A book for the naturalist in all of us
These and many other delightful nuggets of knowledge about the natural world can be found in a new activity-based nature book for children called Be a Neighbourhood Naturalist. Published by Juggernaut Books, it is co-authored by Labonie Roy, Vena Kapoor, and Suhel Quader, and designed by Pratyush Gupta, with illustrations by Tanrus Studio and Upasana Chadha.
What makes the book stand out is that the information is supplemented by engaging activities that will help children develop a fascination for the natural world, which include guided observations, from how to differentiate between webs of common spider species, to experiments that include growing mould on bread and making frog croaking sounds with a glass and a rubber band.
'This book is for the naturalist in you! Through questions about nature, it guides you on an exploration of your surroundings and the other living things that share them with you,' states the introductory chapter in the book.
Beginnings
Suhel says that the kernel of the idea for this book emerged around 2013, when the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), a Mysore-headquartered non-governmental wildlife conservation and research organisation of which he is a part, began developing a set of activities for children. 'The initial concepts for that were serialised in a couple of places,' he says. 'After we saw the response, we felt that we should put together a book of activities.'
In 2021, they started from scratch, generating new ideas and activities centred on the same concept. 'The versions NCF had published earlier were for one-time production, so when we decided to put all of it together as a book, it had to flow together,' explains Labonie.
The goal was to create a format in which children could go out, explore nature and find the answers for themselves. 'We didn't want it to be a book that you read while sitting on your couch, and passively absorb information. We wanted it to be something where you explore your surroundings and perform scientific activities.'
When you set up and prove something to yourself through experiments, information sticks, Labonie says. 'It also gives you a framework to think scientifically. These are the things that excite us about nature-based learning, which is why we wanted to make this an inquiry-based book.'
In keeping with that goal, every chapter of the book begins with questions like these: 'What exactly is an insect?', 'Why do leaves look so different from each other?', 'Is that the animal I think it is?' or 'Do all birds use twigs to build their nest?'
'But we aren't giving you the answer right away,' says Labonie. Instead, every question is followed by an exercise or activity that helps a child derive their conclusions before proceeding to receive further information about the animal, plant, phenomenon or behaviour being discussed. 'Rather than give them the information, we wanted to provide them with the tools to find out that information for themselves.'
Little things
For the three co-authors, noticing and asking questions about the small things they observed around their homes as young people ultimately led them to a career centred on nature, whether as artists, scientists, or nature educators.
Labonie, a mixed-media illustrator and nature-learning resource creator, for instance, was and continues to be obsessed with bugs. She was drawn into their world as a child by closely observing the trails of ants in her house. 'I would always be leaving food out to see how fast it could be eaten…atta, sugar, and whole biscuits.'
For Suhel, on the other hand, it was the bright and beautiful world of birds that helped catalyse his career as a scientist and educator with NCF. 'I used to think about birds a lot,' he says, remembering how he salvaged bird poop filled with seeds and planted it to figure out what the bird was eating.
In the case of Vena, who 'didn't have a childhood filled with curiosity,' her induction into the natural world came a little later, when she started her first job after an undergraduate degree in commerce.
'The supervisor at my first job in Chennai took me for my first spider spotting walk in our small office garden', recalls Vena, who founded and heads Nature Classrooms, a nature-learning initiative that seeks to link everyday learning and education to the natural world. 'On this short walk, she showed me my first spider and its amazingly intricate spider web, and then a few more, and I was completely fascinated and awed by the sheer diversity of life forms in this small space and how I had missed seeing them earlier.'
This was a crucial nature learning experience for Vena, one which made her wonder why such a simple act as a nature experience and walk was not part of the school education she received. 'To inspire everyone to feel a sense of wonder and fascination with the nature all around us is now my life mission.'
A sense of wonder
The book, which primarily focuses on things that children can observe in their balconies, homes, backyards or neighbourhood gardens, also drives home this.
