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Growing up in a city, my exposure to nature was limited to the books and encyclopedias I devoured as a child and the holiday visits to my grandparents’ place. My grandfather would teach me the names of all the plants he knew while I brushed off the spiders that made their way into my hair. These experiences shaped my growing curiosity about the natural world as a child, and the nature walks I went to as I grew up only helped fuel it.

My interest in nature led me to pursue internships in ecology, from understanding how abandoned coffee plantations affect rainforest regeneration to quantifying organic carbon fractions in the soil. Over this time, I have developed a keen interest in plants, soils, and microbes, especially fungi. I find mycorrhizal symbiosis particularly intriguing, especially their role in nutrient transport and plant growth. Owing to these interests, I am working on understanding how invasive plants affect soil microbes and fungi as my Master’s project in the BioGeoSys lab.

Apart from my academic interests, I am an avid reader – I have a growing collection of books amassed over the years that I keep as a private library in my room. I frequently forage, photograph, and collect mushrooms, and I often take back rocks, leaves, and flowers from places I visit to add to my collection. At other times, you can find me writing and consuming art.

My interest in nature was instilled by my family, who meticulously exposed me to the wonders of nature from childhood by sharing wholesome experiences in nature and their knowledge and resources. I lived on a beautiful hill in the Western Ghats with lots of wetlands around. This blessed me with opportunities to go out into the wild, have adventures with my friends, and enjoy the wonders of nature to the fullest. Observing nature helped me to deal with my frustrations and as a productive way to spend my time. I was also lucky to interact with people who shared similar passions, and they introduced me to the world of citizen science projects and inspired me to pursue research.

I have a broad interest in different aspects of the natural world. For my master’s thesis, I plan to explore various aspects of camouflage in ground-nesting birds and understand their natural history.

I am a naturalist who enjoys hiking, cycling, music and reading books. I aim to contribute to creating a peaceful coexistence between humans and nature by connecting people to nature and enlightening them to admire the marvels of nature.

As a child, I was fascinated by the wonders of the world my encyclopaedias opened up for me – I would stare at the animals that dominated our planet at different time periods and the fossils they have left behind. One of my earliest memories involves tracing my fingers over the picture of a trilobite fossil.

These childhood interests continued to influence my academic trajectory as I explored my interests in the natural world through internships and projects. My research interests lie in Evolutionary biology at levels of both microevolution and macroevolution. My previous work involved delving into the fascinating worlds of reptiles and understanding their evolutionary histories in a phylogenetic framework: where did they come from, and where did they go?

Currently, I am a Master’s student at the BioGeoSys lab. For my thesis project, I am trying to understand the effects of anthropogenic activities on a species of endemic Indian fan-throated lizard. One of the ways that humans affect wildlife is through the modification of their habitats via processes such as urbanization. My model system is found commonly around a variety of locations in Odisha, making them a good model system to understand genetic and phenotypic variation across a multitude of landscape features.

Apart from my academic interests, I like food (eating, making it, thinking about it), reading, consuming audio-visual media and sleeping.

The intricate behaviors displayed by animals and insects have always fascinated me. As a city kid, I was always underexposed to nature, but that didn’t stop me from realizing how amazing it actually is. My interest in behavioral ecology and phenotypic plasticity grew over the past few years. My previous internships helped me explore more into data collection, thermal ecology, intraspecific competition, and statistics. It also made me like arthropods and reptiles as model systems. 

My recent obsession with statistics made me stumble upon species distribution models and range shifts. I’ve joined the BioGeoSys lab as a master’s student and look forward to exploring more into these ideas.

Apart from academics, you’ll find me watching movies and shows, sleeping, doodling, or listening to crime podcasts. I also enjoy playing badminton.

“…the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets.” – The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)

I grew up as a child who loved stories. And who was a better storyteller than nature, overflowing with tales of all that is alive and the traces others have left behind. Dabbling in nature’s secrets in my backyard and on the occasional adventures in the Western Ghats, I realised my interest in ecology and species interactions.

My interests span diverse aspects of the natural world. I have previously done an internship in plankton ecology, which exposed me to the immense diversity and complexity of plankton communities in marine ecosystems. I have also done an internship on the analysis of mud puddling in butterflies of India. This work taught me data analysis and modelling (and also let me look at a lot of pretty butterflies!). Presently, I am on the lookout for an intriguing question that will take me on my journey of Master’s project at the BioGeoSys Lab.

Apart from academic pursuits, literature and the arts pique my interest. I love to read and collect books – fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and poetry. As a result of extensive reading, I have developed an interest in creative writing in both Malayalam and English.  Besides these, I love to sketch and paint, watch movies, and never stop talking about them.