India, Oct. 21 -- On Sunday morning, a group of around 50 people gathered in a garden, their hearts aflutter, drawn here by one of nature's delicate wonders. After a round of hellos, they got to hunting and, within an hour, watched three caterpillars blossom into butterflies and counted 26 species of these colourful beauties.

It was the launch of the Mumbai Butterfly Club, comprising a rag-tag bunch of butterfly experts and enthusiasts, in the Ovalekar Wadi Butterfly Garden in Thane. Started by Raju Kasambe, an ornithologist and butterfly expert, it's the only club of its kind in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

"Mumbai needed a club like this," said Sangeeta Jain, a butterfly watcher who notes that there are clubs like this in oth...