony pot, a patch of unmown grass, or the decision to avoid pesticides. Sometimes it means taking your children on a walk to notice the Jezebels, Tigers, and Grass Yellows that share your city.

And this month, you don’t even have to do it alone. Big Butterfly Month is here—a nationwide celebration where you can join walks, webinars, school activities, and garden events in your own community. It’s a chance to step outdoors, look a butterfly in the eye, and realize you’re part of a larger movement.

Because every sighting you record, every photograph you share, every plant you nurture becomes part of a story bigger than any one of us. It is a story of connection—between people, places, and the butterflies that stitch it all together.

So here’s my invitation: visit Big Butterfly Month website, join a local event, bring your curiosity, and let the wings of butterflies remind you what balance looks like. When butterflies thrive, so does the world around us. And when we come together to celebrate them, all truly is well.

As long as butterflies continue to flutter around us, we can take it as a sign that all is well with the world

When I co-founded Ladybird Environmental Consulting in July 2011, butterflies once again became central to my work. It was the very start of my entrepreneurial journey, and I was still finding my footing in the competitive CSR space, where established nonprofits already dominated. I knew that to make a mark, I would need to offer something disruptive—something different enough to be noticed.

That’s when the idea took shape: why not offer plantation plans with a biodiversity twist? Instead of just planting trees, we proposed creating butterfly gardens, habitats, and parks—living spaces that would nurture both biodiversity and community engagement.

The concept clicked. Our very first client, Tata Motors, embraced the idea without much convincing. Their support gave us a breakthrough, and what began with them still continues to flourish 11 years later.

The model felt obvious, too, because I had Isaac Kehimkar—the Butterfly Man of India— as my partner. With his unmatched knowledge and passion, together we began designing and establishing butterfly gardens and parks under the umbrella of iNaturewatch Foundation’s CSR initiatives.

Over the past decade, this vision has blossomed into 45 butterfly spaces across India—each one a micro-ecosystem, a classroom, and a sanctuary rolled into one.

The iNaturewatch Connection

Back in 2014, I was fortunate to win the U.S. State Department’s Alumni Innovation Engagement Fund, a global competition that allowed me to bring a long-cherished idea to life. Through that grant, we developed three mobile apps—iTrees, iButterflies, and iNaturewatch Birds—under the project banner iNaturewatch Mobile Apps. What began as a digital experiment soon grew wings of its own. By 2016, it formally evolved into the iNaturewatch Foundation.

From the very beginning, the foundation became a hub for creative, accessible nature education. We organized butterfly-related events across communities, launched an online course called Butterflies for Beginners, and even ran Caterpillar Rearing Competitions for Schools, where children learned the magical life cycle of butterflies by nurturing their own tiny charges.

Among our most impactful projects has been Butterfly Patrol, a CSR initiative through which we created 15 butterfly gardens across Navi Mumbai police stations. These were not just green patches but symbols of resilience and healing—gardens that offered both biodiversity and a moment of calm for those working in one of the city’s toughest jobs.

Today, the foundation is deeply woven into the fabric of Big Butterfly Month. Every September, we step forward with a full calendar of events that combine fun, science, and reflection. In 2025, our schedule looks like this:

• Sep 6 | Gardening for Butterflies webinar with Isaac Kehimkar

• Sep 7 | Walk at Taloja Hill Forest with Roshni Tiwari

• Sep 14 | Walk at Kehimkar’s Butterfly Garden, Karjat

• Sep 21 | Walk at SGNP Mulund with Priti Choghale

• Sep 27 | Webinar: Butterfly Business with Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi

• Sep 28 | Walk at Ambivli Biodiversity Park with Gaurav Soman

Each event offered something unique: gardening sessions taught participants how to create butterfly-friendly spaces; walks offered direct observation in the field; webinars opened up discussions on science, conservation, and even entrepreneurship. Woven together, they became a kaleidoscope of learning—a reminder that butterfly conservation is as much about people as it is about insects. Visit iNaturewatch Foundation to register for these events.

Why It Feels Like a Festival?

On a BBM weekend, it’s not uncommon to feel like you’ve stepped into a living fairground—only the attractions have wings.

• Guided walks become classrooms Naturalists and teachers lead gentle meanders through parks, campuses, and coastal paths. Along the way, people learn to read wings like stories—how a Blue Tiger navigates sunlight, or why a Peacock Pansy radiates color under morning light.

• Transects and timed counts—science in walking shoes Volunteers trace known paths or time their observing sojourns—15 to 30 minutes of butterfly tallying. Each note, each photograph builds the data map of Indian butterflies.

