Puttenahalli Post

The fire that raged through the lake on the 16th of March almost killed our spirit. By burning several of our trees, it had made a mockery of our effort to increase the green cover in the area. The sun's heat, rapidly evaporating the water in the lake, sapped our enthusiasm as well. Whatever little water was present was getting covered with the Salvinia Molesta. Our many efforts to mobilize skilled labour to remove the Salvinia were making no headway. Attempts to get more residents to strengthen our effort drew a blank as well and only our regular volunteers attended our recent…

Over the last few days, the Bangalore edition of The Hindu newspaper has carried two articles on lakes, both involving our Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar.   On 26th March, an article titled "Lakes turn into sewage pools" was published. In summary, it reports a complaint made by a citizen regarding the state of the lakes in Bangalore (including sewage and encroachment) despite more than Rs 200 crore of State money having being spent on them over the last six years, which has drawn the attention of the Upa Lokayukta. Many of us know that some of the rejuvenated lakes do…

Over the last few days, the Bangalore edition of The Hindu newspaper has carried two articles on lakes, both involving our Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar.   On 26th March, an article titled "Lakes turn into sewage pools" was published. In summary, it reports a complaint made by a citizen regarding the state of the lakes in Bangalore (including sewage and encroachment) despite more than Rs 200 crore of State money having being spent on them over the last six years, which has drawn the attention of the Upa Lokayukta. Many of us know that some of the rejuvenated lakes do…

Today, March 20, is World Sparrow Day. During my childhood in Bangalore in the 1970s-80s, sparrows were a part of our everyday life, much the way rock pigeons just merge with the high-rise landscape today.  Scores of sparrows would be all over the backyard, chirping on the pomegranate and guava trees. Unafraid of humans, the sparrows hopped around on the ground whenever mom cleaned the rice, in expectation of falling grains. (Yes, the rice used to have stones that needed to be removed, and chaff that would blow away in the wind as the rice was tossed up and down on…

Today, March 20, is World Sparrow Day. During my childhood in Bangalore in the 1970s-80s, sparrows were a part of our everyday life, much the way rock pigeons just merge with the high-rise landscape today.  Scores of sparrows would be all over the backyard, chirping on the pomegranate and guava trees. Unafraid of humans, the sparrows hopped around on the ground whenever mom cleaned the rice, in expectation of falling grains. (Yes, the rice used to have stones that needed to be removed, and chaff that would blow away in the wind as the rice was tossed up and down on…

Going to the lake at least once every day, we are apt to overlook or take for granted, the birds at the lake. Those in the water may still get a glance but we often miss the ones flying overhead, hiding in the foliage or even sitting still on a branch. Participating in the Bangalore Bird Count on Sunday, 16th February changed all this - at least for a couple of hours!  Our team consisted of Gopinath Subbarao, Harish Mahendrakar (the two experts), Indrajit Chatterjee (photographer), Vishnu and Siddharth, 9th std. students and me, from PNLIT. We began the exercise…

Going to the lake at least once every day, we are apt to overlook or take for granted, the birds at the lake. Those in the water may still get a glance but we often miss the ones flying overhead, hiding in the foliage or even sitting still on a branch. Participating in the Bangalore Bird Count on Sunday, 16th February changed all this - at least for a couple of hours!  Our team consisted of Gopinath Subbarao, Harish Mahendrakar (the two experts), Indrajit Chatterjee (photographer), Vishnu and Siddharth, 9th std. students and me, from PNLIT. We began the exercise…

Spot fixing - a useful way to spend February 15, 2014 Saturday morning. Details below.  A few years ago, some of us from PNLIT spent a few hours in cleaning up a small garbage spot on Puttenahalli Road. The spot was bothering many, but all just walked past... no one was coming forward to do anything about it. Read more here. 'The Ugly Indian' group has been doing this kind of spot-fixing all over Bangalore for several years now. Read more here and here. They've been doing whatever they can, whenever they can, but as their resources are totally disproportional to…

Spot fixing - a useful way to spend February 15, 2014 Saturday morning. Details below.  A few years ago, some of us from PNLIT spent a few hours in cleaning up a small garbage spot on Puttenahalli Road. The spot was bothering many, but all just walked past... no one was coming forward to do anything about it. Read more here. 'The Ugly Indian' group has been doing this kind of spot-fixing all over Bangalore for several years now. Read more here and here. They've been doing whatever they can, whenever they can, but as their resources are totally disproportional to…

The winter sun was out, and so were the 56 kids who came along with their little siblings and parents. They all came to Puttenahalli Lake on this pleasant Saturday morning to listen to Gitanjali Sarangan (Geetu) and her team - Anagha, Sasha, Damroo, Akshat, Arun and Manasa (from Snehadhara Foundation) spin a yarn based on a story "Who Owns the Water?" by Deepa Balsavar.  ["Who Owns the Water? is one of the stories in the book Water Stories from Around the World, published by Tulika.]   Raj (from Music for Soul) came with his guitar and got everyone in the mood to…