'The idea is that people should not have to go far away from where they are to engage with nature,' points out Suhel, who believes that since nature is all around us, one can engage with it by simply paying attention. 'In that spirit, we ensured that all the activities in the book were those that could be done, either inside the house or within a small radius outside it,' he says.
'There is this huge misconception that nature in cities is fading,' adds Labonie, who feels that the way to look at Nature is that it's evolving, not fading.
The team hopes that the book will help instil a sense of wonder about the natural world, as well as deepen their understanding and involvement with it. 'Our lives are so full of other distractions, and this book is an attempt to cut through all this competition for our attention,' believes Suhel, while Vena feels that Be a Neighbourhood Naturalist could be a handy, fun and practical tool and educational resource.
'We can also use it as part of our educator and teacher training workshops,' she says. She also loves the idea of the book becoming part of every school library. 'We hope that through this book, we get people excited and curious about nature, connect deeply with it and ask wonderment questions.'
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The Hindu
23-07-2025
- The Hindu
A book for the naturalist in all of us
Did you know that geckos' long tongues do not just help them catch prey, but also allow them to clean their eyes? Or that ants and flies can taste with their feet, that female spiders send love notes to potential mates by releasing pheromone-soaked silken threads, that moths can expertly navigate their way through the world using stars, like sailors of yore, and that dragonflies have been around nearly as long as dinosaurs? These and many other delightful nuggets of knowledge about the natural world can be found in a new activity-based nature book for children called Be a Neighbourhood Naturalist. Published by Juggernaut Books, it is co-authored by Labonie Roy, Vena Kapoor, and Suhel Quader, and designed by Pratyush Gupta, with illustrations by Tanrus Studio and Upasana Chadha. What makes the book stand out is that the information is supplemented by engaging activities that will help children develop a fascination for the natural world, which include guided observations, from how to differentiate between webs of common spider species, to experiments that include growing mould on bread and making frog croaking sounds with a glass and a rubber band. 'This book is for the naturalist in you! Through questions about nature, it guides you on an exploration of your surroundings and the other living things that share them with you,' states the introductory chapter in the book. Beginnings Suhel says that the kernel of the idea for this book emerged around 2013, when the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), a Mysore-headquartered non-governmental wildlife conservation and research organisation of which he is a part, began developing a set of activities for children. 'The initial concepts for that were serialised in a couple of places,' he says. 'After we saw the response, we felt that we should put together a book of activities.' In 2021, they started from scratch, generating new ideas and activities centred on the same concept. 'The versions NCF had published earlier were for one-time production, so when we decided to put all of it together as a book, it had to flow together,' explains Labonie. The goal was to create a format in which children could go out, explore nature and find the answers for themselves. 'We didn't want it to be a book that you read while sitting on your couch, and passively absorb information. We wanted it to be something where you explore your surroundings and perform scientific activities.' When you set up and prove something to yourself through experiments, information sticks, Labonie says. 'It also gives you a framework to think scientifically. These are the things that excite us about nature-based learning, which is why we wanted to make this an inquiry-based book.' In keeping with that goal, every chapter of the book begins with questions like these: 'What exactly is an insect?', 'Why do leaves look so different from each other?', 'Is that the animal I think it is?' or 'Do all birds use twigs to build their nest?' 'But we aren't giving you the answer right away,' says Labonie. Instead, every question is followed by an exercise or activity that helps a child derive their conclusions before proceeding to receive further information about the animal, plant, phenomenon or behaviour being discussed. 'Rather than give them the information, we wanted to provide them with the tools to find out that information for themselves.' Little things For the three co-authors, noticing and asking questions about the small things they observed around their homes as young people ultimately led them to a career centred on nature, whether as artists, scientists, or nature educators. Labonie, a mixed-media illustrator and nature-learning resource creator, for instance, was and continues to be obsessed with bugs. She was drawn into their world as a child by closely observing the trails of ants in her house. 