As John Donne once said, no man is an island. Civilization is born into environments which we then mould our lives from – living, working, loving, and dying while being in constant communication with our ever-changing surroundings. Man cannot help but interact with his environment, it provides context to our actions and existence. It can be a naval-gazing child daydreaming beneath the stars or a skilled craftsman, sweating as he labours under the hot sun, virtually every single person is shaped and affected by their surrounding context. And just as the environment shapes man, man has developed the skills to sculpt his own immediate space, which is how we understand urban cities today. In either case, there is a very personal connection between humans and the conditions which invariably frame our lives. The environment of man is important because we simply cannot survive in pure isolation.

© BHARATH RAMAMRUTHAM 2015

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