Look closely at any city street drain in India and chances are you will see litter in it. Drains in India—meant to channelise rain water and some even to divert rainwater to rainwater harvesting pits—end up becoming extended litter bins some of which are not cleaned for months. People find it very convenient to toss waste in drains and sweepers find it easier dump collected waste in the closest drain than to carry it to the nearest municipal waste bin. Flooding of streets in India after heavy rains is often attributed to drains clogged with litter and many clogged drains end up becoming puddles where mosquitoes breed. Street drains in India (well, look at it positively or negatively), seem to perform at least one more role than they were meant to!

These photographs were taken a couple of years ago in the city of Jaipur (Rajasthan) India. The one on left shows a wall from the historic walled city (also known as the Pink City). The one on the right shows a conglomerate rock located inside a city park. One major difference between these two is that the wall is less than 300 years old whereas the rock is estimated to be about 1600 million years old (yes!). Many (man-made) walls and structures in the Jaipur walled city are in a state of decay, some have crumbled, yet the rocks in the nearby Aravalli hills look as good as new! Isn’t nature’s ability to ‘maintain’ itself amazing?

This photograph of cows on a heap of garbage was taken at a busy street in Old Delhi, in March 2008. A sight like this, not uncommon in any city in India, could act as a reminder that India needs to address its problem of waste urgently. It shows that organic and inorganic waste is not segregated in India, that waste often lies like this at dumps for days creating serious health risks for those living nearby and more importantly, that the problem of waste disposal in India is largely ignored. One can’t even begin to count the number of big and small polybags and pieces of plastic this heap would contain and how many of them the cows would ingest! One could go on and on about the ills of such a sight…

This graphic shows the area in which a kitten born in our house lived for a couple of months, before consuming a dead rat and dying. In her brief life, this was her ‘world’, the only world she saw or knew.

This is one of my earliest graphics, created way back in year 2000. While I’m not sure if I completely agree with it, thought I’d put it up nevertheless because the design treatment is interesting This graphic is about some “must have’s” to climb up in society!!!

How time seems to fly when we have no time at our hand and drag when we have plenty of time! One wonders if this relative speed of time has got something to do with how much need we have (or don’t have) to look at time

For sometime now, in our day-to-day conversations, I have been taking note of things some people (myself included) hate. This graphic celebrates all that hatred. Guess it’s very difficult to understand the feeling of hate. Apart from individual likes and dislikes, it probably has something to do with pressures of daily life, bad experiences, personal or professional frustrations or difficulties, unrealistic expectations and a lot else…

This graphic attempts to highlight the irony of eco-tourism projects in India, with special reference to lakes. More and more Indian lakes are ‘developed’ to become tourist friendly: with heritage structures, walkways, driveways, amusement parks, etc. around them and with boating / water sports facilities. As a result of the disturbance, animals and birds (and insects and fishes)—which constitute a lake’s ecosystem—find their homes destroyed and either perish in the process or are forced to leave. Lakes, in a water scarce and environmentally degraded country like india, are hearts of its natural support system, their stereotypical development results in short-term gains and long term loss for the country. Lakes need to be left untouched and respected for the not-always-visible-to-the-naked-eye role they play in securing our environment.

This graphic tries to capture the state of preoccupation that so many urban dwellers leading high pressure lives often find themselves in when they try to escape or take a break. Often the preoccupation makes it difficult to simply notice or appreciate your surroundings. Or so I felt when I had taken a break from usually hectic work schedule to Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur (above). It took a while and some effort to get out the preoccupations and notice the tremendous variety of foliage, hear the varied bird calls, smell the pure air and get a sense of the place….

Another simple graphic, this one depicting hard work. (Perhaps one of those stages when the road is uphill and one is not sure of the outcome, but hard work is usually rewarding.)