An unexpected visitor to Puttenahalli Lake, welcome praise!

We are delighted to learn that Mr. Ravish Kumar, the renowned journalist and Magsaysay award winner, had visited our Puttenahalli and Sarakki lakes recently for a story on how Bengaluru is taking care of its lakes. The video went live yesterday and within 24 hours has been viewed by over 3.5 lakh viewers! 

His report is on the plight of water bodies not just in our city but in the country as a whole. He talks of citizen activism in Bengaluru and talks at length of the many challenges that one has to confront in order to save a water body. Indeed! Ask us about these challenges and obstacles! 

While he has not mentioned PNLIT by name, he speaks about how 'chintit' residents in the area have adopted Puttenahalli and are working with the municipality to save and take care of it. Walking around the lake and seeing how it is being maintained seems to have  impressed him enough to invite people coming to the city to visit Puttenahalli (at about 9 min 40 sec) and understand how important lakes are. He goes on to say, "Yeh jheel jo hai aapko sheher mein hone ka maksad deti hai." 

Wow! He may not have taken our name but our 'talaab' did the talking with the fountain playing, birds flying all over, ripples in the water and early morning walkers. 

Once again, our deepest gratitude to all our many well-wishers, government departments especially BBMP (Lakes), CSR partners, knowledge experts and above all you, our donors and volunteers. Together let us make the lake thrive and grow from strength to strength. 

In gratitude,

PNLIT team

Report on Bioblitz at Puttenahalli Lake, Feb 19th, 2023

The morning of 19th Feb was as warm as it has been for the past few days. Bangalore is warming up and everywhere trees are shedding their leaves. It was no different at the Puttenahalli lake where I was with some others, for a bioblitz event. The event coordinator, Sapana briefly talked about the journey of the transformation of the lake - from what it was to what it is today.

Naturalist and PNLIT volunteer Kaustubh Rau led the walk and began by asking us to take a close look at anything that seemed interesting. And indeed there were so many little details that caught the attention of each of one of us be it the colour or the variegations of leaves, the shapes of flowers, the busy and fierce weaver ants, spider web with egg and cocooned prey in it, a leaf with some insect eggs on it, the pattern in which the branches of a tree were arranged, the names of the different trees and how or why they were named so or the different water birds with their distinct calls. All these observations led to further questioning and learning not only pertaining to flora & fauna but connected to other areas of history, geography, and economy.

With PNLIT Trustee Nupur joining us, the commitment and sense of ownership were evident when she and Sapana spoke about certain trees. How many of us will have such stories to share? I wondered. We, the participants, were lucky too to get these few hours to stop thinking of our own lives and observe the world and lives of our co habitants at the lake. I hope to come back and see the changes that happen during the different seasons.

Thank you for this experience.

Archna, J.P Nagar

Pic Credits: SK Srinivas and Aishwarya S

Report of Family Fun Gardening Day at Puttenahalli lake, JP Nagar, Feb 4th @ 9:30am

We had 4 young kids and 4 adults taking part in this month's Family Fun Gardening Day at Puttenahalli lake. The youngsters were excited to see different types of leaves and insects around them, while we adults - who raked, trimmed and added manure to the plants - enjoyed their innocence and remembered our own childhood days!

Here is what one of the participants has to say:

The gardening activity along the banks of the Puttenahalli lake this Saturday (4 February 2023) took me back to my roots for a few hours - to our ancestral home in a remote island in the Sundarbans surrounded by lush green and waterbodies. It brought back memories of those wonderful days of innocence, when I was closer to nature and often overwhelmed by its sheer beauty. I felt like one of those little ones who had joined us -- curious and excited about our surroundings. And I felt very happy from within. I am glad that I took part in the activity.

Thank you to the entire team of PNLIT that is driving this initiative. You are doing an incredible job of improving our environment and making our world a better place to live. I look forward to joining you in future activities. Thanks again.

---Supriyo, a resident of South City

Thank you,

Sapana

PNLIT Event Coordinator

(Pic credits - Ramu, PNLIT Gardener)