The Better India · 17 hours ago

Silicon Valley Engineer Left Coding to Grow 10 Lakh Native Saplings for Butterflies

A Silicon Valley engineer who once cleaned insects from windscreens as a child - back when there were enough to warrant it - eventually found that no line of code could replicate what he felt working near a chicken coop in Santa Cruz, hands in the soil, watching children lose themselves in mud and beetles. Sohail Madan left his career behind, joined conservation work, and ultimately founded WildTales Foundation, which now grows nearly 10 lakh native saplings a year - because he understood something most urban planners miss: "If curry leaf disappears from an area, the butterfly won't simply shift to another ornamental plant. It can't." His Delhi Butterfly Corridor threads through schools, hospitals, and apartment balconies, rebuilding the ecological connective tissue that cities have quietly severed. What makes his vision quietly radical is its gentleness - he asks only that people let a corner of their garden go untidy, keep water out year-round, and, as he puts it, "put a chair there, have your morning tea there." The invitation is not just to save butterflies, but to remember that attention itself is a form of care.