Abinaya R

LA4007

Nalsarovar, a RAMSAR wetland is a significant stopover point in the Central Asian flyway. Equivalent to its biodiversity is the indigenous cultural systems of Padhars, a primitive tribe, whose ways of life are reciprocal to the natural systems and cycles of this lacustrine landscape. In the mythical stories of this land, is a powerful motif of a mother (water) who nurtured her off-springs, the reeds, fishes, water, and the tribes by sharing her possessions. In it is hidden, a notion of siblinghood of inhabitants of the wetland that conserved the natural and cultural systems together for ages. The erratic nature of the monsoon, together with urban aspirations and thoughtless developments has brought in a shift in the way the landscape and its inhabitants co-existed. Though attuned to the periodic cycles of nature, against the sporadic cycles of prolonged drought and intense floods, only the fittest survived, the rest, fled or perished. The project primarily tries to define a new dependency cycle through the introduction of micro-cultural habitats that become repositories and catalysts, capable of kindling the cycle of regeneration as a network of smaller niches, when capacious units of ecosystems get altered beyond repair. These units consist of the reeds, fishes, people, and birds. Further, a defunct farm pond is selected as micro-cultural units at a systemic level to demonstrate an integrated reed bed technique that uses traditional skills and knowledge systems of Padhars and generates livelihoods and links with its habitat conservation measures, reciting the idea of shared belongings.