Graphic Reflections

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 natural 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 environment, 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….

A graphic to illustrate the feeling of struggle (the mountain that comes in the way of your reaching home).

Come October and a great many indistinct trees in the plains of India seem to come alive with sounds. Warblers arrive from the hills and countries up north to set trees abuzz with their constant, muffled calls. One of the most common warbler to visit the plains of India in winters is the Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca, the call of which has been portrayed in this animated graphic. Lesser Whitethroat continuously moves and hops around the tree it visits, it also utters its call almost non-stop. (Sorry, this animation is a bit heavy, 524 kb)

This graphic attempts to depict the skewed equation between driving skills and road skills amongst a majority of drivers in India (I believe they are different skills). While most drivers may have good driving skills (which are also the main focus of driving schools across the country) to drive or ‘handle’ their respective vehicles well, when it comes to road skills (eg. being patient while driving, wearing helmets, stopping at red lights, negotiating roundabouts properly, parking the vehicle properly), most drivers in India would fare poorly (fail, I would say). With the traffic situation in Indian cities becoming worse by the day, its time the authorities and driving schools start laying stress on developing road skills of Indian drivers.

This graphic tries to portray man’s increasing dependence on machines. One of the characteristics of progress or advancement as we know it is increasing involvement of machines in our day-to-day activities. (This was one of my earliest graphics, made almost 8 years ago. It does look dated and gives an indication of how much machines have evolved in just a few years.)

One wonders how many times we realise that every indian currency note and coin contains an image of the father of our nation. When we use, abuse or spend money incessantly, do we remember the values Mahatma Gandhi stood for?

This graphic attempts to reveal ‘highways’ used by two animals: Squirrel (yellow), Cat (Orange) and one bird: Pigeon (Blue), as observed from a terrace in Jaipur. So busy and lively these animals and birds keep our surroundings, isn’t that wonderful?