Living Plains - Uncovering the Agumbe Grasslands

Living Plains ‘We walked into the arms of the Forest’

Diploma Project documentation, 2014 Rutuja Patil

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We walked into the arms of the Forest. . .

GRASSLAND PROJECT Diploma Project documentation, 2014 Rutuja Patil

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Contents Project Background Brief Project Location About Partnership - ARRS

Research

Preparing for Field Research Primary/Field research Data Collection

Project Proposal Ideation

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Data Analysis Initial Form Idea Stakeholder Mapping Existing Form Explorations

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Meeting with client

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Explorations/Design

Maps Interaction as an element Exploring Structures Visual Style Layout Texture Navigation

Storyboarding

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Creating Structure Stories and Strcuture Mapping Stories in Structure

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Final Outcome

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Personal Journey

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Acknowledgements

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Project background This project needed us to imagine new ways of documentation or/and creative communication of biodiversity.

The project is housed by Law +Environment+ Design (Led) lab in Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in collaboration with the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS), which lies in Shimoga district of Karnataka. The Diploma project is based on the grassland in Agumbe.

Agume grassland in monsoons.

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About project location and history Agumbe, part of the Western Ghats range which has been designated as UNESCO World Heritage site and is identified as one of the world’s Biodiversity Hotspots.

Apart from a huge range of mammals, birds and insects living in the luxuriant rainforest, Agumbe is also home to the world’s longest venomous snake and a flagship species, the iconic king cobra.

Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS)

utilized to set up basic infrastructure and develop ARRS into a full-fledged forest research base.

At ARRS, Conservation through ecological field studies in the rainforest is carried out.

They believe and so do the team of this project believe that Conservation will only work by helping to change people's attitudes to one of appreciation and wonder through an imaginative, educational approach.

On our field trip to Agumbe, we collaborately worked with two highly ambitious researchers - Dhiraj and Santosh for four days.

Since 2005 Agumbe has also been the proud host to the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station which is first of its kind in India.

Rom Whitekar’s dream was to set up a research base in Agumbe to study this enigmatic serpent and other denizens of the rainforest about which very little was known. In 2005, he realized his dream when he located and bought a beautiful four-acre plot surrounded by forest with the money his mother, Doris Norden had willed him. The land came with an old farmhouse over-looking paddy fields, with an arecanut plantation in its backyard. The house had to be refurbished to become the first office and residence of the research base.

In 2005 Rom received an award from The Whitley Fund for Nature, which was

Above information has been sourced from http://www.agumberainforest.com/about_us.html

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Preparing for Field Research In the first week we explored the different ways of documentation in the field for long hours and trying to empathise with the researchers. These observations/notes/ photographs are of Hebbal lake in Bangalore.

Here we learnt how different help to document/ observe easily and accurately. Also the other leaning was it is easier to document if there are not more than two mediums/eqipementst to document the data.

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Context Panorama

Asking the five ‘W’ on enriching the documentation and exploring terms such as enhancing, biodiversity, documentation etc.

Why is it necessary to enrich data?

Where (areas of possibilities) can documentation be involved?

What can be documented?

How to enrich data?

Who will be involved?

When can data be enriched?

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Field Research On the 17th July we traveled to Agumbe for our filed research. At ARRS, Dhiraj and Santa were the researchers whom we worked with.

In the first two days we interviewed Dhiraj, asking, • How is field research carried out?

• How do they document?

• What tools they use?

• How do they analyse data recorded?

• ARRS projects • When does their research get validated?

• Reports and representations published • Gaps and Need by the researchers • How we are designers and artist can contribute?

This maps out, all the possible steps involved between when you ask a question and the research is published. It helped us to highlight the areas where we as artist and designers could intervene.

It was through interviews and discussion that we decided to work on communicating their research to the public for conservation through awarness .

“Reserach is helpful only when it is published” “It is better if more people come to know from the conservation point of view.

"Any research starts with a question" 10

After, deciding in which part of their research we could contribute, it was time to decided on which aspect we wanted to communicated?

Identifying the various ecosystem/ landscape where research has been Landscape: Canopy Caves Forest floor Grasslands Streams and lakes Projects: Malabar Lark nesting habitat and survival ecology Ecology of Yellow-wattled Lapwing Ecology of freshwater fishes Sexual dimorfism in Malabar Pit Vipers Road mortality survey of herpetofauna

It was through interviews and discussions that we decided to work on the grasslands in Agumbe for the following reasons: Grasslands are under the biggest threat worldwide and Agumbe grassland has been declared as Revnue land and hence under the biggest threat.

