About Us

I am a nature educator and conservation practitioner with over 23 years of research and in-practice experience in the conservation sector. I founded Nature Classrooms in late 2018 (started as an initiative of NCF's EPE Programme) to design age-appropriate, locally-culturally relevant nature learning modules, conduct immersive training workshops to connect teachers and educators to the natural world, and to guide them to integrate nature learning as part of everyday school curricula. I love integrating my passion for insects, spiders, and community engagement to rekindle and reimagine nature learning in India. My earlier work stints were with the CIKS, CCI UK, and the Nature Conservation Foundation in various Institutional and Programme roles. I have an MPhil in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge, UK and a Masters in Ecology from the University of Pondicherry, India. My publications can be accessed here and here. 

With a background in journalism, I soon found myself drawn toward the education space. I began my journey by exploring how media can be integrated into learning programs for children. This led me to nature education, and for the past three years, I have been actively working with children and schools to raise awareness about our ocean with a focus on waste management and sustainability. I then pursued my Master's in Environment Studies (Conservation Practices) from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment - ATREE, Bengaluru. As a part of my Master's internship requirement, I joined Nature Classrooms as an intern in 2023. Since then I have been developing a Nature-based Social-Emotional Learning Framework, with an intent to integrate an affective approach to nature education.  At Nature Classrooms I hope to continue contributing to the goals and initiatives of the program to make nature learning a meaningful and integral part of classrooms.

I completed my Master’s in Wildlife Conservation Action from BVIEER, where my thesis focused on visitor perceptions of the ecological and aesthetic aspects of urban parks in Mumbai using visitor-employed photography. This experience deepened my interest in understanding how people connect with nature and how nature learning can play an important role in building these connections. Today, this interest continues to shape my work at Nature Classrooms. I’m currently designing the Nature Education Assessment Framework (NEAF) — a collaborative, open-source toolkit to assess the effectiveness of nature education programmes in India. Alongside NEAF, I also contribute to developing nature learning resources and support other ongoing work. I hope to continue learning and contribute towards Nature Classrooms’ efforts to make nature learning more accessible within classroom spaces.

Growing up in a small village in the Western Ghats, my childhood was shaped by curious experiments. Like feeding ants to Drosera and watching hornbills soar above our home. Coexistence and sustainability weren’t concepts we learned, but ways we lived. That early wonder led me to the Living with Snakes outreach during my undergrad, and later to working with children through Chinnara Vana Darshana and Kaanu, an online nature course I ran during the pandemic. I went on to complete a Master’s in Wildlife Conservation Action, where for my thesis, I explored traditional ecological knowledge of tubers among the Kunbi community and the threats it is facing. Now at Nature Classrooms, I'm working to bring together my love for nature, natural history, learning, and community to help teachers and educators be more curious and empathetic towards the world around them.  

Growing up in an urban city, I was fortunate to have passionate nature enthusiasts introduce me to the birds, insects, and trees around me. As a Chennai girl, I eventually dove deep into studying our magical coastal landscape and biodiversity, realizing these stories of shores, tides, spiders, and trees needed to be shared. From that point on, I've been sure about wanting to actively work towards connecting young people with the natural world. While creating nature and climate education resources, running programs, and co-authoring two books, I completed my Master's in Wildlife Conservation Action from BVIEER, Pune, affirming my commitment to bringing the wild to more people. Now, I'm involved in organizing fellowships for educators across India, developing nature education resources and curricula, and building nature-based ecology curriculum for schools.

I have always felt deeply connected to the natural world and often turn to art and poetry to make sense of that relationship. Growing up between the forests of Mount Abu and the coastal and arid landscapes of Gujarat shaped my curiosity about how humans relate to nature — how we use it, shape it, and perceive it. This curiosity has taken me from Gujarat’s coasts to seagrass meadows in the Andamans, exploring how communities interact with the ecosystems that surround them. I hold a master’s degree in Environmental Studies (Conservation Practice) from ATREE, and previously worked with Dakshin Endeavours as a science communicator, helping children experience India’s diverse ecosystems, cultures, and communities through stories, field-based learning, and creative engagement. At Nature Classrooms, I bring together environmental learning, art, and design through nature learning modules and creative contributions to ongoing projects. I am drawn to slow, observation-based practices and believe art helps us notice more closely, reflect more deeply, and build lasting relationships with the natural world.

I am a nature educator and conservation practitioner with a keen interest in human-wildlife coexistence, snake ecology, and community outreach. Growing up between Bengaluru and my grandparents’ village near Kaggalipura sparked my curiosity about wildlife and people’s relationships with it. I hold a postgraduate diploma in marketing and communications from Jagdish Sheth School of Management and work at the intersection of conservation, education, and communication. I have volunteered with the Karnataka Forest Department, Sadhana Forest, and other organisations contributing to wildlife awareness, conflict mitigation, and reforestation initiatives while engaging communities in conversations around coexistence. At Nature Classrooms I am working closely with the team and our long term collaborators at the Fig Tree Learning Centre (FTLC) to document, curate and digitise over two decades of nature-based teaching-learning resources and lesson plans developed through practice by FTLC’s educators and practitioners.

My love for nature comes from simply spending time observing the world around me. I enjoy watching birds fly, build nests, and chatter among themselves, and I am equally fascinated by the tiny lives of insects going about their day. Alongside this, I have always found joy in getting lost in storybooks and the many worlds they open up. At Nature Classrooms, I work on planning and facilitating nature learning sessions for children in Grades 2 to 5 in three government schools located in peri urban Bengaluru. I also contribute to ideating, planning, and developing educational resources.