Saturday, February 16, 2019

Citizens' Fest at The Bohemian House

A citizens’ fest at The Bohemian House, Richmond Circle is being held on Sunday 17th February 2019.

Talking Earth’s Future Cities Edition 1 will have 4 panel discussions, over 30 speakers, 6 workshops, art zones, 20 sustainable brand stalls and much more.

The themes that will be discussed are:
- Waste
- Bangalore Heritage
- Urban Development 
- Lakes.

PNLIT Trustee, Nupur Jain will be part of the panel for the discussion on lakes, along with Kavitha Reddy, Naresh V Narasimhan, Deepanjali Naik and moderator Madhuri Subbarao. 

Topic: Are citizen-led lake revival efforts sustainable?
Date: Sunday 17th Feb 2019
Time: 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm
Location: Waterfall Area @ the Bohemian House 
Tickets available here


Friday, February 15, 2019

Theatre Workshop for Children at Puttenahalli Lake

Join us for PNLIT's first theatre workshop for children.

A theatre workshop for children aged 10 years and above, will be conducted by Dr Sonali Sathaye.

When  -   24th February 2019, Sunday, 10 a.m. to 12 noon
Where -  Puttenahalli Lake Gazebo, JP Nagar 7th Phase

Bring   - Your water bottles!

This is a FREE event, but you need to register the names as we have limited seats available.

To Register - Send a mail to sapana_rawat@yahoo.com or divyadshetty@hotmail.com with the child's name and your apartment community's name/ house address.

About the Workshop
This workshop focuses on relationships: relationships that the children will observe in the natural world (through direct observation around the lake), relationships between their voices and their bodies, between their bodies and their emotions and, of course, relationships between themselves as they act out little impromptu pieces.

Participants should come prepared to be silly, to make lots of noises and voices, not to mention trying out strange walks and expressions!

About Dr Sonali Sathaye
As an anthropologist, Sonali Sathaye sees theatre everywhere, including, most especially in the way we live our social lives. As a theatre practitioner, she seeks to share her enjoyment of this drama with children - so that they too may delight in the absurdity of the everyday.

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Reports on the first Citizen Science Programme

Our first Citizen Science Programme held on 13th February 2019 in collaboration with the Earthwatch Institute India and IISc was a very satisfying one indeed. We had less than our target of 30 participants, but all of them were deeply engrossed in the Nature walk led by veteran bird watcher and educator, Mr. J. N. Prasad which was followed by a session on water conducted by two researchers from IISc. 


Nature walk

Given below are reports by two participants. 

By Ms. Narita Chengappa, second year journalism student, Mount Carmel College 

On the 13th of February, 2019, the Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust organised a Citizen Science Programme for the community with the objective of increasing environmental awareness, primarily with regards to the lake and its surrounding flora and fauna.

The event began with a nature walk around the lake, led by Mr. J. N. Prasad who informed the participants about the avian diversity of the lake and its surrounding neighbourhood. Participants had the opportunity to learn about the habits of birds such as the egret and the purple swamp hen, refute myths about the mynas and discuss pigeon population problems.
Following the walk, Lepakshi Raju and Harini Santhanam of the Indian Institute Of Science along with Surbhi Sharma from Earthwatch Institute India conducted tests on the lake water, checking for parameters such as pH level and conductivity of the water and then allowed participants to do the same. They also educated participants on how to check the nitrate and phosphate levels of the water. Following this, the two researchers from the Indian Institute Of Science handed out questionnaires for their survey regarding the attitudes of the common public towards lakes and their maintenance.
This repeated and continuous effort by the PNLIT has been a major help in raising awareness about the unfavourable treatment of lakes in and around the city. The Puttenahalli Lake, in particular, has benefitted from their proactive contributions. They have been vital benefactors to Bangalore’s lake saving movement and one can only hope that their endeavours will continue to rub off on the citizens of this city, making them more aware of the way they can also do their part.


Water testing

By Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Kutty, South City resident 
The well-attended Citizens Science Programme, held on the 13th of February, at the Puttenahalli lake premises was a pleasurable morning at our pretty neighbourhood lake with a principal thrust towards spreading awareness in the community of conserving and preserving our valuable city lakes. It was led by a well- anchored team of researchers form IISc and Earth Watch India, JN Prasad (a well-known naturalist) and head of PNLIT, Usha Rajagopalan.

