Articles by Usha Rajagopalan

"Nearly 110 species of birds, fully or partially dependent on water have been recorded utilizing the tanks in Bangalore. This diversity of birds belongs to 6 avian orders and 25 bird families." - Dr S. Subramanya, an authority on lakes At Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar we have positively identified 15 species of the 110 (with the help of close-up photographs; otherwise most of the birds were always too far off or reclusive). These include those that belong to the families of coots, cormorants, ducks, herons, jacanas, kingfishers, kites, lapwigs, wagtails. There are some that we are yet to photograph/identify and…

With the installation of benches (and dustbins) at our neighbourhood Puttenahalli Lake, the number of people frequenting it has gone up considerably! Most of them are from Puttenahalli, RBI Layout, Bank of Baroda Colony, etc. This is an invitation to all residents of South City and Brigade Millennium to a guided tour of the lake on Saturday and Sunday (27th-28th Aug 2011) from 9 a.m to 10 a.m. We will show you the different varieties of trees we have planted, the water birds and the many seemingly small but integral things that we do to revive and transform the lake.…

We plan to bring out a booklet for children on the rich flora and fauna of Puttenahalli Lake. This is an invitation to all resident shutterbugs to take photographs of the trees and birds at the lake for possible inclusion in the book. We'll be happy to give due credit to the selected photographs. We will need high resolution pictures. Also, need an aerial view of the lake for the cover. Please send pics by 12th September to puttenahalli.lake@gmail.com. ⊕

Here's an invitation to you to join us with your children at Puttenahalli Lake Near MLR Convention Hall, Brigade Millennium from 9 am to 11 am tomorrow and on Sunday for gardening. Mix a little bit of work with lots of fun watching birds (the latest visitor is a white breasted kingfisher), spotting fishes (there are at least three varieties in the lake). Open your eyes and your child's to the treasures of nature! Hoping to see you tomorrow at the lake! Don't forget to bring a cap, water bottle, some gardening tool if you have any and gloves if…

At any time of the day, you will see more people than birds at our Puttenahalli Lake. There are the brisk morning or evening walkers, strollers, people who use the track as a short cut to go from or to Puttenahalli, the time pass guys who sit singly or in a group at the gazebo, two wheelers, though their number is reducing gradually. Well, we are constantly standing in their path and sending them back. That’s what I did today with a motorbike rider and a cyclist - much to the startled horror of three students from Kumaran School who…

Once upon a time, not so long ago, our city with its salubrious climate, smooth roads and countless trees made it a pensioners’ paradise. Indeed, Bengaluru had at least two other names as well – The Garden City and the City of Lakes. All this changed within the last three decades or so. The tree cover has been blown and the lakes are vanishing. If in the 1830s there were an incredible 19,800 lakes and tanks, by the 1960s the number dwindled to 280 and reduced further by 1990 to less than 80. They vanished as quickly as the population…

As a creative writer I am constantly discovering new things about places, people and myself. Since the last four years though I have been privileged to tackle perhaps my greatest discovery - the Puttenahalli Lake in J.P. Nagar, 7th Phase. What began as a wish to prevent misuse of the lake gathered momentum and led to the formation of the Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT) in June 2010. Eleven months later, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the BBMP to formally maintain the lake, the first citizens’ group to do so. Every time we visit the lake, my…

Official note sent by the Puttenahalli Lake Trust to members and citizen volunteers. The lake then, as on Jan 2009. Pic courtesy: PNLIT We are happy to tell you that our Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT) has signed an MOU yesterday with the BBMP to maintain Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar. This gives official status to what most of you would know PNLIT has been doing ever since the BBMP began rejuvenating the lake from Feb. 2010. Your donations helped us plant 300 trees, hire a gardener and a sweeper. We greatly appreciate your support to a citizens' movement which began in a very…

Does one call it a lake or a pond? Perhaps it may be better to just refer to it as a “kere” or a water body, since it was clearly once a lake that, over time, became a pond and is now steadily shrinking in size. Some people call it “Arey kere”, others as “Puttanahalli puttkere” to differentiate it from the much bigger Puttanhalli Lake. Call it what you will, this kere is fighting a losing battle for survival - like other water bodies in Bengaluru, like the tall shady trees now being chopped down on one pretext or the…