Month-long Aravalli Utsav from Saturday
NEWDELHI: A month-long initiative to highlight the significance of the Aravallis in the lives of people of Delhi and the National Capital Region is all set to take off from October 28. A series of events named Aravalli Utsav aims to build awareness about the one of the world’s oldest mountain ranges through photo exhibitions, installations and lecture series.
There will be an opportunity to explore the Aravallis in the company of expert birders and naturalists. The Utsav will feature four of the oldest photographic printing processes called Tattva dating to the 19th century.
The public will get a chance to interact within a seemingly real landscape through a computergenerated simulation of a three- dimensional environment of the Aravallis. Another section showcases videos of the beauty of Aravallis in time lapse.
An initiative by ‘Iamgurgaon’ —acommunity-drivenngo—in collaboration with India Habitat Centre and in partnership with India Photo Archive Foundation, it is being supported by the union ministry of environment forest and climate change.
Hindustan Times is the media partner of this initiative and had reported a series of articles on the importance or the Aravallis and the Delhi Ridge (northern spur of the Aravallis). The Aravallis are one of the oldest mountain ranges running through Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The team members of the Utsav include personalities like Pradip Krishen author and ecological gardener, Chetan Agar-
wal an environment and forest analyst and Aditya Arya commercial and travel photographer.
The first leg of the Aravalli Utsav was realized at the Jor Bagh Metro Station on July 5, 2017 in the form of a public art exhibition in partnership with the India Photo Archive Founda- tion, curated by Aditya Arya, and in collaboration with Art in Metro (India Habitat Centre) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.
Protecting these hills and regrowing the right kinds of natural forests on them is important that they are a crucial part of the NCR’S water security system.
“We have already lost a large part of the Aravallis to rampant ‘development’, mining and urbanization. The Northern Aravallis were once richly forested and acted as a bulwark against the spread of the western desert. We stand to lose this valuable ‘service’ if we don’t treat these fragile hills right. The next step is to shift our focus towards building sustainability for the future by engaging the society in these efforts. This is where Aravalli Utsav steps in,” said Latika Thukral, co-founder, ‘Iamgurgaon’.