'I would always be leaving food out to see how fast it could be eaten…atta, sugar, and whole biscuits.' For Suhel, on the other hand, it was the bright and beautiful world of birds that helped catalyse his career as a scientist and educator with NCF. 'I used to think about birds a lot,' he says, remembering how he salvaged bird poop filled with seeds and planted it to figure out what the bird was eating. In the case of Vena, who 'didn't have a childhood filled with curiosity,' her induction into the natural world came a little later, when she started her first job after an undergraduate degree in commerce. 'The supervisor at my first job in Chennai took me for my first spider spotting walk in our small office garden', recalls Vena, who founded and heads Nature Classrooms, a nature-learning initiative that seeks to link everyday learning and education to the natural world. 'On this short walk, she showed me my first spider and its amazingly intricate spider web, and then a few more, and I was completely fascinated and awed by the sheer diversity of life forms in this small space and how I had missed seeing them earlier.' This was a crucial nature learning experience for Vena, one which made her wonder why such a simple act as a nature experience and walk was not part of the school education she received. 'To inspire everyone to feel a sense of wonder and fascination with the nature all around us is now my life mission.' A sense of wonder The book, which primarily focuses on things that children can observe in their balconies, homes, backyards or neighbourhood gardens, also drives home this. 'The idea is that people should not have to go far away from where they are to engage with nature,' points out Suhel, who believes that since nature is all around us, one can engage with it by simply paying attention. 'In that spirit, we ensured that all the activities in the book were those that could be done, either inside the house or within a small radius outside it,' he says. 'There is this huge misconception that nature in cities is fading,' adds Labonie, who feels that the way to look at Nature is that it's evolving, not fading. The team hopes that the book will help instil a sense of wonder about the natural world, as well as deepen their understanding and involvement with it. 'Our lives are so full of other distractions, and this book is an attempt to cut through all this competition for our attention,' believes Suhel, while Vena feels that Be a Neighbourhood Naturalist could be a handy, fun and practical tool and educational resource. 'We can also use it as part of our educator and teacher training workshops,' she says. She also loves the idea of the book becoming part of every school library. 'We hope that through this book, we get people excited and curious about nature, connect deeply with it and ask wonderment questions.'
Hindustan Times
14-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary depart space station for return flight
* Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary depart space station for return flight Splashdown planned for Tuesday morning in Pacific off California * Undocking ends 18-day science outing aboard orbital laboratory * Mission marks US astronaut Peggy Whitson's 5th flight to space By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES, - NASA retiree turned private astronaut Peggy Whitson and four crewmates from India, Poland and Hungary departed the International Space Station early on Monday and embarked on their return flight to Earth. A Crew Dragon capsule carrying the quartet undocked from the orbital laboratory at 7:15 a.m. EDT , ending the latest ISS visit organized by Texas-based startup Axiom Space in partnership with Elon Musk's California-headquartered rocket venture SpaceX. The Axiom astronauts, garbed in their helmeted white-and-black flightsuits, were seen in live video footage strapped into the crew cabin shortly before the vehicle separated from the station, orbiting some 260 miles over the east coast of India. A couple of brief rocket thrusts then pushed the capsule safely clear of the ISS. Whitson, 65, and her three Axiom crewmates - Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, of India, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, 41, of Poland, and Tibor Kapu, 33, of Hungary - spent 18 days aboard the space station conducting dozens of research experiments in microgravity. The mission stands as the fourth such flight since 2022 arranged by Axiom as the Houston-headquartered company builds on its business of putting astronauts sponsored by private companies and foreign governments into low-Earth orbit. For India, Poland and Hungary, the launch marked the first human spaceflight in more than 40 years and the first mission ever to send astronauts from their government's respective space programs to the ISS. If all goes as planned, the Dragon capsule will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at the end of a 22-hour return flight and parachute into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Tuesday around 5:30 a.m. EDT . Dubbed "Grace" by its crew, the newly commissioned capsule flown for