GVK Botanical Gardens

Happy to share a proud moment for GVK Botanical Gardens as our identity partners Open Strategy & Design have won the prestigious Communication Arts Award (Corporate Identity Manual 2018) for our very own manual 'Growing Gardens'

For the second consecutive year, OPEN's work stands among some of the world's best! We're ecstatic to share our third Communication Arts NY award winner: "Growing Gardens".

As always, we could not have done this without our clients GVK, GVK Botanical Gardens. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do fabulous work!

See more on: https://www.commarts.com/project/27561/growing-gardens-public-space-conservation

On the occasion of , we decided to make an installation which reminds the Public of the monster that we are constantly feeding and nurturing to grow bigger and undestroyable.

At CSIA Mumbai we have made installations called 'PLASTASURA' (ASURA which means 'Monsters' in Marati) just to remind everyone that we have created enough and more monsters than we can’t even imagine, the least we could do from today is NOT TO CREATE MORE.

Lets all join our hands together and by AVOIDING SINGLE USE PLASTIC.

UN Environment

Mumbai city has a visitor this season...an Olive Ridley Turtle. You can read more by clicking on the link

After 20 years, Mumbai's Versova beach becomes nesting ground for Olive Ridley turtles Advocate Afroz Shah, the Versova beach cleanup crusader, found at least 80 Olive Ridley turtles that hatched on Versova beach after 20 years.

World Sparrow Day 2018
Sparrows are tiny chirping beauties living closely in the urban spaces that innocently make their way to our windows. Though, nowadays these birds have been ignored and are rapidly dwindling in the cities due rampant unplanned development and concretization causing loss of soil surfaces. Keeping this in mind and to spread awareness 20th March 2010 was the first time that was observed as World Sparrow Day across the globe. Here we are, today 8 years since then celebrating a day for our tiny window visitors. There are various species of sparrows found across the world of which in urban spaces of India, House Sparrows are most commonly found.
Image: House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Awaited Flamingos at Mumbai

Every year the mudflats along the shores of Mumbai and adjoining areas are painted pink. Lesser Flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) and Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) visit these shores from their breeding grounds in Gujarat during the winters and mid-summer time to feed. Both the species can be separated by size, bill and plumage. When they arrive, the juveniles are pale coloured and stay here for a season and feed on the algae and crustaceans in the intertidal region and this is what contributes to the development of their pink plumages which they display to attract mates in their breeding season.

Do pay a visit to your nearby mudflat!

Photo credits: Vikrant Choursiya

Romulus Earl Whitaker

Hailed as ‘The Snakeman of India’ is a renowned herpetologist, wildlife conservationist and the founder of Madras Snake Park, The Andaman and Nicobar Environment Trust (ANET) and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. He has devoted decades of his life working towards studying, documenting and protecting the herpetofauna of India. His documentary on King Cobra, the largest venomous snake in the world received The Emmy Award for Outstanding News and Documentary Program Achievement, 1998 and various other awards. He has been so devoted to wildlife conservation that all the prize money he recieved was used to setup research stations. And for his monumental work he has been awarded Padma Shri award which is the fourth highest civilian award in India.

Photo © saravanakumar/Icon Films Ltd.

Pupa of the

Going through phase of complete from an to an imago, portray a remarkable structure nothing less than . In the photograph one can see the pupa of a butterfly Common Leopard (Phalanta phalantha) commonly observed in the settlements too. A sun-loving with an active and sharp flight. The pupa has silver studded spiny structures with red borders.

In case you spot a caterpillar don’t forget to tag us!

Long-tailed Shrike (The butcher bird)

A member from the shrike family. The Long-tailed Shrike ranges across much of Asia, both mainland as well as eastern archipelago. It’s a fearless hunter, taking most of its prey on the ground, impales the victims (insects) on a sharp spine or broken branch giving it the impression of a ‘Butcher bird’. It can easily be seen in the urban areas.

Cicada emerging

Cicadas are a type of insects with prominent eyes set wide apart. They camouflage well and produce an extremely loud sound by vibrating drumlike tymbals (a vibrating membrane in the shrilling organ of a cicada) rapidly. The adults typically live on trees and feed on sap. They lay eggs in slits of the tree bark. Most cicadas are cryptic, singing at night to avoid predators. There are some that are annual cicadas, these species emerge every year while there are some cicadas that have a life cycle that can vary from one to nine or more years as underground larvae.

The Cup & Saucer plant (Breynia sp.)
Cup & Saucer plant (Breynia sp.)

Also famous by the name Chinese Hat plant. What makes it interesting is that the fruit looks like a cup kept on a saucer. It is a small shrub which may grow as high as 2 meters in height. Best time to see it flowering is mid-monsoons. As they are brightly coloured, they attract many insects.

If you are lucky, you may get a bonus to see jewel bugs on the cup and saucer plant.

The Festival of Lights is not yet over. Here is another interesting piece of information on how mother nature has naturally lit our environment!

Largely seen in the temperate or tropical regions. Indian forests are blessed with these beauties. Various parts of this fungus glow while in some only the spores glow. These fungi too use the same substance called luciferin to produce light and glow in the night. The ecological reason for this is yet not established.

Attached image is of bioluminescence fungi on a tree from Amboli Ghat, Maharashtra.

Image credit: Varun Satose.

We wanted to take the opportiunity to talk about all the bioluminescent type of living organism during this festival of lights.. This Diwali let nature light your world!

Planktons on shores of Mumbai

Few months ago Mumbai witnessed a natural phenomenon like never before on its shoreline. Dinoflagellates are single-celled organisms which are common members of planktonic life of water that float on or near ocean waters. These creatures, at times due to mechanical stress show up a spectacular display of bioluminescence at night. Each cell of the cluster can produce more than one flash of light which functions literally like a battery system. Using a chemical called luciferin that produces the light. Once the available luciferin is utilized, the bioluminescent capacity is depleted but next day it can recharge the chemicals for the night and light up the waters once again.

Picture credit: Vikrant Choursiya