THE BUSY BEEKEEPER

The keen apiarist chases crops and seasons across the country in search of bees, telling farmers to ease up on pesticide and let their population flourish

- ADITI PAI / Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH

Where others run far when they hear bees buzzing, Gajanan Bhalerao runs towards them.

They have been his childhood friends since the time he was growing up in Sawana in Maharashtra's Hingoli district, climbing trees to hunt for beehives, squeezing the nectar out of them and licking the honey off his fingers. If they stung him, Bhalerao did not seem to notice, so focused was he on the sweet reward of his pursuit.

It would have remained a fond childhood memory had Bhalerao not joined a transport company at the age of 16 and encountered bee boxes while driving through the towns and villages of Jhalawar and Kota in Rajasthan. “I saw bee boxes for the first time and asked people about them. That’s when I understood the importance of the insect on our farms,” says Bhalerao.