Axiom-4 was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral in Florida on June 25, making its debut as the fifth vehicle in SpaceX's Crew Dragon fleet. Axiom-4 also marks the 18th crewed spaceflight logged by SpaceX since 2020, when Musk's rocket company ushered in a new NASA era by providing American astronauts their first rides to space from U.S. soil since the end of the space shuttle program nine years earlier. The Ax-4 multinational team was led by Whitson, who retired from NASA in 2018 after a pioneering career that included becoming the U.S. space agency's first female chief astronaut and the first woman to command an ISS expedition. Now director of human spaceflight for Axiom, she had logged 675 days in space, a U.S. record, during three previous NASA missions and a fourth flight to space as commander of the Axiom-2 crew in 2023. Her latest mission commanding Axiom-4 will extend her record by about three more weeks. Axiom, a 9-year-old venture co-founded by NASA's former ISS program manager, is one of a handful of companies developing a commercial space station of its own intended to eventually replace the ISS, which NASA expects to retire around 2030. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Mint
13-07-2025
- Mint
Why space defence is no longer a pie in the sky for Indian companies
New Delhi/Bengaluru: Anirudh Sharma, chief executive of space startup Digantara, is setting up a satellite manufacturing assembly line at his company's Bengaluru headquarters. It's a bit of a departure from Digantara's original premise of selling 'space situational awareness'—a map for satellites to navigate increasingly crowded orbits. So, why is a company looking to sell satellite data to clients setting up an assembly line? Sharma says the decision was driven by the increasing interest over approximately the past six months from governments around the world to source their own space defence and surveillance infrastructure. Once a practically non-existent sector, space-based defence services, led by the demand for surveillance in the sky, is having a big impact on India. The country's space companies—once heavily questioned about their commercial prospects—now stand on the precipice of bagging contracts from countries around the world. Aside from Digantara, Bengaluru-based startups GalaxEye, Bellatrix Aerospace and Pixxel, and Hyderabad-headquartered legacy company Ananth Technologies, are all benefiting from this shift. Looking to get in on the action, last December, industrial conglomerate JSW Group entered the field, partnering with $3.5-billion US aerospace and defence-Tech company, Shield AI. As a consequence, India is quietly seeing the genesis of a sector that could give the country immense geopolitical soft power—akin to what Russia and France had previously wielded, in the global space race. At the heart are commercial contracts for manufacturing satellites, and for offering surveillance-related space data services to governments around the world. In less than eight years, the industry is likely to contribute over $17 billion to India's economy. And by the end of this fiscal year, it is set to get space-based surveillance contracts of varying kinds worth nearly $3 billion, Pawan Kumar Goenka, chairman of India's nodal space agency, Indian National Space Promotions and Authorization Centre (In-Space), had told Mint in May. At stake in all this is India's potential to take the challenge to the US and China—the de facto leaders in global space defence and surveillance technologies. Eye in the sky There is a rising demand for high-resolution imaging from satellites for earth observation and sovereign surveillance use cases. Over the past three quarters now, we are seeing an increasing interest from governments around the world to own their own space surveillance satellites," Digantara's Sharma told Mint. 'The contract sizes that we have been offered range from $1-15 million—varying by the number of satellites that a client is asking us for. The demand is certain, and is helping us generate a steady revenue stream this fiscal year." GalaxEye is a second entrant pivoting into this ecosystem. Last month, chief executive Suyash Singh announced the venture's entry into the high-resolution-imaging satellite market—with a view to tap the rising demand for surveillance data from around the world. On 2 July, fellow startup Bellatrix Aerospace followed suit, introducing what it said was an 'ultra-low-earth satellite delivering lower latency, sharper imagery and dramatically reduced mission costs" than established surveillance satellite projects. Each of them is vying for a market where Bengaluru-origin space startup Pixxel made an early entry, offering ultra-high-resolution surveillance satellites to nations in a 'data-as-a-service' format. The company has already established its presence in the US, winning contracts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). There are veteran companies in this space, too. Ananth Technologies, run by Subba Rao Pavuluri—a former engineer with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), today operates three satellite manufacturing lines in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram. The