Blogs

True to his promise, the Upa Lokayukta Justice SB Majage visited Yelahanka’s Allalasandra Lake and Puttenahalli Lake on 30th March 2014. As reported earlier, a follow-up of his February inspection was due in the first week of April, but he made it before time. Local groups have been earnestly following up with LDA / Forest Department and BWSSB to resolve the problems faced by the two lakes:  - water quality degradation due to continuous inflow of sewage, through storm water drains, broken sewage chambers and a dysfunctional STP- foul smell- mosquito nuisance- contamination of water in neighbourhood wells and borewells. While…

Playing with tops ia a boys' sport and pastime  in India. This is not a sexist statement, it quite simply is so; I have not seen girls playing with tops, from my childhood, till date. As I grew up, I found that there was a season for tops (referred to as "lattu" in Hindi and Bengali), much as there was a season for marbles, kite-flying, cricket, football, and gilli-danda. Tops came traditionally as wooden globes, with nails sticking out of them. Thin ropes were wound round and round the lower part of the top, which had grooves to accommodate the…

Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA) had planned to commemorate World Water Day at Allalasandra Lake on 29th March, through a drawing/ painting competiton on the theme 'Water', as reported earlier.  The event was well attended, with the participation of more than 150 children from the government schools in Yelahanka and Allalasandra. Winners of the competition, would be presented their prizes in their respective schools in the week ahead.   After the competition, Ms Anna, a researcher from Russia who is currently doing a project with the Water Literacy Foundation headed by Mr Ayyappa Masagi took over. She showed the children shown short…

The Jacaranda trees are in full bloom now, across the city.     Against the blue, the purple looks lovely:     And then, of course, Nature strews the blooms across the path.     It's lovely to walk through a carpet of purple. The Jacaranda is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Central America, South America, Cuba, Hispaniola and the Bahamas. It has been planted widely in Asia, and in Bangalore, at this time of the year, it adds great beauty.   Here   is the Wiki entry about the tree. Enjoy the flowering trees of spring and…

  Despite the scorching heat, there is so much to see all around us! Lets capture bangalore's summer life in our sketchbooks !    Here's the GreenScraps, nature journaling workshop for this summer! Please find all the details in the poster attached - the batch, date, age and place. As always, the registrations are restricted to about 12 participants each batch.  So, please contact us ASAP, before it gets filled in! Your participation would be confirmed only once the payment is made.     For more detail: GreenScraps Blog - http://greenscrapsjournal.blogspot.in/ GreenScraps Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/GreenScraps?ref=hl

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…

For a recent show, I'd researched movie songs in a variety of Indian languages with the intent to trace the classical ragas behind these songs. While some of them were based directly on a specific raga, others were a mix of several ragas while some barely resembled a coherent melody. It was fascinating to see how the same melody sounded when it moved from the stage to the screen. Here are some of the more interesting ones I encountered.    Many older Hindi movies, such as Tansen and Baiju Bawra were based on the life stories of legendary musicians. They…

Whitefield Rising is planning a big WATER issues related event. We would like to have your presence for the same.   The theme is as follows:   WOULD YOU LIKE TO Quit all dependence on tanker water. Collaborate with BWSSB to bring water to you. Infinitely self-sustain your water supply. Enjoy water with low contaminants. THEN YOU MUST ATTEND THE EVENT,  INKtalks Water, ON Saturday April 5 2014 AT JAGRITI Theater in Whitefield. We will start at 11 am sharp, so be in time to take your seats!    YOU WILL LEARN HOW TO Harvest rain. Re-charge your borewell so that it never runs…

This fortnightly newsletter is shared by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.comIbblur lake revival back on track   The Bangalore Urban district office, headed by the Tahasildar (South) conducted an eviction drive from March 04 to March 05 to clear encroachments on government land around the Ibblur Lake, as per the latest survey map.    Some under construction buildings and portions of existing commercial buildings, parts of boundary walls of residential complexes (Sobha Garnet & Suncity) etc. were demolished as part of the drive to reclaim Lake land after due notifications were given to the concerned parties. The BDA has committed to resume…

On Saturday, March 29, 2014 - two lake-related events, one at Domlur (whole day) and the other at Yelahanka (evening)   Domlur - The Green Bazaar Catch Every Drop   The Green Bazaar Catch Every Drop edition, organised by The Alternative, celebrates waterlife and the need for everyone to conserve the precious resource today!   Lined up in the bazaar: - Namma Neeru Talks featuring S. Vishwanath, Dr. Sathya Prakash Varanashi, Lake Champions - photography exhibition on open wells and lakes, and ways to save water in our homes and public spaces - interesting activities for children, including Origami workshops, storytelling sessions and a…