The story of water, live at Puttenahalli Lake

The winter sun was out, and so were 56 kids along with their little siblings and parents. They all came to Puttenahalli Lake on this pleasant Saturday morning to listen to Gitanjali Sarangan (Geetu) and her team - Anagha, Sasha, Damroo, Akshat, Arun and Manasa (from Snehadhara Foundation) spin a yarn based on a story "Who Owns the Water?" by Deepa Balsavar. 

["Who Owns the Water? is one of the stories in the book Water Stories from Around the World, published by Tulika.]

Raj (from Music for Soul) came with his guitar and got everyone in the mood to swing and move. Geetu and team did warm up dances and singing with their musical instruments and the stage was all set to bring the story out.

After a brief real story about Puttenahalli Lake by Sapana, Geetu took the children and the adults along with her into a world of words, songs, enacting, jingles, screaming, jumping, moving, swirling, twirling, and what not. The adults loved Shantaram, Mahalakshmi and Chakarapani, while the children loved making noises of water, frogs, cows, boars, prinias and more!!

The message of the story was that the water of a lake belongs to everyone and not just one person.

Raj and Geetu

Sapana talks about Puttenahalli Lake

The interactive session kept the children busy 

PNLIT's OP Ramaswamy gave a vote of thanks to Snehadhara and everyone and asked if PNLIT should organize more of such sessions. Of course, everyone wanted more.

We sold PNLIT magnets, wristbands and keychains to the kids while the adults wondered why not have these events for adults too!

PNLIT goodies on sale

And we keep the PNLIT boat rowing and moving and hoping that more new faces will join us in these events to spread the idea of taking care of our neighbourhood and its resources.

Reported by Sapana Rawat, PNLIT volunteer
Pics by OP Ramaswamy, Nupur Jain

*******

Special thanks to Sapana for coordinating the event and to the Snehadhara team for conducting it.
More pictures and videos can be seen here and here.

PNLIT's Story Telling Session on 18th Jan 2014

Click to see larger size

Ashy Prinia @ Puttenahalli Lake (Pic: Kamal Hari Menon)

Once upon a time, near large apartment communities, an Ashy Prinia searched for a place to lay her eggs. 

The land was parched and dry and there wasn't a bush or tree in sight. 

Finally she found a depression in the ground and using her tiny claws she made a hole and laid her eggs. 

The eggs hatched and the Ashy Prinia took care of the babies until they were big enough to fly.

"Is that it?" you will enquire.

To which we will reply,
"No it isn't, dear one
Not by a long shot.
Our story has just begun,
Coots, Swamphens, Purple Herons
and many more, are yet to come."

PNLIT invites all the young ones and their families to a story telling session.

When: Saturday, 18th January 2014, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Where: Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar 7th Phase, Bangalore

What: A story based on "Who Owns the Water" by Deepa Balsavar (Tulika Publishers)

By Whom: Geetanjali Sarangan (narration, lyrics and music) and Raj (music)

Why: Because it's a story of our neigbourhood lake, by our neigbourhood residents and for our neigbourhood children!

Who can come: Anyone who likes a good yarn

Entry contribution: Rs. 50/- per child between the ages of 3 and 15 years. Free for others. Contributions will be accepted on the spot on 18th Jan 2014 @10:30 a.m. and will go towards hosting, the artists and PNLIT.
For further information please contact : sapana_rawat@yahoo.com (9880554136) or nupur21@gmail.com (9886629769)

Our aim is to foster a community feeling in the neighbourhood by conducting events such as this. Your support and participation is eagerly awaited.

Best,

The PNLIT Team