Research has been done for the past five and hence it is a good time now for it to get communicated to create the awareness of the richness of the biodiversity.

Important habitats for many plant and animal species and Ecological significancant by being an important food source for fauna.

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Data Collection Methods Methods used to collect data: Cognitive and Participatory Mapping with the researchers on the grasslands • Empathizing with the researchers by VV performing short exercises on observing VFVand documenting in the field for long kuuhours.

• Field observation • Cognitive Mapping • Current maps • Interviews • Data collection through notes, pictures, vvvsketches • Audio and Visual Documentation

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Data collection through mapping of the Agumbe grasslands

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Project Proposal Context Summary The Western Ghats in India is a mountain range that runs parallel to the west coast and has recently been declared one of the Unesco World Heritage Sites. It is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world.

Known for being the region with the second highest rainfall in the country, Agumbe in Shimoga district, Karnataka, is a rainforest home to numerous living species. Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) was founded in 2005, as a space where conservation is carried out through ecological field studies in the rainforest.

Grasslands in Agumbe Throughout the Western Ghats, and in Agumbe, extensive grasslands lie adjacent to the evergreen forest formations. Grasslands are important biodiverse habitats.

They are of ecological significance due to their definitive role in ecological succession, by being an important food source for fauna. Today worldwide Grasslands are under threat, because they are often seen as wasteland. The Grasslands in Agumbe have been declared as Revenue land, which means they are managed by the State and can be bought/ used by anybody.

The Agumbe grasslands are breeding grounds for many amphibians, fish species and ground vnesting birds. Rocks in the grasslands are home to a variety of scorpions, snakes and skinks. First order streams originate at these grasslands and flow downward to form bigger rivers. At ARRS, biologists, ecologists and other researchers study the behavior of specific species in their microhabitats. This research has been carried out for the past five years and will continue to carry on as long as this

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macro ecosystem exists. However, the forms in which these studies are documented are limited to primarily text-based records from a species-specific perspective. These recorded observations and knowledge of the grasslands do not do justice to capturing the complexity of the biodiversity in the grasslands.

grassland biodiversity in Agumbe.

The questions that need to be explored during the project are: What are the possible ways to map the complexity in the biodiversity of the grasslands using the collected data?

Who will be affected by this information?

Identifying the gap, and need

For whom is this information?

Although the studies enable the researchers to observe and gain knowledge about the grasslands, their findings have not been published or made available to other audiences. The impact and importance of this data is often lost through a myriad of inaccessible studies or technical language. Hence there is a need from the researchers to make this data accessible in a language that is easy to understand and interesting which can further serve as documentation of the changing patterns in the grasslands. As mentioned earlier, the Agumbe grassland is revenue land and construction on the grasslands has started by private bodies resulting in habitat loss.

How can biodiversity be communicated in terms t hat are easy to understand and interesting?

Territory to be explored Research at ARRS is mostly carried out through species-specific point of view. It is also necessary to understand/ highlight the lens through which the grasslands can be seen as a habitat that interconnects different species, making it a rich, biodiverse ecosystem.

Shedding light on these connections in the ecosystem will ultimately lead to awareness and appreciation of the

Can law bring in other perspective to this project?

Approach • Data collecting methods and fieldwork • Empathizing with the researchers by performing short exercises on observing and documenting in the field for long hours.

• Field observation • Cognitive Mapping • Current maps • Interviews • Data collection through notes, pictures, sketches • Audio and Visual Documentation • Ability to understand and analyze the information through design thinking tools like motivation matrix, system map, context panorama and more • To draw connections with the habitat from the information • Research on other similar subject/ Look for inspirations • Case studies of biodiversity communication materials

PROJECT VISION

Changing the current understanding of grasslands being unproductive wastelands.

GOAL

To create communication material on the grasslands, representing the landscape as an ecologically rich micro-ecosystem.

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Analyzing Data Visualising the information while listening to the audio documentation in Agumbe.

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How do you communicate: Once and Only Compact patches Space and Places activities in the micro-ecosystem Symbiosis Representing relationships?

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Design tool, SEE-THINK-WONDER to imagine all the connections with the grasslands in past present and in the future.

