The Song of the Butterfly

Narrative by Chirag Mediratta, Posted March 13, 2026

Image courtesy of the author

Semioticians analyze symbols, so for this series, we’ve asked 25 of our semio colleagues from around the world to explicate the symbolism of… one of their own tattoos.

On my birthday in August 2024, my partner and I were travelling through Dharamkot — a chaotic, beautiful alternate-lifestyle haven that draws wanderers resisting the capitalistic life through yoga, somatics, barefoot strolls, and infinite herbal teas. A few kilometres above Dharamshala, the world’s largest Tibetan refuge, the place merges the Buddhist echoes with neo-spiritual sustainability, movement therapies, and the whole “live lightly on Earth” philosophy.

Somewhere between freeing bike rides and climbing trees, we’d been laughing about how I took six years to finalise my first tattoo in 2011, and how she wanted her first one. After passing a line of tattoo studios, we spontaneously decided to get inked together — not those couple tattoos, but symbols that mirrored what we individually embrace and envision for our lives. For someone who obsesses over signs and meaning, a spontaneous tattoo was terrifying… but I do love and live for spontaneity! After a quick brainstorm with her, I arrived at three symbols that merged into one piece I now call The Song of the Butterfly (inspired by the track by Estas Tonne, Indrė Kuliešiūtė, Istvan Sky & Pablo Arellano).

The rainbow butterfly is a fusion of the ADHD butterfly and the Autism infinity symbol — my AuDHD identity coded into colour and shape. For me, it’s a declaration that my neurospiciness isn’t a flaw; it’s the power source of my unique perception, creativity and way of life. It represents unmasking — letting go of the decades spent trying to appear “normal.” Every neurospicy person knows the silent curriculum right from childhood: Don’t be weird, don’t be too much, don’t be yourself! The butterfly’s metamorphosis also ties back to my first tattoo — a double-headed phoenix — the symbol of rising from the ashes in a new form just like metanoia with ego death, rebirth and returning as a more authentic self.

The semicolon — since 2013 I knew I wanted it as a marker of mental-health awareness and suicide prevention — a reminder that a chapter of life may pause but doesn’t have to end. It also honours the memory of the first acquaintance I lost to suicide as a teenager.

The water ripple drop represents the domino effect of every action and the necessity of presence. A ripple exists only for a moment — an invitation to live in the now, rather than spiralling into the past or future. Spiritually, it grounds me; practically, as an AuDHD person, it protects me from overthinking and decision paralysis (the very reason my first tattoo took 6 years!).

This tattoo together serves as my compass: unmasked, loving, colourful, alive and a quiet gratitude to my partner who held space for that becoming, more importantly embodies my philosophy of not taking life too seriously.

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