I have been having a really rotten internet connection and have not been able to post about the varied and wonderful sightings we had at the Biligiri Ranganna Hills property of Jungle Lodges and Resorts…but while I can, let me make a quick post about a short outing I had yesterday….it turned out to be a mini NTP outing!

Karthik had mentioned that he had been seeing glow-worms in a park near his home. Each year, for a few days around this time, he has been seeing the glow-worms in his own garden; but this year, he didn’t find them there, but in the park where he goes for his evening walk.

Since I was interested, I called up Pallavi, Vittal , and . Vittal brought along his wife Santrupti and son Adu (dare I call him very cute?!) and we all trooped off to Karthik's place where he gave us delicious Darjeeling tea, and we then walked (risking life and limb in the traffic, may I add) to the Nanda Road park.

In the dark, the glow-worm looks like this (you must not laugh..that's an "as is, where is" pic on my little S3!) Even in the park, Karthik says that he has found the glow-worms only in this one small patch! Here is one, on the concrete siding in the park: And here's one that we found in the dry leaves between the bushes: Karthik carefully put one into Adu's palm, where he held it gently. However, it curled up and the glow faded away: In this snap, however, you can see the segment of the glow-worm that actually glows, when the worm lifts up that segment: And this grainy (sorry!) close-up shows how the worm glows, within the foliage of the bushes.

Whenever we shone light on the glow-worms, they responded by bringing down their own glow, which was brightest in the dark. It was very interesting to watch these little creatures; Karthik says not very much is known about them, including the reason why they appear only for a few days, and only at this time! We were lucky that Karthik notices these tiny creatures, and is willing to share his observations with us….so we got to see the Glow-Worms of Nanda Road! :)