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More of analizing/deconstructing the data The stories/data that was collected in various forms such as voice records, maps etc slowly started to get connected, form layer and now could be categorized into

Mini Stories Events/Phenomena Cycles A few Mini stories 1. Flock of birds flying towards the grasslands for food. Some species eat the fruits and hence while eating from the fruiting tree, the bees from the trees fly in open spaces that give food to other species of birds.

Quantifying content into three stories per season and layering it with information such as Journey- Start and end of the species journey in the grasslands Activities- Breeding, Feeding, Resting Sky-Ground connection- How do they use the grassland?

Sound- The different kind of sounds/silence experienced Nature's Conditions- the required climate for the activities to take place Personality/Metaphors Growing stages Existence of other species around them and Interaction Unknown/Unexplained/Magical facts Human intervention Variation/size-scale 20

2. Smaller ecosystem in the waterfallRock, Algae, water and fish 3. The migratory dragon flies, bees pollinating and attracting other species 4. Fishes migrating from perennial water bodies to the first order streams for breeding 5. Water flows from higher ground to lower ground during the monsoon to form the 1st order stream, which forms a breeding ground of many amphibians.

6. Hundreds of flowers growing post monsoon in the grasslands attracting several species of butterflies and hence other birds who eat butterflies

Events/Phenomena 1. Communal Breeding of common India toads which takes place during the first showers of monsoon 2. Endemic species 3. Best place and time to spot birds/species 4. Dead tree which exits near a pond and a few species like eagles, snakes have been spotted 5. Researcher’s track/path

Cycles

Cycles such as breeding, feeding and behaviour of certain species, changes in the grass throughout the year

Words that emerged through my own personal journey mapping while in Agumbe which were taken forward with the form and visual style.

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Initial Form Explorations Getting inspiration from the content for the form

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A few ideas for the form such as unpacking, tresure island, revealing started to pop up.

Thus further exploration for the form strated to take shape. For the form, ideas such as puzzle, maps, games were coming up. But after futher ideation and keeping in mind the constratist of communicating the message to the audience quickly, a simple but not an abstract form would work.Thus further exploration of maps started to take place.

In this process, the form, the structure of the form(map) and style were takiing place simousltaneousl From this stage onwards I started exploring maps since I have been always interested in maps but was also looking at other forms such as games, puzzles etc.y

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Stakeholder Mapping Are the stakeholders the audience?

What are LTG(long term goals) and STG(short term goals) and hence defining the audience on the rate of impact?

Is it possible to target a wider audience since the information is generic?

Can we cater first to the primary stakeholders that is the Agumbe village and then to the wider audience?

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After a few steps ahead of the project, the project is targeted at people who comesto visit Agumbe; tourist, children, locals. . .

Around 10/12 years, when environmental education is introduced.

This material can be exhibited at the public spaces/educational institutions for public cosumption.

Existing Form Communicating about Biodiversity Swot( strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analyses on existing mediums

Insights from SWOT analyses.

Most of the forms on grasslands are either documents or text heavy with the use of scientific language.

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Meeting and Feedback at Madras Crocodile Bank Trust Meeting with Rom, Gowri and Dhiraj helped to clear certain thoughts, which were floating around the form. A physical form will be more helpful than a digital form as it depends highly on technology.

Also, a form that enables the viewers to get a glimpse of the message if in two minute and more depth information if further viewed.

This could be a good constraint and challenge to the form.

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Maps As maps was one of the forms that I was ideating before, and after the meeting with our client and the constraints/ requirements that were brought up, exploring the medium of maps sounded a good option as it did justice in commincating the message as well as to the stakeholders that were mapped.

Maps as an information design tool A few interesting points about maps from the readings: How maps have the power to include/exclude information To represent the local situation to an outsider How maps can be used to create Awareness Educate Change attitude/perceptions Invovle people to participate Elements of maps - Paths, nodes, landmarks, navigation were implimented in the visual form.

Getting inspiration from the book ‘MAPS’ and other online sources for artistic maps

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Forms explored for the Grassland map

Initial exploration for the form of the map began with many ideas/shapes such as a map that is a combination of aireal view as well as a cross section, using a cicular form to represent the cycles and the topography.

A linear form for a map if further explored might would have ended by being more of story-telling illustration than a map.

The circular form gave a good sense of the cycle, the emptiness, variation could be seen as a whole. Hence further exploration of this circular shape happened.