company, established in 1992, has been a supplier to Isro for three decades, and has built surveillance satellites under the Earth Observation Satellite (Eos) series for New Delhi. Today, it is opening up its capacities to make satellites for global customers. To do that, Ananth Technologies is competing for global space defence infrastructure orders with Alpha Design Technologies, an aerospace and defence manufacturing company acquired in 2019 by Adani Group arm Adani Defence and Aerospace. Eying these opportunities, Big Tech is gradually making moves. In June 2023, Google became an early investor in Pixxel. On 8 July this year, Amazon Web Services announced a second edition of its Space Accelerator programme, with the goal of offering 40 startups with 'business resources, expertise and guidance". Two of Amazon's five key areas of focus in its space startups incubator campaign are satellite imagery and geospatial applications—key to the nascent space defence sector. Interestingly, while this year's edition of the Amazon accelerator will be available in four countries, the inaugural 2024 edition targeted India alone—reflecting the rising amount of interest in this industry. Each of these moves is boosting India as a key resource for geospatial defence infrastructure. Sarjan Shah, managing director–India at JSW Defence's US partner Shield AI, said that there is ample appetite for aerial defence infrastructure upgrades with private sector partnership in the country—a field that has received a 'considerable fillip since Operation Sindoor". 'There is a clear sentiment within the private industry as well as the government that India's defence forces are well-poised for infrastructure upgrades in aerial capacities," Shah added. The JSW-Shield AI partnership, valued at $90 million, will give the Indian company's defence and space subsidiary, JSW Defence, indigenous capability to manufacture unmanned surveillance and ballistic aircraft—crucial parts of modern-day warfare. The indigenization is currently underway, taking place through a transfer-of-technology agreement that the two entities have running. This will give JSW Defence access to Shield's proprietary unmanned aerial vehicle technologies—applicable in space warfare, defence and surveillance services. 'With technology partnership and transfer, India can also become a vital supplier of aerial defence infrastructure to trusted geographies—given the current balance of global geopolitics, which rules out multiple previously-established countries as viable partners for the world," said Shah. An opportune moment Why is there such a sudden flurry of activity in India to cash in on the space industry? The answers are not unidirectional, but all narrow down to one point: India is in the right place, at the right time. The embers began to glow in 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to sanctions being imposed against it by most European nations. This led to a dearth in space engineering and manufacturing supply—Russia was a major provider of satellite manufacturing, especially in defence and surveillance use cases. Over the past nine months, rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia, and the India-Pakistan skirmish in April, have led to more nations wanting their own, sovereign geopolitical solutions. These factors, coupled with the US not catering to every nation as a result of its stringent defence partnership policies, have put India in a strategically advantageous position as a satellite and space technology supplier to the world. For instance, over the past two years, India has replaced Russia as the primary defence and national security supplier to Armenia. Today, the nation's reliance on India includes using its space technologies ecosystem—giving the private entities mentioned above a steady, recurring market to cater to. 'A large part of why India's space sector is seeing such a defence-led boom is the fact that many of the older, existing supplier markets are today out of the question," said Vinit Khandare, director at policy consultancy and services organization Strategy Research and Growth Foundation. 'The US does not supply space-based surveillance infrastructure or data to every country, and partnerships with Russia are no longer sustainable since Russia itself is engaged in various geopolitical conflicts. France was a key partner, but with the manufacturing sector being too expensive in the European Union, it is no longer an entity either. Enter, India." Companies are already seeing a rising amount of commercial activity. 'We're certainly getting an increasing number of orders from nations across Asia and the global South—which are India's focus areas," said Ananth's Pavuluri. 'In anticipation of rising orders for sovereign surveillance satellites, we've ramped up capacity to currently operate larger satellite assembly facilities than some of the world's biggest players in this sector—such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin." But it's not just a game of manufacturing, say stakeholders. GalaxEye's Singh noted that the 'rising amount of interest in the sector is giving India plenty of opportunity to innovate." 