Articles by Shilpi Sahu

Kere Habba had an estimated 2000-3000 visitors on 10th January 2015 for the first in the series of Lake Day series sponsored by Namma Bengaluru Foundation. The focus was on conservation and appreciation of lakes as hubs of community interation, bio-diversity and healthy living. This is an update on how transport, food, water and waste management was handled to make this a green event keeping with the theme of sustainability. Food Expecting more than 2000 visitors, the food team's challenge was to cut down waste generated during the event while ensuring a variety of caterers serving tasty and healthy food.…

Kere run was organized as part of the Kere Habba 2015 at Kaikondrahalli Lake. Nearly 30 kids from Thayimane and Ananya Trust attended the event as pacers, helping the runners finish the distance they planned to run. Many of these kids are budding runners with a lot of potential and being trained by RunnersHigh, one of them being a podium finisher at Bangalore Ultra 2014. The format of the run was different from a typical racing event. The idea behind the run was not to raise money either for the lake or the involved schools, but as a platform to bring the lakeside communities around the lake together…

Bellandur Buzz Issue # 25 Date: 19th December 2014. This fortnightly newletter is published by the citizen group bellandur.forum@googlegroups.com Meeting the minister - updates   Residents meet the minister to discuss various local issues Sri Ramalinga Reddy, the Minister in charge of Bangalore visited the neighborhood on Monday morning. A group of residents met him on Monday morning at 8 am at Kaikondrahalli Lake. He was accompanied by several BBMP officials. SWM Special Commissioner Darpan Jain also dropped in a little later. The following topics were discussed: Lake - Joint commisioner to get Kaikondrahalli lake boundary surveyed by Tahsildar within 1 week…

Bellandur Buzz Issue # 24 Dec 5th 2014 This fornightly newsletter is published by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com Highlights from the city… -      On December 4th BBMP's Environment engineer Mamtha and Health Inspector Bhargava did a check on apartments on Kasavanahalli road. Astro Silverwood and Wamma Ibbanee were fined for non-segregation of waste. Confident Phonenix was given notice to start resident training by this weekend. SJR verity was found to be a role model apartment managing their waste very responsibly, producing only 45kgs of reject waste for 320 odd apartments. Total Mall and HM Symphony have also been fined as they were…

Bellandur Buzz Issue # 23 Nov 20th 2014 This fornightly newsletter is published by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Upcoming Events: Champion in Me Run Venue: Snehadaan campus on Sarjapur road. Date: November 23rd Time: 6:30 am. 5k Run/Walk will be held at the Sneha Care Home to support the residential care facility for economically backward children living with HIV who have lost one or both parents. The event will be environment-friendly and will feature limited use of paper and plastic. Breakfast will be served after the marathon. For more information, go to: http://championinme.snehacarehome.org/   Iblur Park beautification drive Venue:…

Bellandur Buzz Issue #22 Date: 7th November 2014 This fornightly newsletter is published by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Green Diwali celebrations In SJR Verity, an apartment complex on Kasavanahalli road, it all started with the idea of encouraging people to say “NO” to crackers this Diwali. This would have been enough if the residents had believed that the atmosphere is the only thing that makes our environment; however, they believed that our environment included everyone who is impacted by crackers- from the people who buy the crackers, to those that fall sick because of them, to the firecracker retailers.…

Bellandur Buzz Issue #21 Date: 22nd October 2014 This fornightly newsletter is published by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Lake activists meet with Upa Lokayukta A meeting presided by Upa Lokayukta Justice Adi Subhash was held on 17th October to discuss lake rejuvenation and preservation. Attendance was hearteningly high, with representatives from various lakes including Kaikondrahalli, Kasavanahalli, Halanayakanahalli, Ibblur, Saul Kere, Puttanahalli, and Chikkanasandra adding their voice to the discussions. Representatives from the BBMP, the DC’s office and villagers from Halanayakanahalli village were present as well. Where officials were not available, the Justice made notes to follow up with them…

Editor's note:  On October 19th, Bangalore witnessed what was touted to be the city’s first world class annual marathon - the Bengaluru Marathon 2014. Over 8,000 folks participated across several categories in the race. Any event of this magnitude typically generates a lot of waste - paper cups, plastic, running bibs and the like, and it is indeed a task to collect and dispose of it responsibly.   The team handling the event however ensured that waste was disposed of in a responsible manner. This is indeed an example of responsible racing, one that other large scale events should emulate.…

Eco-friendly birthday parties are possible if you can plan a little. Pic courtesy: Sindhu Rao So, the little tyke is turning a year older. As a parent who is expected to throw a stellar birthday party, you are perhaps neck deep in planning. Should you throw a party at home or at the clubhouse? Should you take the little one with his friends for an outing to an amusement park or to his favourite fast food restaurant? What should be on the menu? Should you keep it a small gathering of close friends or throw a big bash? So many…

Bellandur Buzz…Issue # 20October 10th 2014 Shared fortnightly by: bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Celebrate cracker-free Diwali Seven year old Nurba isn’t playing, she’s working because YOU want to buy crackers. Source As Deepawali approaches we would like to remind everyone about why we shouldn’t burst crackers. Besides the obvious side-effect, that is, air pollution (Did you know air pollution increases by almost 30% during Diwali?), noise pollution, injuries and various health hazards, there are several other negatives of firecrackers. Did you know that there are millions of underage kids that are exploited by the firecracker industry, and that many of them get killed in…