• Bioblitz weekends—the treasure hunts of nature For two days, everyone turns naturalist. Beginners thrill at their first “lifer” (first-ever sighting); veterans fill knowledge gaps. Across India, community records bloom.

• ID jams & photo clinics At event centers or under trees, volunteers coach participants through tricky identifications—Is it a Common Tiger or a Plain Tiger? Grass Yellow or Emigrant? Every query sharpens awareness.

BBM has even inspired creative pursuits: butterfly races span regions where participants photograph all life stages—egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly—like nature’s relay race

The Butterfly Man’s Childhood

Isaac Kehimkar, my friend and colleague, often shares how he first fell in love with butterflies.As a boy, he would wander through Mumbai fields chasing caterpillars, ignoring cricket matches. What began as play became a lifelong devotion. His “Book of Indian Butterflies” is now the Bible for butterfly enthusiasts in India.

When participants meet him during BBM, they realize passion can turn into profession. His story proves that following curiosity—no matter how small—can transform into a lifetime of service to nature.

The Birdwing Connection

Birdwing Publishers took flight in 2018, the same year I brought out my very first book, Field Guide to Indian Moths. The idea was simple yet powerful: to have our own dedicated publishing wing that could give shape to field guides, educational material, and resources on natural history. And so, Birdwing was born.

The butterfly connection was clear from the very beginning. We named the company after the spectacular Birdwing butterflies, among the largest and most charismatic butterflies of the world. True to its name, Birdwing Publishers began adding butterfly touches to everything we did—designing butterfly stickers as souvenirs for our events, creating exhibits and signages for butterfly gardens, and making sure every product carried both knowledge and charm.

Now, we stand on the threshold of another milestone: the upcoming launch of Isaac Kehimkar’s fourth butterfly book—Field Guide to Indian Butterflies. For Birdwing Publishers, this isn’t just another book; it is a celebration of our shared passion, a continuation of the journey, and a tribute to the butterflies that inspired our name.

Why Butterflies Matter

Butterflies are often called “nature’s jewelry,” but their true value lies in their work. They are pollinators, prey, ecological indicators, and even climate storytellers. I like to think of them as ecological thermometers—just as we measure fever with a thermometer, we measure ecosystem health with butterflies.

Pollinators

While bees take the spotlight, butterflies also pollinate. As they sip nectar, their legs and proboscis brush against pollen, helping flowers reproduce—especially wildflowers that depend on daytime visitors.

Food Web Links

Butterflies and caterpillars are staples for birds, spiders, frogs, and insects. A bulbul may feed dozens of caterpillars to its chicks each day. Without them, nature’s food economy would collapse.

Bioindicators

Most importantly, butterflies are sensitive to change. Their shifting ranges and flight times reflect rising temperatures and altered habitats. In the Himalayas, lowland species are climbing higher; in the Western Ghats, some now emerge earlier in the season. These are nature’s warning lights, telling us that the environment is shifting.

Threats to Butterflies

Of course, butterflies are under pressure. Habitat loss, pesticide use, invasive plants, and climate change are shrinking their numbers. In cities, manicured lawns and pesticide-heavy gardens often drive butterflies away. In forests, deforestation removes host plants.

During BBM walks, participants sometimes ask, “Why don’t we see as many butterflies as we did when we were children?” The answer is sobering: urbanization and chemicals have quietly erased many species from daily life.

This makes BBM not just a celebration, but a quiet call to action.

How you can help?

This is how I’ve chosen to stand by butterflies—by creating gardens, nurturing habitats, and turning my passion into projects that ripple outward. But what about you? How are you caring for the butterflies in your own patch of the world? Are you leaving enough greenery, planting native host plants, or simply allowing wild corners to thrive so that butterflies can work their quiet magic?

Supporting butterflies doesn’t always require big gestures. Sometimes it begins with a single plant in a balcony pot, a patch of unmown grass, or the decision to avoid pesticides. Sometimes it means taking your children on a walk to notice the Jezebels, Tigers, and Grass Yellows that share your city.

And this month, you don’t even have to do it alone. Big Butterfly Month is here—a nationwide celebration where you can join walks, webinars, school activities, and garden events in your own community. It’s a chance to step outdoors, look a butterfly in the eye, and realize you’re part of a larger movement.

Because every sighting you record, every photograph you share, every plant you nurture becomes part of a story bigger than any one of us. It is a story of connection—between people, places, and the butterflies that stitch it all together.

So here’s my invitation: visit Big Butterfly Month website, join a local event, bring your curiosity, and let the wings of butterflies remind you what balance looks like. When butterflies thrive, so does the world around us. And when we come together to celebrate them, all truly is well.

As long as butterflies continue to flutter around us, we can take it as a sign that all is well with the world