'There is of course one side of the industry, where India can tap a rising demand for satellite manufacturing—to simply be a direct supplier for satellites as per global specifications," Singh said. 'But, we're using this time to innovate upon the kind of surveillance resolution that we can offer—and subsequently sell the data as per sovereign requirements. We can even scale up the number of satellites that we build, depending on demand." A shot at the big bucks Data sourced from five industry executives showed that on an average, the global price of satellite surveillance data ranges from $10-100 per square kilometre per week, from a single satellite. With Indian companies also looking at similar pricing for satellite data, the revenue to be generated from an EU member such as Hungary, or a non-EU country such as Norway, as part of a bundled offering of surveillance satellite imagery and data analytics, is upward of $50 million from a constellation of high-resolution satellites. This pricing is for a surveillance area that only involves a nation's borders—contract sizes in space surveillance today run into hundreds of millions as nations generate interest to source high-resolution satellite data for various use cases. These include forestry, weather prediction, urban planning, disaster management and more. Three industry executives told Mint that for a full nation's satellite data, a single contract can cross $1 billion for a full year—underlining the business opportunity and explaining why so many private space companies are entering this field. In fact, each of the executives cited above suggested that while New Delhi is eyeing $44 billion in annual revenue from India's overall space industry by 2033, succeeding in space surveillance services around the world can single-handedly account for half of this economy. For space companies, this is key. Digantara, for instance, expects to cross $30 million in annual revenue by the next fiscal year. Ananth, already at over $30 million in annual revenue as of FY24, expects an exponential fillip due to this demand. While GalaxEye did not offer a projection, Singh said that there is 'ample scope for an exponential uptick in revenue, once our satellite is built and placed in orbit". Sensing the opportunity, the private companies are all looking to ramp-up capital expenditure and investments. Digantara, which has raised $12 million from venture capital firm Peak XV and others, is in the market for a $50 million funding round. GalaxEye, which raised $10 million from deeptech fund Speciale Invest, tech giant Infosys, and others, will also pursue a new funding round to expand its surveillance satellite offerings to various nations, after it places its first high-resolution satellite in orbit by December. Even Ananth Technologies, which has a steady revenue stream, is not opposed to a future funding round. Pavuluri said the company will 'definitely require funding to expand capacity and ramp-up production as per global demand", but did not confirm if it will pursue a public listing, or by when the funding round may take place. Catering to the world Behind each of these ventures and the entire space industry today is the fact that between 2022 and now, private space startups did not immediately find domestic avenues to scale up revenue. Last year, this prompted former Isro chief S. Somanath to state that the government had not emerged as a key customer of space services the way the US did for its private space vendors, almost three decades ago. Over the past 12 months, though, the industry has shifted upward. 'Global demand is seeing countries from Europe, Africa and the Middle East all look at India as a reliable space technology and satellite supplier," said Chaitanya Giri, space fellow at global policy think-tank, Observer Research Foundation. 'With India's stable geopolitical outlook, a sizeable economy, and the reputation that Isro enjoys globally, the domestic space market is ripe to expand globally." The US, to be sure, mostly caters only to large-scale contracts—that, too, after signing bilateral defence treaties as part of efforts to secure access to its defence infrastructure and blueprints. China, which has always been a protectionist economy, only builds for itself. With this, India sees a clear path ahead in the growth of geospatial defence services. And it all begins with startups and conglomerate-backed entities pursuing that low-hanging fruit: surveillance satellites. 'In the long run, there is deep potential for more complex and intricate engineering in the aerospace defence sector for India. For Shield, for instance, India represents a multi-year partnership agreement with the JSW Group—one that gives our US entity strong footing in one of the world's most important space economies," Shield's Shah said. Digantara's Sharma concurs. 'There is a clear need within India and across the world to build space infrastructure that is innovative, offers mapping and surveillance, and does so at a considerably more scalable and cost-efficient structure than what the rest of the world has offered," he said. 'We're here to do it, and the runway ahead for this sector is big and bright."
