My muse for this evening was a big bright insect that seemed to be a
bumblebee, not quite sure but let’s call it that. I was at my computer
desk next to my window when I casually glanced outside and there it was,
on the mosquito net, a huge bumblebee. At first, I was alarmed since the
window was open but then I noticed that the poor little critter was only
trying to find a way out, although in vain, since my window is sealed from
outside with the mosquito net. I thought to myself, this is not a petty
house fly that I could easily shoo away with a newspaper and besides I
dreaded the painful sting that might ensue, especially if our little Bugsy
turned into an angry “Big Bee” (pun intended!) and seek revenge.
Therefore, I finally decided against being brave and refrained from trying
any stunts (it's better to be safe than sorry), and cautiously slid the
window shut. Phew! Then from my haven, I began observing its movement
across the mosquito net, it was then I realized this was one beautiful
creature. It had an ebony black body with a bright yellow stripe across
the middle and golden yellow wings. I had never seen a bumblebee at such
close quarters; well actually I have never seen a bumblebee. So pop came
out the camera and I excitedly tried to get a good shot of it. But our
little friend was in no mood to oblige and was constantly moving about.
Much to my dismay, all my pictures were out of focus. I did manage to get
a few good ones as it stalled at some places. I wished it would stay put
and let me peacefully capture it on camera.
This casual encounter soon turned into an obsession for me. For about an
hour, I was at my window, frantically trying to capture this beautiful bug
on camera and the latter busy wandering around to find that little nook to
freedom. Any onlookers from outside my window must be thinking – “Someone
is taking pictures of their mosquito net or mosquitoes! Must be crazy for
sure”! After more than an hour had passed, I had a feeling this bug is not going
to quit. I actually felt sorry for it as there was really no way out. I
earnestly believe in the “Live and let live” philosophy, thus, I started
to figure out ways to help our little fellow. I noticed it was mostly
crawling over the net but at times also flew around, so I slid the window
open, hoping it would fly indoors and find its way into the adjoining room
where there was no mosquito net on the window. I even tried to
telepathically tell our friend “I am going to help you escape, just don’t
make that “beeline” for me”! All this to no avail, it just refused to come
indoors, which made me think, this one was either afraid of the enormous
navy blue blob inside that was me (Can’t really say who’s afraid of who!)
or was too dumb to notice that the window has been opened.
Not knowing what to do, I consulted the almighty Google which directed me
to videos on “How to catch bees in a garden”. Well if a few potted plants
outside your window constitute a garden then, yes show me how. Most videos
were about how to catch a bee when it settles on a flower. I sort of have
a vegetable garden, so I guessed that was the reason our friend was
avoiding the plants. So no, the videos didn’t help. They say necessity is the mother of invention, well I say emergency is
the mother of action. I had to do something quick, the poor critter was
tiring out, and I couldn’t waste time finding reliable solutions on the
internet. I promptly recollected some of the stuff I read on Google about
catching bees and visualized the many possible solutions like putting a
basket/glass/bottle/ over it or dropping a T-shirt over it (my very own
novel idea) and then frantically running towards the open window and
letting it go. In the end, I decided none of these methods were foolproof;
one of us would definitely be harmed in the process. However, by then my
fear had almost vanished and I had been watching our friend boldly with
the window wide open. While I was wondering how I could safely take it
out, I remembered I had those take away plastic containers, but the
question was how to get the bee in it. I found a large plastic container
and left it near the pots in my pseudo garden for it to climb in but our
snooty little friend just crawled past it like it didn't exist.
This was not a ‘Humble bee’; either that or it is in fact a ‘Dumblebee’ as
I was tempted to call it.
Then it suddenly struck me that honey might be the perfect temptation,
although I wasn't sure whether bees ate their honey. Still no
harm in experimenting I thought, so, I added a spoon of honey in the
plastic container and kept it near the pots again. This time, to my
delight, our dear bumblebee finally sighted the hitherto ‘invisible’
container and reached out for the honey. No sooner had it entered the
container than I slammed the lid into place and ran with it to the
adjoining room that had the open window, holding the container lid tightly
at the rim, speculating whether bees could sting through plastic. I left
the container at the window sill and slowly removed the lid. I was almost
going to run for cover, fearing that it would probably exact vengeance for
my ‘trick and trap’ feat, when I saw our bumblebee was nearly motionless.
Horrified that I had probably suffocated it to death, I peered into the
container. And lo behold, our little critter was blissfully relishing the
honey there. I watched in fascination as its little posterior was bobbing
up and down while it sucked at its food. I couldn’t resist taking a video
of it. And I was finally rewarded with some close-ups too. When our dear
friend was satiated, it started crawling out of the container, stumbling a
little, (guess it was ‘madh-hosh’) and then flew away ecstatically into
the open air!! With that I smiled to myself, for I had possibly
bee-friended a bumblebee!!
© kronosaphrodite