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Interaction as an Element for the Map The initial idea was how to slowly unpack the hidden stories of the grasslands and thus some kind of interaction with simple folds to the form could be explored.

After exploring a few interactive forms, we realized that a lot of other things needed to be considered such as the size of the map and to balance the content. Too much of abstraction to the form would have also distracted the audience and probably a simple rich look would also play as a role of interaction through engagement.

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A few drawbacks/difficulties with an interactive form Three section of each season is a must.

Size restriction due to folding and unfolding.

Not so much content.

Too much playfulness might be distractive.

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Exploring Strcutures Different type of grids that could be possible used in the structure was explored.In the intital stages the grid did work for some sections to place the elements or to navigate the users but mostly place it felt that the content(since it was through story telling) was forced at some places.

After a few more trial, grids did not work but rather it helped to give perspective in the map.

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Exploring Styles Initial interations

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Exploration of visual style and structure for the forest section in the map:

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Exploration of styles for grass and the sky.

Sky and grass iterations

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Drawing Animals Till now, explorations for styles of landscape had been focused on.The challenging part was to draw the various animals and balancing them into the landscape. It was essential to show some features of the animals but yet it was necessary to keep a simple style and technique.Hence I decided to explore a different medium to draw the animals. I used ink in a tube bottle to draw them. The effect would still be a little sketchy but the features would be de ned by the use of lines and it would blend with the digital style of landscape. It also gave a stamp like effect..

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Layout

Started drawing simple basic animals, here the rats and drew the burrows separately.

Then I started slowly playing with the layout to give the hiding and revealing experience.

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Texture

The use of texture by scanning kite paper and spong texture in the map helped to add depth and richness.

Also, explored texture through photoshop brushes.

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A few more exploration with the the different layers, styles, texture and ink drawings explored.

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Navigation There were already a few strokes in each slice that the elements flowed in. By extend-ing these lines, they could be used for navigation.

Winter wanderers

During the last seminar, it was decided that text is necessary to understand the informa-tion. So text also needed to be placed.

Slowly we realized that the text could be used to navigate the map.

Nightjars moths: Invisible, mute till the shadows fall

The text could act as an staring point and flow into the visual.

Birds ( eating fruits and bees)on tress: Dozing and dining

The red lines are extended lines for naviga-tion and double red lines indicate where the text could be placed.Another chanllenge was to tell the story or the scientific information in short phrases .

Text as navigation for the stories:

Butterflies: Windless breeders

Dragonflies: Hiding revealing, hiding revealing

Summer settlers Rodents: Awaking. Amassing. Taking up residence.

Lapwings: Fleeting visitors. Bustling nurturers.

(First rough draft)

Monsoon migrants Fishes: Seeking stillness in the shallows. Partnering up.

Waterfall: Slipping. Anchoring on algae. Releasing eggs.

1st order stream: Adding volume.

Frogs: Solitary night of cacophonic displays

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Rodents leaving (underground): Decamping in the cold

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Creating/ Storyboarding the Structure

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At this stage the content decelopment and structure took place simultaneously.Initially there was a possibility of creating three different maps for three seasons. But a lot of other things like the cost, content and mostly time were to thought about.

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Stories and the Strcuture The structure slowly started taking shape with the help of stories that were written simultaneously. At some place grids were necessary and at some point it was not needed.

There was also a struggle to show many layers of information through stories. A single layered form made sense since it is to be exihibited at public spaces in a highly rainfall region.

Considering the material and the effort/time to handle the material, a flat highly rich map was slowly coming to picture.

Some stories One night, the grassland gets a call from the clouds. Its not the false call, but the loud rolling monsoon call. The army of Malabar Indian toads hidden in their camps in the dense forest of Western Ghats is ready to march now. All geared up and voices charged they wait for the night to come. The sound of cricket slowly feds away.

As the night arrives, the frog calls become louder and louder. The silence is soon replaced by the new call of Shirr shirr Shirr and Turak Turak. Why this sound? One of the reasons is to attract the females. The pitch gets higher and higher. No other species are heard except them on this patch of the grasslands. Do the neighboring species on the grassland stay awake if they can hear their calling? They call and call until they find their partner as the rain pours over them. A few get lucky with the females. As horny as they can get, male frogs are seen in action on other species too! They catch hold of anything that moves on the grassland, thinking they could get lucky with the females. But only a few get lucky with the females and lay eggs. These brown frogs magically change their color from brown to yellow during this time to attract females. The females are twice as large as males. Very few females are seen compared to males. Reason unknown. The night belongs to these female Malabar Indian toads. The call of Malabar Indian toad is like a welcoming ceremony to call all the amphibians to dance to the monsoon on the grasslands. Its almost like they shelter and hide in the forest when the sun shines, and when it pours, its their time of the year to show off in this

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open space. And ever wonder, what happens when the sky brighten up in the morning after their march to breed at night.

