Aul: Just as the sight of a honeybee makes one scared of being stung, in case of a swarm of bees, everybody runs for cover. However, a betel shop at Aul in coastal Kendrapara is a rare sight. Swarms of honeybees come to the shop of Ganesh Chandra Roy alias Hira who feeds them sweet pan masala every day. More often than not, one can find the betel shop owner covered with hundreds of bees. Strangely, the bees neither sting the owner nor the customers.
Hira, a resident of Lokapada village under Aul police station, was once a professional artiste in opera and had won accolades. He, however, now ekes out his living from this betel shop-cumvariety store at Aul market.
His shop shot to fame during the last Raja festival, as the many locals thronged it to see swarms of bees flitting around the shop.
According to Hira, during Raja festival, he used to sell special sweet betels. This year, the fragrance of sweet pan masala, cherry and fried coconut attracted the honeybees to his shop.
When a swarm of bees first came to his shop, panic struck him as well as the customers.
But to the surprise of Hira, the swarm of bees came and sat on the cherry and other fragranced sweet pan masala. Finding the bees harmless, Hira started offering them cherry and other sweet pan masala. Since then, to his amazement, the honeybees have become regular visitors to his betel shop just like his customers.
“Whenever I open my shop, bees swarm in huge numbers, and I used to feed the insects with cherry and other sweet fragrant pan masala and betel,” he said. Every day, Hira spends around Rs150 to feed thousands of bees hovering around his betel shop.
“I do not know where the honeybees are coming from. I think they are local. As I developed an emotional attachment with the bees, I feel great to work in my betel shop amid swarms of honey bees,” Hira said. Earlier, customers were afraid to come to the shop, but when they learnt that the bees are not biting, they started coming without fear, said Hira.
The bee-loving shopkeeper said he likes to spend time with bees as he gets immense pleasure from it.
PNN