During the course of his life, Bikramadittya G Roy has acquainted himself with various ecosystems—from ponds and lakes, to forests, mangroves and deserts. Now, this Kolkata-based wildlifer and naturalist, who pursues instructional design for a living, has married both his passion and livelihood to create miniature replicas of these ecosystems. His degree in botany also helped him pursue his passion.
Bikram was working in sales before moving on to construction photography and finally to instructional design. All those experiences helped give a free rein to his creative streak. “Hardly anything is ever thrown or wasted at my place,” says the 45-year-old, who upholds the idea of not destroying resources. Bikram endorsed the idea of gifting live plants instead of bouquets. “After that, I thought why not give people little ecosystems. And that’s how the idea was born,” says he.
While living in Gandhinagar for a while, Bikram experimented with small water bodies in his balcony—an art called ‘patio ponds’ that is quite popular. After moving to Kolkata, he had these tub ponds installed on his terrace.
Next, an acrylic donation box laid the ground for a rain forest ecosystem. Explains Bikram, “I inverted the box, positioned the flap side downwards, used egg tray cartons which I layered with soil, pebble, charcoal and compost, creating thus rain forest soil. The moss outside our house as well as a few ferns found place in the garden. Some of my bromeliad plants had given birth to ‘pups’ (young ones are called pups) and I put those inside the system. I left the flap open so that spores from outside would land up there and start germinating. Soon, ants and spiders also started inhabiting the little system making it a living miniature tropical forest.”
The nature enthusiast has also tried his hand at the Japanese Koke Bonkei, which means ‘miniature landscape garden arranged on a tray’. During transportation from Gandhinagar to Kolkata when one of the soup bowls broke, Bikram was loathe to cast it away and thus it came about that the bowl today displays a small landscape. Similar experiments were given away as gifts to friends. “I designed a small desert garden for a friend and mentor, whereas for a friend’s son’s birthday I created a desert ecosystem in a fish jar.”
The final product urged him go further and the ‘Darjeeling Corner’ was born. It is a small indoor fountain that Bikram built with stones collected from the roadside along with makeshift material that can be dismantled easily. It acts as a good ecosystem for fish, besides keeping the house cool during summer.
Design is at the heart of everything that Bikram does peppered with liberal doses of environment consciousness. Even his den for friends has furniture made from recycled pallets got from the shipyard which otherwise would have been thrown into the fire.