THE WORLD OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

The World Outside My Window comprises three sections: The Wonderful World of Insects; Birdsong in the Mountains; and The Loveliness of Forms. The running thread in all these essays is the chain of life and that each creature or plant, no matter how small and insignificant or destructive they might be, remove them and the chain that binds us collapses. Bond through his direct, simple way is sensitizing us to appreciate and give space to everything around us. The insect world is full of idiosyncratic beings—the odd butterfly that metamorphoses three times, or crazy insects that change colour according to their surroundings or colourful insects that are no gourmand’s delight and the tasty ones who pretend to look like the nasty ones. What about the hawk-moth caterpillars who look like ferocious snakes when alarmed! The dragonfly for instance, despite their innumerable legs can hardly walk, they have gargantuan appetites for living insects, and also have five eyes. Bond describes the rarely seen ladybird as ‘a tiny brightly coloured minicar’ that come ‘like pills in assorted shapes, sizes and colours’.