The first images that one's mind conjures upon hearing the name Mumbai, are either a city full of skyscrapers and slums, or the promenades along Marine Lines and Bandra. But Mumbai is also replete with a unique blend of biodiversity. From a forest ruled by leopards in the heart of the city to beaches full of bizarre shore wildlife, from wetlands dotted pink with flamingos to mangroves splashing red with fiddler crabs, Mumbai has them all! Here is an illustration done for Purpose's campaign 'Mumbai's Ministry of Magic', with the motive to empower Mumbai's youth with a visual resource of the city's biodiversity, and a reminder to the government of the natural heritage we must conserve and coexist with. The map also pays tribute to the Warli and Koli communities, and the very spirit of Mumbai.
My thanks to Ms. Suma Balaram, Ms. Arpita Bhagat and their team for commissioning this once-in-a-lifetime project! My gratitude to friends at Marine Life of Mumbai, Ms. Madhushri Mudke and my brother Rohit Chakravarty for their inputs. A hat tip to the maverick herpetologists Zeeshan Mirza and Rajesh Sanap for discovering the invertebrates and reptiles from Aarey Colony that feature in the map. Click on the images to view details from the map:
