Perch for this cause

Somesh Kumar and Hazel Karkaria

‘A little birdie told me…' is an idiom that might soon become redundant if the little bird, i.e. the sparrow in the city and even the country is not given its due. Just like that, species of birds and animals that surround us everyday, from dogs to the Great Indian Bustard are being marked red. So what is the youth doing about urban wildlife? Enter The Perch Project - an initiative by two friends Hazel Karkaria and Somesh Kumar who studied at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology who are using their design skills for a chirpy cause.

Somesh Kumar and Hazel Karkaria

Help and rescue
It started when Bengaluru-based Somesh returned to his hometown, Patna. Finding an infant mynah that had either been abandoned or orphaned, Kumar called Karkaria who has been rescuing animals with her family ever since she can remember. "Unfortu-nately the mynah didn't make it, but from there the idea of The Perch Project emerged," shares the duo.

One of the recent posters by The Perch Project that encourages adoption

The visual communication designers decided to put their skills to good use as, "we realised that the information available in the Indian context (for animal rescue) is very scarce or non-existent. The same was affirmed when people would call us and ask for help for an animal they'd rescued," say the designers, adding, "Having found this gap, we thought of enabling / encouraging those that want to do their little bit and equipping them with relevant information."

The logo of the project

Causes can be fun
The duo vocalises their concern by sharing, "We realised that a lot of valuable information is passed off as it is not presented well and related to a cause." So day after day, they churn attractive designs that, "take a member of the urban wildlife and approach it from the point of view of a rescued animal. We try to cover everything that a person who is new to this, would want to know. By way of posters, charts, infographics, flyers we get people to think or rethink about urban wildlife or rescue."

Being just older than a year, we asked where does such a unique idea go from here. "We're hoping to have a directory specific to animal rescue / fostering / adoption / medical care, but it's going to take time," the perchers sign off.

Log on to: Perchproject.tumblr.com