This shiny beetle certainly brought back some memories. The beetles made great pets. In the 1960s and 70s it was quite common for kids to carry one around in a match box - the ponvandu (golden beetle) would lie snuggled on a bedding of fresh leaves. Very portable and a great diversion during school hours. But it could not have been very comfortable for the insect. Their only hope of release was if the owner's parents found out. Nowadays these beetles do not seem to be so common, at least not in the city.
6 comments:
I had one too but I actually bought it from some lab supply store.
For some reason, we all had to make a display of 5 insects for our 10th Bio Boards.
Unbelivably stupid don't you think?
That must have killed off the entire population over the years.
CBSE's dumb policies.
Nice picture, Balaji. Quite true they made good pets and were a diversion for kids during school hours. So also infant squirrels that fell off the nest in the loft. True that the beetles have disappeared. Also, am not sure if kids in schools have time for all these things nowadays.
Yes, Tilotamma, it is sad - the slaughter in all those science labs.
Ramki, thanks.
yes Balaji..we used to hunt for them in the kodika trees...such beautiful insect pets...
as tilo said, its such a moronic idea to make students kill and collect insects...
Sathish, the background is just the ground -- the packed red-mud road you find in villages.
And it is natural colour.
I was sitting on a mound of sand, the twig with the insect was a few feet in front of me and about a foot or so below eye level. So when the insect was in focus the red ground formed a great, out-of-focus backdrop.
It had kindled my memory of childhood days . As you said we caught ponvadu and kept in empty match boxes
P.Sermuga Pandian
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