The first time I realised I had to spread awareness about bees and the importance of their existence in society was during a trip to a Belgaum school. The staff had ordered the clearing of a beehive they had found on campus, claiming it was unsafe for children. I tried to explain to the principal that the bees would not sting the kids unless they were provoked, but it was no use,” recalls Mahadevan Venkatakrishnan, as he leads me down the winding bricked trail in Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP) to the recently inaugurated Bee Trail, the first of its kind in the country, a gift from the Republic of Ecuador.

Mahadevan Venkatakrishnan shows a honeycomb to a group at the bee park at Maharashtra Nature Park in Dharavi. Pics Courtesy/Under The Mango Tree