settlement studies
Khijadiya (ખીજાડિયા) is a village located 15 minutes from Jamnagar, Gujarat. It lies in the Bagasara Taluka, Amreli District. The entire village covers an area of almost 3200 meter square.
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This village is occupied by the Patel community.
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It is famous for the Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, located in Jamnagar district, 5 minutes away from the village. It is home to around 300 recorded species of migratory birds.
To understand the village as a whole, we were divided into four groups landscape, economy, housing, and village planning. The idea was that, by working together, we could grasp the overall picture of the village.
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explored the landscape of Khijadiya, which is a fluvial landscape. Since the river had dried up, it left behind small ponds, salty patches, and muddy areas that shaped the terrain. This landscape supported different life forms, including animals..
Our task was to create stories around the strange and mysterious characters of the village. By building narratives around these characters, we could uncover what was truly going on within the village.
The story behind the story
The text we developed is titled The Leopard Paw. It draws from a rumour or perhaps a truth ,that a leopard had been sighted moving around the village. While walking through the landscape, I came across what looked like a paw print. Not far from it, there were also buffalo footprints. This became the seed of a story: the landscape itself as a stage, with the leopard as a central character.
The landscape opened into salty, barren grasslands and wetlands. Bird footprints scattered across the ground, mingling with the imprints of beasts on the hard salt flats. A shallow pond stretched across the land, surrounded by algae, reflecting the expanse of the blue-grey sky. Small shrubs grew from the cracks of to the dry earth, with their tightly packed leaves bearing a bluish-green hue that contrasted with the brown soil. Strong sunlight cast shadows, emphasizing their endurance. In the distance, a solitary shrub stood apart, reinforcing the vast feel of the land.
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Text as method
i explored so many method to imagine ,define and experience the space whether its orthography , through forms , now in this module i learnt how one could imagine or feel the space through text .because some experience cant be drawn but a written text is also another way to read the space or visualize space.
Flamingos waded through the shallow water, while an egret remained motionless before suddenly taking flight. The air carried the scent of damp earth, mingled with the whisper of the wind. A mound of soil offered a view of the entire expanse, where the horizon blurred the boundary between sky and distant forest. Moving away from the water, the terrain grew drier, more rugged, tangled with thorny bushes. Buffalo footprints formed a natural walkway. Each step cracked the ground, sending faint echoes into the silence. A jungle rabbit darted from the undergrowth, vanishing before its movement could fully register. Moments later, a nilgai emerged, pausing briefly before disappearing into the wilderness.
The leopard's paw
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A rustling stirred from behind, followed by the sharp call of a bird hidden in the trees. Stillness followed, the land offering no further sign of movement. Ahead, half-buried in the dry earth, an animal skull lay with hollow sockets gazing into the unknown. Beyond it, large footprints embedded in the damp soil revealed a recent presence. A leopard had passed through. Local farmers and cattle herders, familiar with this land's secrets, had spoken of leopards in stories passed down through generations. Though no sightings had been confirmed for years, fresh footprints in the wetlands renewed whispers of fear.
The wetlands, untouched and serene, held an eerie stillness. A hidden pool was nestled within the earth, its waters reflecting the sky like a portal between seen and unseen worlds. The land, a guardian of its secrets, seemed to watch, holding the weight of forgotten stories. Soft, cracked earth stretched toward silent pools, where flamingos drifted in graceful movement.
Further along, the land grew rugged once more, thorny bushes scattered across barren patches of soil. The air fell into a hush, thick with unspoken tension. Buffalo footprints, leading toward the forest, deepened in the damp earth. At the forest's edge, something unexpected tangled in the undergrowth--an old, torn cloth, dirt clinging to its fibres. Faint human footprints, partially washed away, marked the damp soil nearby.The forest loomed ahead, its interior cooler, darker. Leaves rustled softly, their movement breaking the silence. Villagers rarely entered alone. The elders reminded that leopards avoided humans unless provoked, yet their words did little to ease the tension growing among those who lived on the land's edge. Deep within the trees, something stirred. The faint sound of leaves pressed beneath cautious steps, then stillness again.Fresh prints were pressed into the soil, and claw marks traced their passage. A droplet of water fell from a leaf above. The canopy stood unmoving. A step back, then another. Something moved again, this time from a different direction. A shadow passed between the trees, vanishing before its form could be fully seen.
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