On 8th January 2017, various events will be hosted at Kaikondrahalli Lake during its annual ‘Kere Habba’. The habba, which is in its third year, aims to be bigger, better and more impactful in raising awareness, increasing community participation and fostering an appreciation of lakes in Bengaluru. It is an ideal way for people, especially young children to connect to nature and learn. Sessions include a story walk by Vikram Sridhar, a performance storyteller, a bird walk and a spider walk.
For the artistically inclined, there is a flower rangoli activity, photography workshop and a drawing workshop themed around nature by illustrator Archana Sreenivasan. Deepa Mohan, a columnist with Citizen Matters, will take a session on writing on nature that will help you observe, wonder and describe what you see.
There is also a special children’s corner with all day activities including making collages and painting with natural colours. In addition, there is also a craft corner, halli games, a scavenger hunt, an environment-themed quiz, and a millet workshop. An all day-long santhe (market) is planned where one can buy organic produce and eco-friendly, sustainable products.
The Civic Innovators interactive session will help the audience learn cool, innovative or simple ways in which each of us can be a changemaker—be it mobile phone apps, gaming, art installations, blogs, handicraft, scientific innovation or almost anything else. The event also brings in movers and shakers who brought their talents and solved some rather ugly problems that the lake faced. Participate in a unique competition that will benefit the lake and win you accolades.
The highlight of the day is ‘Songs by the water’. Folk singer Padma Shri Prahlad Singh Tipaniya will present Kabir Bhajans and other songs related to nature from 4pm to 6pm.
The Kasa Muktha Bellandur group, whose volunteers work on waste management in the neighbourhood, has collected more than 2 tonnes of compost from apartments who have set up their own composting plants. Visitors are encouraged to feed the soil with this compost. Biome Trust is making floating islands fitted with plants in an attempt to experiment with sewage remediation at the lake. Elected representatives including MPs, MLAs and BBMP councillors will be there to plant saplings on the occasion.
Kaikondrahalli Lake has been recently featured in Niti Ayog’s website as an example of a successful model of lake restoration.
Some key highlights:
Delicious and healthy food – 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Near school playground
Shopping – 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Near kalyani
Bird walk – 7:00 a.m. – Bridge gazebo
Photography workshop – 8:00 a.m. – School playground
Kids corner (miscellaneous activities) – 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Drawing from nature – 9:00 a.m. – School playground
Writing on nature – 10:00 a.m. – Amphitheater
Feed the soil (composting) – 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – Bridge gazebo School area and Butterfly park
Build a floating island – 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Kalyani gazebo – 15-20 participants
Millets cooking workshop – 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. – Near school playground
Civic innovators interaction – 12 noon – Amphitheater
Songs by the water – 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Amphitheater
More details in the posters.
You can see pics of last year’s habba here.
