So I attended the first workshop Dr. Manu did in collaboration with the Gov of India.

Honestly, It was a day of mixed feelings. I am a biology major, and I have used a microscope so many times; I lost count. Although I had heard of the foldscope earlier, I thought that it might not give really clear imaging or easy viewing experience being so small and handy.

The moment we started with the workshop, I was filled with thrill to see a little sheet of paper turning into a Foldscope. Then I saw through it, the pond water; just a drop and it showed us so much!

Although we knew already about the fact that freshwater has immense biodiversity; we were amazed at the fact that viewing and recording what we saw, in the form of both pictures and videos; was so very easy with a Foldscope.

I was amazed, more than I can ever expect.

Kudos to Dr. Manu and his team to have developed such an amazing, handy device.

My special mention and thanks to Dr. Lakshminarayan Iyer, or Laks, as we called him; for being really helpful and amazingly curious about everything we did. We loved you, sir.

I myself was able to observe larvae of arthropods, besides various alga, and rotifers in pond water. We also saw some nematodes and polychaete worms. Overall, it has beena day that will be forever cherished, and I can’t wait to use my Foldscope a million more times!

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