Bugs seem to live on their owns terms… predator or prey, their leisurely gait contrasts with that of other twitchy critters… maybe ‘tis because the way they perceive the environs around them requires instincts that are both ponderous and instantaneous … perch, crawl, mull over and then suddenly fly…

Unlike flies and butterflies that consume nectar with a sense of exigency, bugs relish it like a sommelier… embodying the spirit of the journey being more important than the destination, there is a measure to their sedentariness… not to forget that a quite a few of them are unpalatable and don’t have to look over their shoulder time and again…

Ironically, I was hunched over the ground trying to locate some well camouflaged Orthoptera when a flash of green flew across and caught the eye… it hid in the tree for a while but then came out on the bushes offering a clear view…

The Lychee shield bug is a common occurrence in Southeast Asia, easily discernible by its bright metallic green or blue colour… the underparts are myriad hues of pink and yellow with black dots all around… closely related to stink bugs, it releases a foul odour to ward off potential predators… feeding off plant sap, it can be a pest at times, infesting cereal and medicinal plants…

It hovered around the bushes a while, trying on and off to balance itself on blades of grass too heavy to hold its weight, crawling up the end of twigs just for fun… looked like it’d already fed and was just playing around till dusk when it’d be time to find a shelter… compared to the butterflies and the dragonflies that were hovering about incessantly in utmost urgency, it seemed aloof and nonchalant… a bug’s life, as they say…

Musing on a Lychee shield bug (Chrysocoris stollii), Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India