There is a song by Javed Akhtar Sahab from the Hindi film Lakshya– 

Hritik Roshan says to Preeti Zinta- “Agar main kahoon mujhe tumse mohabbat hai? (If I tell you that I love you)”

Preeti replies-” Zara aur saja key kehetey, zara ghuma phira key kehtey to achcha hota(It would have been better if it was said in a flowery language, with a little twist)”.

Read this information about Honey bees- Honeybees are primary pollinators; they gather nectar from flowering plants and play a significant role in pollination and ecology. They are critical to the environment. People who are scientifically inclined know a little more than that- Honeybees are members of the insect class Insecta. They produce and store liquefied sugar, otherwise known as honey.

If you read this beautiful poem by Kahlil Gibran from his poetry collection, The Prophet, you will understand what Javed Sahab meant. The symbiotic relation of the bees and the flower has been beautifully used as a metaphor –

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

I think of this beautiful poem when I click pictures of little bees climbing in and out of flowers.

Honey bees are social insects and are firm believers in the joint family system and the caste system. There are three castes in the colony: the queen, male drones and infertile female workers. Their lifespan depends on their caste.

The hives, made from wax produced by the worker honeybees, are often located in the holes of trees, and can be seen hanging from branches and on rock crevices.

Kahlil Gibran has used bees as a metaphor of love in his poem. Numerous Hindi songs have used flowers and Bhanwara(Bumblebee) as symbols of love. Yet, not everyone likes bees; they sting when they feel endangered, and people are scared of that. Bees produce honey as a critical food source for their colony during winter, when nectar is scarce. Honey is said to be rich in nutrients and antioxidants and is used for human consumption. That is one of the reasons why their hives are endangered. Over the years, the population of honeybees has declined due to habitat loss, climate change, diseases and pesticides. Their decline poses a serious threat to biodiversity, as bees play a crucial role in pollinating many crops.

Photos and text by Prerna Jain.