Aparna Raman
A public engagement workshop inspired by the book “My Neighbour is a Pest” curated by Timbuktoo Young Writers. The workshop invites intergenerational participants to recall, share and document the urban biodiversity of the neighbourhood and how life once changed with seasons, as compared to the present.
Given the ravages of time and climate change, we no longer recall houses and neighbourhoods by their flora, fauna and fruit. Addresses once were associated with bougainvilleas and mango or jackfruit trees. The seasons would influence the vegetables we ate and the ritual of changing clothing. Nature’s produce would ripen to suit the body’s seasonal demands. The workshop will document these stories in flux via illustration and sensory-based storytelling—mixing memory, ritual and the lyricism of seasonal change.