Yes, the march of the other amphibians starts as the clouds pour more.

Sky/Ground- they breed, rest, feed on the grass, on the ground they are out because it rains from the sky.

Nature conditions: Night, first few showers of monsoon, females Magic: Happens once a year, they change their color to yellow to attract, females being larger than males.

Personality: Frogs have big imaginations and like to think situations through long before they are ever encountered. They have strategic minds and can anticipate the moves of others before they happen. Frogs are notoriously elusive. Because frogs lay a mass of eggs they are symbol of fertility.

Fishes Nature calls the fishes to begin their journey.

Fishes in the rivers can be very turbulent. Below the turbulent water is the entrance for the fish to this quite paradise. They begin making their way towards the top and swim upstream to continue their journey to this wonderful water body on grass. Slopes and laterite rocks play an important role to capture and navigate the flow of water into the grasslands for fishes. The laterite rock and the soft wet grass seem like the perfect combination to roll in the open under the

clouds. With fewer trees due to the laterite rock, the open grass in the middle of dense forest attracts a lot of other species. All of these activities revolve because of the rain. Rain makes their journey happen. Imagine without no rain, no water, no trenches, no streams and no journey for the fishes.

It’s almost like a ritual for the fishes to touch their fins on this grass every year. The slow, shallow water with fewer activities allow the fishes to breed. They lay their eggs and by the end of the monsoon, the babies travel down the slope with the flow of rainwater to enter into their real world of rivers. When these babies grow they make their journey back, where they started to breed and lay eggs. The cycle exists in their lives too. The flow of the water that makes this journey happen can be very dramatic at times.

Ever wonder, if it’s like a festival procession, full of enthusiastic fishes singing songs, swinging their fins and swimming to reach their destination. Its wet everywhere, the clouds roll and move faster casting shadows without the sun in the background in their journey.

Thousands and thousands of fishes occupy a thin line of stream on the huge open grassland in the middle of the forest. And tinnier than the fishes exist too which they feed on.

Migration is the movement of large number of animals from one place to another for feeding, reproduction or to escape weather extremes.

Magic: How fishes find their way in huge expanses of

sea and reach their destinations, which lie thousands of kilometers away, has been a mystery. It is believed that they orient by the positions of stars and moon in the night sky and sun in daytime to find the direction of swimming. However, it has been experimentally proven that salmons are guided by the odor of their parent stream during return journey.

Sky/Ground- Fish migrate horizontally are not vertical here. Trenches, which were once jeep tracks are filled with water from the sky.

Nature Condition- Families migrate together Waterfall story Later in monsoon, water becomes heavy and flows down the rocks with force.

In other places, the intensity of waterfalls and pressure generated from it due to gravity has given the impression of a lifeless zone, which is not true. Different kinds of algae, fungi grow on rocks in water, which are a source of food for many other small species There are photosynthesizing algae (some of which might provide food for insects or other smaller life) clinging to moist rocks in the waterfalls. Fishes like Garrah fish can stick vertically on these rocks with the help of algae and breed in running water. (sex in the shower) Post Monsoon The families that arrive to the grassland have to

depart at some point.

Even the shallow still water slowly moves downward to form bigger streams travelling with the fishes and toads. The clouds fade their color and sun shines warm enough. The monsoon is beginning to end and it’s a call for the others.

The unseen overnight changes seem magical in the morning. The water slowly moves forward and moisture is just enough for the seeds to grow into plants/grass that flowers. Where did the seeds come from? Grassland can grow only flowers on the entire body and not trees. The grassland is like a basket full of hundred of species of flowers during post-monsoon. Petals start to bloom in the direction of the sun. One by one, flowers pop up of different flavors, which seem to match the taste of different butterflies, bees and moths. Hawk moth pollinate on little purple flowers in the grassland.

