I live in a small community on the edge of a rainforest in western Wayanad. We run a collectively owned private reserve called Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary, devoted to plant conservation, habitat restoration, nature education and ecological advocacy. An outreach wing of this, called the Green Phoenix, works on public and common lands, through a group of neighbours concerned with river, forest, wildlife, community and food issues. We also host educational programmes through the School in the Forest, in collaboration with other educators and schools.

My own interests lie in how humans participate in ecology (and the beneficial and harmful things they do), as well as the behaviours that bind humans and non humans into reciprocal relationships. In my work as a restorationist and rewilder, I explore how decisions arise out of a social, ecological and political framework and also the particular values of individuals and groups, with enormous consequences for the land.

Nearly three decades into being in one place has engendered a rooted activism connected to all the above. I also write occasionally. My essays can be found in The Indian Quarterly, Scroll.in, Economic and Political Weekly, Hard News, The Journal of Krishnamurti Schools, The New Internationalist, Local Futures and Countercurrents.org. On occasion I give talks under the rubric: Rainforest Etiquette in a World Gone Mad where the basic premise I make and explore is, eco and ego are mutually exclusive.