Stripes & Patches

Finally D & me are gearing up for our first step into unchartered terrain...

The idea of Stripes & Patches began in May 2011 at Ranthambore, the tiger heartland of Rajasthan. We are avid animal lovers who were trying to figure out ways to make a difference to conservation efforts and chanced upon a course conducted by Tiger Watch, a Ranthambore based NGO. The week long course exposed us to how complex the problem of conservation was, and provoked more questions than providing answers which probably was what Dr. Dharmendra Kandhal, who heads Tiger Watch, intended for to achieve. Tiger Watch followed a two pronged approach to saving the tiger - on one hand it actively and aggressively cracked down on poachers while on the other hand it sought to understand and address the socio-economic causes that drove many of the local Mogiya tribals to become poachers. Dhonk, headed by Divya Shrivastava works with Tiger Watch and attempts to provide locals with alternative livelihood which would then wean them off the need to exploit the forest and its denizens. The efforts of Tiger Watch and Dhonk are yielding real results at Ranthambore. Our experiences with both these organizations coupled with our entrepreneurship zeal sparked the creation of Stripes & Patches.

Stripes & Patches is inspired by the striped lord of the jungles and is our small patch that attempts to weave into the larger fabric of conservation. Through Stripes & Patches we want to create a self-sustaining platform that showcases products that are made by people who otherwise are dependent on the forest as a primary source of their livelihood thereby reducing the pressure on the already threatened forest cover and wildlife. Through these products we also hope to spread the message of conservation because in our heart we believe that if the tiger goes, we will go too.

“The air we breathe and the water we drink stem from the biodiversity of the universal environment and its economics. The tiger is at the center of this truth. If it goes, we go!”
—Billy Arjan Singh

Stripes & Patches on FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stripes-Patches/340417622668418