An Environmental Educationist by profession, the author
                  Ms. R. Bhanumathi, is a postgraduate from Delhi University completed in                   the year 1979.

                               She also holds a degree in Education and in addition, has completed a                                Postgraduate Certificate in Environmental Education from Strathclyde                                University,, Scotland, U.K. Presently, she is doing her Ph.D in traditional                                leather (Shadow) puppetry of South India.
                               
Her first breakthrough came in the year 1983, when she designed and made glove puppets for a teacher from Baroda, who was then running a play school. And thereafter, there was no looking back. Over the last 18 years she has organised and conducted several training workshops, demonstration sessions, lectures and talks on Puppetry for school teachers, students, research scholars , voluntary workers, NGO field staff ,animators etc.

She has worked in nature conservation organisations. As part of her work, she has created awareness about nature & related themes through contemporary puppetry. Her present doctoral research will study the form, structure, clan and kinship, status, and preservation of traditional leather puppetry of South India covering four southern States of India.