His guilt gave Chandigarh Butterfly Park

CHANDIGARH: The city’s ‘Butterfly Man’, Kulbhushan Kanwar, wasn't always into butterflies, as many would expect.
In fact, his “madness” for them began with an accident that left him guilt-ridden and consumed with a passion for discovering and photographing butterflies. “In 2007, my son called me to say he is quitting his job and joining an American company named Caterpillar.Curious, I Googled the company and found images of tiny caterpillars on its website’s homepage. I was overwhelmed with remorse, because just a few days ago I had sprayed insecticide on similar-looking butterfly larva to disinfect the lemon tree in my garden. I felt I had destroyed a blooming colony of beautiful creatures,” says Kanwar, with a deadpan look.
There was no looking back for Kanwar after that. He had then made it his mission to breed and protect butterflies and spread awareness about them. He has been documenting new and rare species of butterflies in the city for 10 years.
Kanwar, since 2007, has single-handedly discovered and photographed over 100 species of butterfly in Chandigarh. On the other hand, the UT forest department had counted only 62 species of butterfly in Chandigarh till 2007.
Kanwar, who retired as a superintendent of the Punjab health department, has always identified himself as a sensitive man. When he received a UT forest department proposal for creating Butterfly Park in Sector 26, Kanwar jumped in despite widespread opposition. “A lot of officials said it was not the appropriate place for butterfly park. But I told them it is close to the Sector 26 Grain Market, which means immense availability of rotten, overripe fruit. Second, this is also close to lake for moisture and the forest area, so this place is ideal,” he says.
Kanwar daily spends two-three hours in forests and parks of the city, photographing butterflies. Kanwar, after studying them for over 10 years, now claims to have understood their food sources, climate requirements and behaviour, and has transformed the Butterfly Park accordingly. “It is a popular myth that butterflies only suck nectar out of flowers, but this is untrue. Many of them never sit on flowers in their entire lives. There main sources of food are flower nectar, rotten/ overripe fruits, bird droppings, dead animals, and damp patches," he adds.
To attract more butterflies to the park, Kanwar keeps experimenting with different things, which have yielded great results. In the park, you can see packets full of sugar, dissolved in water hanging at various points. Rotten and overripe fruits are also kept in shallow plates in light, butterfly-friendly colours to attract them. Moreover, a sand bed has been made which is sprinkled in animal urine, animal dunk, beer and bird droppings, which has successfully attracted many rare species of butterflies to the park which were never seen before — namely Black Raja, Blue Admiral, Spangle, Commander, Common Gesture, Vagrant among others. Waterfalls in the park have also been created for moisture.
Kanwar advises the UT forest department on various matters and works closely with many environment groups. He also delivers lectures on birds and butterflies of Chandigarh in schools and colleges. “Study suggests more than 70% pollination happens due to butterflies and bees. Hence, they are essential for our ecosystem. Since 2007, due to pollution, even though species of butterflies have increased, their population has decreased,” Kanwar says.