Hari Sridhar

Interview Summary (00:00) Early Life, Family, Education Divya Mudappa was born on 2nd November 1971 in Chikmagalur, Karnataka. Her parents are/were from Coorg. Her father had a transferable job where he worked for various plantation and fertiliser companies, like Shaw Wallace. She spent most of her childhood in Madikeri studying at St. Joseph’s Convent but stayed in Hassan for six years in between where she studied at Stephen’s English School. Although she was surrounded by trees and coffee estates while...

Interview Summary (00:00) Application Processes, reasons for Studying Brown Palm Civet, choosing Bharathiar University for PhD Divya Mudappa had an interview at Stella Maris College, Chennai while enrolling for a Bachelor's in Zoology. For her Master’s at Pondicherry University, she wrote an entrance exam after which she was shortlisted and was called for an interview. After her Master’s, she wanted to study small carnivores for a project on the effects of fragmentation on animals. During her initial surveys...

Interview Summary (00:00) Knowledge and learnings for germination Mudappa explains that collecting seeds got easier with time. Their phenological studies provided inputs on when to collect them. She says that the downside of collecting seeds from the same individual is the low genetic diversity of that species. She recalls that much knowledge of growing seeds in the nursery came from trial and error and common sense. Mudappa explains that ideal conditions are given to the seeds to grow in the nursery....

Interview Summary (00:00) Getting the Forest Department to think differently about wattle removal Mudappa talks about how the Forest Department was keen on removing invasives due to an order issued by the Tamil Nadu court to eradicate invasives. The department had planned to completely remove them. She explains that the en masse eradication of wattle using a JCB (bulldozer) was not a good strategy as it would disrupt the regeneration of shola grasslands in Kodaikanal and wipe out the existing native...

Interview Summary (00:00) Working alongside Sridhar for over 20 years on restoration work in Valparai Mudappa says that Sridhar (T. R. S. Raman) and her work together on many aspects, especially identifying research issues, and discussing them in detail with each other. She describes the roles that they individually take on, with Mudappa focusing on the implementation of the project, dealing with students and assistants, management and logistics; and Sridhar concentrating on the curation and analysis of the...

Interview Summary (00:00:40) Early years, school life and developing an interest in nature Ghazala Shahabuddin shares that she was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Her father was a diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service and her mother was a homemaker. They moved to India in 1975 and her father became a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament. She says she has five siblings. She talks about being in Delhi till her post graduate studies, for which she went to Pondicherry University. Her earliest memories are of Algeria- a...

Interview Summary (00:01:09) Place of religion/faith in Shahabuddin’s life and three major influences on her work Ghazala Shahabuddin shares that she comes from a conservative Muslim family in North India, but she rebelled against the restrictive nature of the religion. While religion was not a significant part of her life before, she feels the need to revisit it now as she believes the Quran is a progressive document with many valuable lessons, and she wants to understand it better. She cites three major...

Interview Summary (00:01:12) Council for Social Development, the Sariska project and interactions with colleagues and collaborators Ghazala Shahabuddin talks about facing difficulty in finding a teaching position upon her return to Delhi. Despite being qualified, she did not get the assistant professorship she applied for. Instead, she decided to freelance and continue her research. She then came across an opening in the Council for Social Development, which was starting an environment department and wanted a...

Interview Summary (00:01:24) Conservation worldview With reference to her conservation worldview, Ghazala Shahabuddin shares that it has remained largely the same since her involvement in various campaigns and projects since high school, but she now realises the complexity of conservation and the need for a wider framework of understanding, including social and government policies. She emphasises the importance of working with people and communities to bring about change locally, but also recognises the...

Interview Summary (00:00:27) His name, parents, schooling in Bombay and siblings Joshi talks about his name stemming from the naming convention in Maharashtra, and shares those of his parents as well. He talks about being born in Belgaum in 1951, and shifting to Bombay. He talks about initially being in a Gujarati medium kindergarten school in Malad, but then switching to a Marathi medium school in Dadar, and then again to another school in the higher classes. He shares that his father was initially a...

Interview Summary (00:00:30) Follow-up from last session and what his siblings have pursued NV Joshi shares the name of the singer he was unable to recollect in the last session who was a student of his father’s. In addition to cricket and reading which he mentioned last time, he shares that in his school days he was also into physical exercising and table tennis. He goes on to talk about what his siblings pursued academically and professionally, including his brother’s time at TERI. He remarks that his...

Interview Summary (00:00:20) Structure and process of PhD and Joshi’s supervisor Joshi talks about his time pursuing a PhD degree at the MBU at IISc and what it entailed, highlighting the absence of present-day structured arrangements like seminars and regular meetings. He details the defence and examination process as well. He describes his interactions with his PhD supervisor, what his inputs were and speaks about his gentle and friendly nature and commitment towards his students.(00:07:47)...

Interview Summary (00:00:32) Interest in programming, programming languages and location of CTSJoshi talks about how his interest in programming developed after joining for his PhD degree and taking a course taught by C Ramakrishnan. He mentions the programming languages that were being used at the time. He also says where CTS was located initially before it moved to being opposite the Mathematics Department.(00:04:35) Formation of CES Joshi sheds light on the circumstances around which CES was...

Interview Summary (00:00:55) Last three years and early collaboration with faculty at CTS and CES Joshi shares that the three years since the last session, which coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, were most comfortable for him and he had no problems with being isolated. He speaks about how his collaboration with Raghavendra Gadagkar came about in the 1970s and how he was introduced to the Centre for Theoretical Studies (CTS) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He talks about the work he did with...

Interview Summary (00:01:14) Parents, interests as a child and studying at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay Sharachchandra Lele was born in Pune, Maharashtra, but moved around due to his father being in the Navy. He lived in Delhi and Jamnagar before returning to Pune. His mother was a homemaker from a politically active family. He went to IIT Bombay for his undergraduate studies. He says he was not pressured to pursue a specific career. Lele talks about his childhood and what enabled him to...

Interview Summary (00:01:14) Developing an understanding of and interest in the environment Sharachchandra Lele highlights several key turning points in his life that shaped his understanding of the environment. These include attending a nature camp during the 12th standard, encountering the State of India’s Environment report during his IIT career, and participating in an interdisciplinary programme at University of California, Berkeley [Archivist’s note: Lele refers to it as State of Environment report,...

Interview Summary (00:00:37) Navigating engagement on committees as a non-domain specialist/expert; challenges, opportunities and learnings Sharachchandra Lele discusses his experiences on committees related to coal mining and the Karnataka Elephant Task Force, highlighting the challenges and opportunities he faced as a non-domain specialist. Despite lacking extensive knowledge, he used various strategies to learn and familiarise himself with the subject matter. In the coal mining committee, Lele, an...

Interview Summary (00:00:37) Challenges in producing impactful knowledge Lele discusses the process of producing impactful knowledge and the challenges involved. He emphasises the importance of starting with a problem-driven approach rather than being driven solely by theory or methods. However, defining the problem itself becomes a dilemma, as it can be influenced by those in power and may lack broader relevance. Lele gives the example of his work on forests and the need to understand the relationship...