Kaikondrahalli Lake captures everybody’s heart, yet again!

Workshops, photography trails, storytelling sessions, organic food and a lot of fun - this is what Kakondrahalli lake festival witnessed.

On January 8th 2017, over 4500 people from across Bengaluru visited Kaikondrahalli Lake to connect with their friends, community and nature. Lake festival, or Kere Habba, is a completely volunteer-organised event aimed at raising awareness, increasing community participation and fostering an appreciation of lakes in Bengaluru. Kaikondrahalli celebrated its third lake festival on January 8th, 2017.

A bird living in the Kakondrahalli lake premises. Pic: Shree D N

Over a hundred students from Renuka school situated on the banks of the lake, involved themselves in many activities; they organised a Halli Games session, to teach visitors how to play traditional games. They also took turns to ‘feed the soil’ – with the compost donated by neighbouring apartments that manage and process their own kitchen waste.



Citizen corner featured many citizen driven social initiatives such as Swachagraha, Volunteer Bus and Sustainable menstruation awareness. Among them Amitabh Saran’s stall demonstrating how to make useful items from waste cardboard was very popular. His cardboard ‘Tulsi madhams’ attracted a lot of interest from the visitors.





Children and adults alike were delighted at Performance Artist Vikram Sridhar’s stories, excitedly following him around the lake. Other participants also joined the Bird Walk, Spider Walk and Kite Flying. The children’s corner was abuzz with kids of all ages drawing, trying their hands at pottery and more. Hands on pottery session was very popular with children queuing up for their turn.



One could see many people enjoy the many activities and mini workshops from flower Rangoli to crafts to drawing, photography and more. Illustrator Archana Sreenivasan showed how to observe and sketch, and writer Deepa Mohan talked about nature writing.



The Civic Innovators interactive session discussed simple ways in which each of us can be a changemaker. Officials from BBMP and Bengaluru Traffic Police talked about their work in improving the neighbourhood and how they engaged with citizens. Volunteers and activists talked about how they tried to get involved and take small and big initiatives, from traffic issues, waste management and fighting violations. The organisers announced a unique contest “Start where you are”, that anybody can come up with innovative ideas to solve problems of the lake or the local community.



Biome Trust displayed floating islands fitted with plants in an attempt to experiment with sewage remediation at the lake. The event was zero waste of course, with Hasiru Dala’s waste management services. Whether commercial food stalls or juice stalls setup by volunteers, only reusable or compostable cutlery was used. There were no plastic cutleries!

Prahlad Singh Tipaniya and group singing Kabeer Bhajans. Pic: Shree D N

The day came to an end with the mellifluous voices of folk singer Padma Shri Prahlad Singh Tipaniya who presented Songs by the water’, with Kabir bhajans and other songs related to nature.

Elected representatives including our MP PC Mohan and MLA NA Harris joined the event and planted saplings on the occasion.

The event has been organised by volunteers of the neighbourhood, under the aegis of MAPSAS Trust, and supported by sponsors from all around bangalore – Sankara Building Products, Rotary Lakeside, Motherhood Hospital, Portea, Vendantu, PLAY, Club Mahindra, Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd., White Peacock Badminton Academy, Prakat Solutions and community media partners Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz and Citizen Matters.

About Mahadevapura Environment Protection and Development Trust:



MAPSAS is a community-oriented Not For Profit Trust, formed by citizens to take up ecological lake maintenance activities after rejuvenation of lakes in Mahadevpura constituency of Bangalore city. The members of the Trust have been engaged with the BBMP since 2008 to rejuvenate Kaikondrahalli Lake and Lower Ambalipura Lake in an environmentally sustainable, socially responsible manner.



Kaikondarahalli lake is managed completely by citizens contributions.  The Trust also is the community custodian of three more lakes — Soul Kere (where Genpact is funding Maintenance in partnership with United Way) as well as Kasavanahalli Lake and Haralur lake – both of which will be hugely helped if corporates partner with MAPSAS to help with maintenance.

Related Articles

If you didn’t attend Bengaluru’s first lake festival, here’s what you missed!

Comments:

  1. Deepa Mohan says:

    Great report! Try as I could, I could not participate in all the activities, so I enjoyed this photo-feature. Thank you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

Opinion: Why climate action must recognise and include India’s informal workers

As COP29 discusses ways to mitigate the climate crisis, India must address the adversities faced by informal workers and chalk out plans.

The ongoing COP29 conference in Baku, is a pivotal moment in climate action, focusing on global cooperation to limit warming to 1.5°C. Key priorities include mobilising financial resources for developing countries to submit ambitious climate plans (NDCs) by 2025 and continuing support through the Fund for Loss and Damage (FRLD) established at COP28. COP29 also aims to strengthen adaptation efforts by setting finance-backed targets for the Global Goal on Adaptation.  While COP29 primarily focuses on international climate initiatives, India must address pressing domestic issues. One key group often overlooked is informal workers in Indian cities. Over 80% of India’s urban…

Similar Story

Status check: Key concerns remain as Chennai moves ahead with WTE plans

Greater Chennai Corporation's tender for the Waste-To-Energy plant is at the final stage; Here is what we know about the bidders

17,422 metric tonnes per day — that's the staggering amount of trash the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will generate in 30 years. Currently, Chennai produces 6,143 metric tonnes of waste daily, which adds to the growing piles in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dump yards. Like many other major cities, GCC is struggling to find a sustainable solution for waste management and has proposed a Waste-To-Energy (WTE) plant. However, the experiences of cities like Delhi are testimony to the significant environmental and health impacts of WTE plants. A recent The New York Times investigative report on the Delhi WTE reveals: "The government…