02 April,2024 08:34 AM IST | Mumbai | Devanshi Doshi
Miss Fuchsia. Illustrations courtesy/Tanisha Sansoya
As the city braces itself for another scorching summer, with soda carts popping up at every nook and corner, the wetlands of Navi Mumbai will get ready to bid adieu to its flamingos until next winter. Naturalists right now are busy taking visitors on boat rides to their habitats, and amid the rush to witness the final sliver of pink before summer begins, a seven-page-long comic-style zine following the story of arrival of these migratory birds in Mumbai has popped up on social media. This zine was released by the youth-led collective Ministry of Mumbai's Magic (MMM) on a similar boat ride as an enriching memento for participants to take back home, "It was well received then, and the buzz continues after we posted it on our Instagram page," shares Tanisha Sansoya, designer and illustrator, MMM.
The story follows the flamingos' journey to Mumbai and Navi Mumbai
This zine is titled Mysteries of Mumbai's Magic, Chapter 1: What Makes Flamingos so Pink? It follows the life of the stylish majestic Miss Fuchsia. This pink plumaged flamingo is new to Mumbai and arrives in the Belapur Creek, where the MMM group conducted its boat ride, and instantly falls in love with the wetlands, along with the extensive algae and crustaceans that it has to offer. Consuming these organisms, Miss Fuchsia tells us through the zine, is what gives the flamingos the colour pink (flamingos are originally born with grey or white feathers).
Wetlands are under threat due to development projects
But what happens when the wetlands are dotted with signboards indicating that the areas are going into development? While the main character of this story is Miss Fuchsia, Sansoya reveals that she wanted humans to play the hero. "Although presented in the form of a comic, one must remember that this is a factually true story. Flamingos of Mumbai are put under threat by humans and their development projects. They started disappearing from the creeks. But they were also brought back by humans, through art. The moral of the story is that the ultimate power to save the biodiversity of Mumbai lies in the hands of the people," Sansoya shares.
The storyline suggests how art is used to spread awareness
The 23-year-old has been a part of the environmentally-driven collective for the past two years and has spearheaded many such projects that aim at spreading information using creative and captivating methods and designs. "I'm deeply passionate about nature," she reveals. As a designer committed to environmental causes, she shares that MMM gave her a chance to use her creativity to talk about important issues. "We're always working on sharing stories that matter like this one that highlights the biodiversity of Mumbai. It took around a month to design the zine, but it was nothing less than a passion project for us."
Malvika M, a team member at MMM explains that it is a collective that gives a platform to the voices of the youth. It has young members from different professional fields, who use their respective talents to put across issues that matter the most to them. "These could be any issues related to Mumbai - about climate change, mobility, transport, biodiversity, and related environment issues. The idea is to invite youth to collaborate with us and spread awareness through art and culture about matters of the city that affect them the most," she reveals, adding that they are open to collaborations with cohorts or individuals to create assets like their biodiversity maps of Mumbai, and this zine.
Tanisha Sansoya
Log on to: @mumbaismagic (to view the zine or to collaborate)
>> Check out this page run by Sunil Agarwal for political updates and current affairs vis-Ã -vis the flamingos of Mumbai.
Log on to: @wetlandchampion
>> Vidyasagar Hariharan has been on a quest to document the birds, whom he calls pink pilgrims, through his photographs since 2016.
Log on to: @flamingosofmumbai
Over 1.2 lakh flamingos migrate from Kutch to Mumbai every year
