Catching them young and green

BANGALORE: Can one keep track of his or her 'wow' moments with nature? Sangeetha Kadur, 31, and Shilpashree, 33, founders of GreenScraps, believe it's possible. Journaling is the best way to capture the many vicissitudes of nature, they feel.
"Colourful flowers, tiny insects, leaves of many shapes, moths that make the perfect posers to sketch, the unique character of each seedpod and the restless birds...every single aspect of nature goes into our little hard-bound sketchbook," say the fine arts students.
"Sketching what we see around us and tagging these little marvels of nature with their names and stories surely transforms a mere sketchbook into a journal," the duo explains. "We want to make nature artists and environmentalists out of these kids," say Sangeetha and Shilpashree.
So what exactly do Sangeetha and Shilpashree do? They conduct workshops for children above eight years, teaching them to be up, close and personal with nature.
The kids are asked to observe and record weather, cloud patterns, surroundings, habitat - ground, eye-level or overhead - the entire landscape, behaviour and personal feelings. The children come, see, observe and feel amazed at nature's diversity and record their observations, all in their little colourful scrapbooks.
Into its fourth year now, GreenScraps workshops are usually spread over five days of two-and-a-half hours each morning. Kids go to a particular place, see and feel the trees, flowers, insects and record them in their respective journals.
"We encourage them to sketch, and not to use cameras to capture nature. At the end of the workshop, they are much more nature-conscious, who by way of exploring, feel the diversity," says Sangeetha.
GreenScraps workshops are held mostly at Lalbagh, though a few sessions have been held around Puttenahalli lake, JP Nagar.
What kind of homework do they need to do for such workshops? "We do a recce of the place a few days in advance and prepare ourselves with a note on its structure - the kind of flowering trees and insects likely to be found there," says Shilpashree.
In all, GreenScraps has initiated 250 people, mostly children, into nature journaling. After the introductory course, the two now plan to organize follow-up workshops. "Whatever we decide to do, it has to be observing, exploring, sketching, doodling, collecting information and having more fun with nature," they sum it up.
Children's corner
This vast area of trees, plants and birds is like the lungs of Bangalore.
-- Hansini Rajkumar, after a nature journaling workshop in Lalbagh
In the heart of a bustling city yet miles away from it, we got to learn so much. It was such fun.
Tanu Prasad