(Butterflies can travel longer distances, ensuring coverage of equal amounts of flowering plants in a larger area. But that's not all: There are also bats and moths and birds, to name a few other pollinators. Although they all are only looking for food — nectar— they actually help plants reproduce The flowers that bees visit are generally brightly colored and predominantly blue or yellow—rarely pure red, because red appears black to bees. The flowers they visit often have distinctive markings that function as guides that lead them to the nectar.

Many moths forage only at night; the flowers they visit are usually white or cream-colored

because these colors stand out against dark backgrounds in starlight or moonlight) As season passes, new species of butterflies arrive with new flowers blooming Butterflies feed in the daytime and like an area in the sun sheltered from the wind.

Hummingbird Hawk-moths are summer visitors, migrating here. They beat their wings at such speed they emit an audible hum flies. It beats its wings so fast that they are no more than a blur, and like a true humming bird they are able to hover whilst feeding for nectar with a long uncoiled proboscis. To complete the illusion, the speed of their beating wings is such that they emit the trade mark hum from which the hummingbird gets it name.

Moths are active at night, so they depend on their sense of smell to locate flowers. Moths prefer flowers that emit a strong scent and open at night with white, pale yellow or pink petals.

Some flowers have patterns that also guide the bees to the nectar.

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Mapping stories/content into the structure The circular shape of the map was derived from the cycle of the activities and the variation seen throughout the year. The sun is at the center of the map and the circle is divided into three seasons. Each season has a night story. The stories are of certain species dominating/he-ro of that time of the year.

Some information/layers such as arrival of species on the grasslands, activities like breed-ing, feeding, and migration, how the landscape interacts with the species shall be brie y written on the map.

Redefining the purpose of the map in this project Grassland Map. This map aims to communicate the biodiversity and variation seen throughout the year on the grassland, which most people are unaware o .

The aim is also to show there is more than what you think/see and reveal the mini stories (information too) through this map.

At the end, the whole map may not look/sound like what grasslands should look/sound like because of the many activities going on and hence the message of grasslands not being wasteland is brought about.

The title of this map shall bring out how grass-lands are perceived today and the map shall reveal/communicate the richness.

The map also give the message of grasslands not being wasteland in two minutes as it was one of the constraints discussed since the target audience may not have the time and one could get more information about the grasslands if looked into it for more time.

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Hand drawn landscape/topography layout for the stories on the actual size paper.

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Final Outcome in Progress

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Living Plains Map of Agumbe Grassland

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Personal Experience, Journey and learning My interest in the field of geography and landscape had always been and slowly grew stronger through projects in Srishti. The vast and unexplored landscapes influence many activities around it and humans indirectly, fascinated me. Hence I approached this project ‘We walked into the arms of the Forest’ and it gave me an opportunity to combine my artistic and design skills to the filed I love the most.

The journey through this project has been unexpected and exciting in many ways. As I said my interest in landscape had always been there, but through this project of communicating biodiversity of the grasslands to change the perception of it seen as wasteland, has not only change my understanding of spaces and places but I gained a lot of knowledge of different species and animals. Learning and understanding their behavior with the landscape on our field research, I realized that there must be various places and landscape that have been misunderstood perceived differently in this world than what they are and this project is just the beginning of those unexplored landscapes.

As an artist/ designer in the field of of visual communication this was the most exciting project. From an artistic background, here there was need to communicate the message of grasslands not been wasteland but at the same time to position myself as an artist which I reached through the visual exploration and the form of this map. The balance between artistic abstraction and communication was challenging and hence an exciting part that I encountered through this project.

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Acknowledgements This project is a culmination of the efforts of many people.

I would like to thank the whole of Agumbe Rainforest Research Station(ARRS) team - Romulus Whitakar, the founder of ARRS, the researchers Dhiraj Bhaisare, Santosh Rajus and Gawri Mallapur and Dhiraj Gopinath for this opportunity and their support.

To Deepta Sateesh and Arpitha Kodiveri, our directors of Law + Environment + Design lab and Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology which offered us this great project and for their constant motivation and nurturing us with their experiences and learning. Malvika Tewari and Abhishek Choudury for their constant feedback and guidance. My peers Mariya Madraswala, Adrita Das, Prateek Vatash, Sreeja Basu, Koyal Chengappa, Tania Rogers, Disha Mehta and many many more.

Family- Smita Patil, Sarjerao Patil and Neha.

And the Grassland of Agumbe land.

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