Usha Rajagopalan began with an immersive talk on the history of the decade long persistence and commitment put by her team to save the dying lake. This was categorised by a display of photographs taken at different times of the lake’s passage. She spoke of the cleaning of the lake bed, the technicalities involved in channelling the rain and ground water into the lake, the planting of water purifying aquatic plants, the engineering of floating islands to improve water quality and provide bio-diversity habitat and the replenishing of the lake by treated water from the apartment complex. Her talk had a crucial underlying message - the sustenance and preservation of the lake rests on the shoulders of the local community.

Then, JN Prasad, the birder, took us on a languid walk and into the magical world of birds - the hundreds of rushing swallows high in the sky, who had arrived from Europe, the magnificent Brahminy kites swooping low, a sedentary grey heron perched on an island, the territorial common coot, the cormorant’s fishing skills, the white egrets whose feathers had once donned ladies' hats.

Finally, after a refreshing tea break, we had a presentation by the researchers of Earthwatch India and IISc, followed by the testing of the lake water with the active participation of the attendees.

The parameters included the pH level, the acidity and nitrogen content and turbidity. When the results were out there was jubilation! The water in our Puttenahalli Lake was “good”! After more pleasant reflections and deliberations we dispersed after a well-spent morning. 

We hope to have more such experiential learning events for residents in the future. 
Photos by Ms Susheela Urs, PNLIT Manager

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Citizen Science Programme invitation

We have great pleasure in inviting you to a Citizen Science Programme at the Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar 7th Phase. Aimed at increasing environment awareness in the neighbourhood, this event for adults will comprise a Nature Walk followed by an introduction to water quality assessment. 

Mr J.N. Prasad, a keen birder and educator will lead the Walk. Specialists from  the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will take you through an experiential learning exercise of testing water samples taken from the lake. 


Date: Wednesday, 13th February 2019
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 noon 
Venue: Gazebo, Puttenahalli Lake (Puttakere)

Organised in collaboration with the Earthwatch Institute India and the Indian Institute of Science, this Citizen Science Programme is a free event but prior registration is required. 
Maximum number of participants = 30. Please drop a mail to <puttenahalli.lake@gmail.com>.  

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Family Gardening 2-Feb-2019

The Family Gardening Fun Day was a fun filled one with many children in attendance.

Four year-old Rohan from Brigade Millennium, who is a regular now, went about looking for snails, ants and spiders while picking up the fallen leaves. He did find a snail coming out of his shell. This thrilled him for the whole session!  

Two thirteen-year old boys joined us for the first time. Aniket from South City said,"The experience was truly exciting and fun to do. I look forward to coming again and help our lake by cleaning the environment around it". 

There are many children who are regulars to the session, held on the first Saturday of every month, and they have learnt to spot birds with ease. This time there was an egret in breeding plumage.
The children share their experiences:

Gardening at Puttenahalli Lake was quite fun. First we replanted some plants and then we watered some other plants. There were lots of birds and I had fun spotting them. I saw sandpipers, grebes, egrets and moorhens. (Nachiket, 10 yrs, South City)

Our first job was to uproot plants that were growing out of line and replant them in a straight line. Next we watered the beds. It was fun watering the plants and drenching them. I saw lots of birds too. (Rukmini, 12 yrs, South City)
I have attended most of the family gardening fun days and I see many people- young and old - come and enjoy their time with nature. Sometimes we plant saplings, sometimes we water the plants, and some times we de-weed. We also trim the hedges with the big pruning scissors which is a lot of fun for me!  The lake is a very good place to take pictures where you can capture different types of birds, butterflies, bugs and flowers. Every time I go there, I take a phone to click pictures. I have got some really good ones over time. The lake is full of different things to see and learn from. I really love spending time there. ( Aditi, 13 yrs, South City)




More pictures can be seen be seen here  (Photos by Susheela Urs)

Hope to see more children and their parents joining in our next Family Gardening Fun Day on March 2nd @ 9:30 a.m.


- Sapana, PNLIT Event Co-ordinator