Imagine that you are trying to grow a potted plant in your balcony. It could be anything: from a plump, spiky cactus, varicoloured dracaena, slender areca palm, tender shoots of bamboo, gaudy chrysanthemum blooms, to the ubiquitous holy basil or money plant. At first, you tend to it carefully, watering at regular intervals, moving it out of direct sunlight and adding fresh compost. Then as the novelty fades, you begin neglecting it, not deliberately perhaps, but still. The earth that holds your plant dries up, cracks apparent across its arid surface. The green leaves brown and wither at first, then with a shudder, dislodge themselves from tired shoots. Finally, the roots give in and your plant dies — you wake up one morning and find that you are guilty of manslaughter, well plantslaughter really.
Or you can download the Greenopia app on your smartphone. Developed by Mani H.K., the app marries gardening to technology, creating a tech-enabled pot that tells you when a plant needs to be watered, when the sunlight level needs to be adjusted and what species will thrive best in a particular region. The prototype is one among the six projects that were chosen to be presented at the third edition of The Goa Project, an idea exchange initiative, which brings together ideators from various walks of life, including technology, art, design, media, theatre and entertainment.
According to Vijay Anand of The Startup Centre and one of the curators of The Goa Project, which took place earlier this year, “I have a lot of friends from varied backgrounds and the interesting thing about meeting people from different backgrounds is that you are introduced to different perspectives all the time. This completely changes your world view. The idea of the Goa Project was our way of mingling various disciplines and coming up with ideas and solutions that are universally relevant,” he says.
And why Goa? “Well it’s one place in India that doesn’t have any baggage of regionalism. Every one loves Goa; it is a great place to unwind,” laughs Javeeth Ahamed, another curator. Though it isn’t all fun, it is also a learning experience, “It takes place in an ‘unconference’ format where the agenda is formed by the people attending,” says Vijay.
This year, a new initiative called TGP Projects was started off during the event, along with Wishberry as the crowdfunding partner. “The Goa Project has informally supported projects before,” says Javeeth, “For example, last year someone came up with something called Menstrupedia — a graphic novel that offered details about the process of menstruation, a topic that is still taboo in many places in India. And the novelist got immense support from people she met in Goa.”
This year, the process was more streamlined, however, adds Vijay, “Before the event, we called for nominations — we got almost 80 projects that needed funding and support, of which we selected six that we thought were radically different and logically feasible,” says Vijay.
The proposers of the six projects were provided a platform to pitch the same to the audience at The Goa Project, “The audience was asked to raise questions and give feedback. We also helped them put up a pitch video on Wishberry, a crowd-funding website that is facilitating the sixty-day process,” says Vijay.
“We raised Rs. 78,000 at Goa and close to one lakh was pledged. Five of the six projects have crossed the critical 10 per cent of funding required. The first 10 per cent is always the hardest, then the domino effect starts,” adds Javeeth.
