So, I was at a fruit shop there
were all kind of fruits- avocado, rambutan, longan, persimmon, pears, Iranian apples,
Californian grapes…so on, all these fruits were never heard of in this part of
the world few decades back but now they are quite common. Humble oranges, variety of local bananas, pineapple, pomegranate, custard apple so on also find space. It’s
common to see fruits from all seasons so that you get confused. The shop was
quite crowded and noisy, and there on the rotting ooty plum sat a butterfly,
quaint as a dream, indifferent to all commotion, and at a slightest inconvenience she did a delicate flap and floated about supremely confident. I was fully taken
in by the scene. She had brownish smudge of a wing with white style patches and some
oval scribbles as if done by an enthusiastic child. Overall, an enchanting
sight among bleak haggling noisy humans. It was when I tried to apply mind
and recall name that I cringed.
Richard Feynman was a charming man and
an exceptional scientist (in the recent Oppenheimer movie there is
miss-if-you-blink presence of Feynman as a banjo playing maverick – I am sure
most of us have watched videos of ‘orange juice’!) who once said, and I paraphrase,
‘quite early in my life I came to know about the difference between knowing
things and knowing names of things’, I have quoted this few hundred times while
trekking since people get lost in names -exhibiting knowledge, without enjoying
the scene. It truly irritates. Ofcourse names are important for classification and
taxonomy so on, it has a significant context. I have done treks with few 'lepidos' (lepidopterist), quite interesting. Names that carry regressive
references -that were introduced and mainstreamed through narration control, is
where the problem is. In recent times people are becoming sensitive to these
matters thanks to social media that has wrenched narration from feudal controllers.
Racist attack on birdwatching black man in US was a trigger point. Then there are sensitive
youngsters initiating movements against racist occupation -like statues, in
public spaces. The elegant butterfly that I was watching is commonly known as ‘common
baron’. The reference of ‘common’ in itself is quite upsetting, many of these
butterflies and birds referred to as common are not common at all, indeed
increasingly getting rare. What is common are humans. Homo commonus. Many of
these dainty butterflies have regressive names: Baron, Baronet, Nawab, Admiral,
Commodore, Sergeant (there is one Sergeant Major too!), Begum, Prince, Rajah,
Caliph, Queen, Kaiser, Lascar (Army servant), Duke, Archduke, Duchess, Count,
Viscount, Earl, Marquis, Knight…so on. It seems we are in theatre of absurd orchestrated
by medieval feudals. That these are names given to butterflies is cringeworthy
and really is extremely upsetting. There are other degrading names too like Painted
courtesan (painted prostitute), duffer so on.
So, as we try to understand these beautiful creatures and get closer to biodiversity and species around us, we are introduced to feudal ways and attempts at normalizing degrading references. When these colorful species are introduced to children with these common names it is child abuse. Naming of species were very much influenced by colonial racist expressions of gratitude to power. There is an immediate need to wrench this out of regressive frame and restore to glory of nature. Like these amazing butterfly names; Travancore evening brown, Bamboo treebrown, Lilacfork, Spotted mystic, Southern birdwing, Chocolate pansy…so on. The word for butterfly in Greek is psyche, soul of the dead. Let’s bring back the soul into the names.
*correction made: white smudge on the wing is a female and not male as earlier mentioned.
