‘Big Street Boys’ drive vulture conservation among school students in Chennai

Raghunath Krishna is the flywheel driving an inaugural by alumni of The Hindu Higher Secondary School successful Triplicane, the 1986 batch of the school, self-christened Big Street Boys. If the christening had happened successful 1986 the time aft the farewell, they request not tender immoderate mentation to Backstreet Boys (est. 1993). If so, the American popular lad set would beryllium the boys from Triplicane a wide explanation. 

On the taxable astatine hand, Raghunath’s felt-tip caricature pen (sometimes, a pencil oregon a portion of charcoal) scripts what would easy walk disconnected arsenic a “reaching-out, giving-back” story. Trained by Raghunath, that pen has a demonstrated past of coaxing grotesquely attention-grabbing images retired of the mundane. It is present astatine the centre of a ocular vulture conservation task for schoolhouse students.

These children would beryllium reminded each time astir the vertebrate that is lagging successful the numbers game. Raghunath has designed labels to beryllium pasted connected schoolhouse notebooks, and these transportation caricatured representations of vultures, portraying them not arsenic carrion-devouring toughies, but cute and cuddle-worthy pets. The facts tin beryllium fed to the children later, get their attraction first; that reasoning is evidently astatine play.

He observes that his caricature pen is swayed by 2 philosophies: gully with the a awesome of the people radical pinned successful the tack committee successful beforehand of you; and two, nary plan that ever was effectual was enactment the spectator to sleep, overpowering them with ennui. Hence nary posters larded with data, conscionable plain caricatures; info posters are necessary, but enactment lone connected the follow-up trail. Raghunath’s lessons connected caricaturing animals for conservation tin beryllium viewed astatine his You Tube Channel, Pencils Rock Academy.

On June 18, the alumni radical distributed a immense acceptable of these labels to students of Olcott schoolhouse astatine Besant Nagar and Raghunath spoke astir wherefore the vulture’s spot successful the ecosystem cannot beryllium filled by immoderate different creature. Any treatment astir vulture is large connected biomagnification: however man-made chemic toxins participate the nutrient concatenation and impact vultures arsenic they prime astatine carrion.

This resources to make the labels were generated by the alumni group, members chipping successful with contributions. Raghunath points retired helium would privation the inaugural to beryllium extended to different schools including his alma mater, The Hindu Higher Secondary School, and that would beryllium connected whether assistance beyond the batch is forthcoming.

This is not the archetypal clip Raghunath is interacting with students connected the taxable of taxon conservation. He is simply a marque strategist moving with situation and quality conservation NGOs and creates consciousness astir the taxable among communities surviving successful the creases betwixt wildlife sanctuaries, peculiarly the younger generations successful their midst. He has done this enactment among forest-based communities successful Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

Among his different important campaigns are the 1 connected tiger reserves and different connected elephants. Titled Elephany, the second (an creation task for children executed during the pandemic) celebrated jumbos, creatures seemingly breathed into beingness conscionable for the felt-tip caricature pen.

Says Raghunath: “Every elephant is simply a gardener par excellence. In its lifetime, 1 without immoderate large twists, an elephant volition works 18 lakh trees/ plants, spreading seeds done its dung.”