Kottayam: It was the rich colours, shades and designs of butterflies which attracted Naveen Prasad Alex to them in his early years. His parents who were aware of his keen observation of butterflies got him more interested in the winged beauties.
He was taken to various places and given books from where he learned more about the world of butterflies. He later started clicking photographs of various species of butterflies.
Thirty of his photographs, exclusively of butterflies, were exhibited at the MG University hall as part of the 23rd Swadeshi Science Congress, held at the university last week. Needless to say, young Naveen was the centre of attraction.
Naveen, a class seven student of Mar Thoma Higher Secondary School in Nilambur, is particular about clicking photographs of 'Clipper' butterflies. At present he has at least 50 photographs of those butterflies.
Naveen says he would like to pursue his interest in photography. He aspires to be a professional wildlife photographer. "Right now, I’m concentrating on a particular species of butterflies. But I’d like to be a professional wildlife photographer when I grow up", he says.
He is being trained by photographers Jaffar Palotti and Anoop Das. He says his parents, who teach in Mar Thoma College, are a source of inspiration to him as they encourage him to pursue his hobbies along with his studies.
“You should join television,” said the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla to young Harshad Muhammed , the head boy of the Rajagiri school in Kalamassery she was visiting on Tuesday. So impressed was she by his speech on the projects of the British Council the school was involved in, she told him, “I sincerely believe you would make a good TV anchor.”
The thrilled boy, who recounted the incident, said he informed her that he had other plans. “I told her my ambition was to become a bureaucrat,” he said, clearly happy to have caught the attention of the British royal.
“The princess was very polite and made us feel at ease from the time she arrived at the school at 1.20 pm. She didn’t rush through and took time to speak to the children. And she left us saying ‘your students are amazing and intelligent,” said a beaming Principal Susan Varghese.
The Duchess of Cornwall, who was seen appreciating the beats of the folk song "Kuttanadan punchayile,” also watched a class debate on the topic “Are women being treated equal to their male counterparts in sports” visited the cup cake stall set up by students and enjoyed a skype session between students of Rajagiri and the Summerlea School, West Sussex, where she hails from.
“I’m feeling completely at home here especially with the drizzle which we experience all the time in the UK,” she smiled, before waving goodbye to the assembly of over 1500 children.
