Abhijith Rao: My run report - Bangalore 10K

The Bangalore 10K was coming up and registrations had opened. I had not run even 10km in the whole of last year, I decided to skip it. End of story.

Hang on!

A few weeks later I came across an email that said that PNLIT, which is a small organisation, trying to do its best at saving and improving the neighbourhood lake, would be one of the participating NGOs in the fund raiser. That is when I decided to change my mind and participate in the marathon. And raise funds for it at the same time.

Time was short. I had about 20 days to go for the event and I started having second thoughts about if I could finish it. I eased into a routine for the first week and it seemed fine. But, in the second week, I had a small fall off the cycle, that took away a few training days. I realised that a sub 60 minute time for the event would not be possible. The lack of time defined both my targets: 70 minutes for the run and Rs.20,000/- for the fund raiser.

Closer to race day, the fund raiser was slowly inching towards the goal, probably better than my preparation for the run itself. I put in a run whenever possible and realised that I would be on target for a 70 minute run.

The race day and the run itself reminded me of one thing, peak hour traffic. My first 3k was spent dodging people and trying to make space between them. I settled into a rythm and at the 5k mark, I had taken 33minutes. I kept the reduced pace and continued, since I had a small cramp scare at around the 4k mark. But, I was happy that I had been able to make up the time lost in the first couple of km.

I kept it going and passed some people I recognised and thats the nice part of such events. I also happened to catch and cross a lady with a PNLIT bib around the 9k mark. Not sure who it was, but I did say a Hiya and pointed to the PNLIT bib on my back. I crossed the finish line at 1:09:15 over 11 minutes slower than my best time from a couple of years ago. I should be sad, but given that I did not really train for this event, I am not.

Later that day met up with some friends, if you can call them that. "Did you finish?" said one, while another quipped, "You are almost as bad as me". Ruthless :) . As I felt the well deserved beer flow down, I felt no need to justify. I did get a donation for PNLIT while at the event. See the brighter side? :)

Speaking of funds I am inching closer to the 50% of my targeted amount. The money largely has come in from my motorcycling club, Rolling Thunder MC; and one each from office and Arekere. Only 1 donation came from L&T South City itself. Being one of the biggest beneficiaries of PNLITs work, I had most hopes on it. My wife has been my fund raiser's largest supporter.

Back now, as I write this, I think this event helped me get started again. I will be running regularly, though as I write this, thanks to the time provided by a Bharth Bundh, I still have to get over this 10k.

Till later!

Cheers,
Abhijith
Resident, L&T South City
abhijith.rao@gmail.com

P.S: You can still transfer to the fund raiser online, till June 10th. However, I will accept cash and will collect for PNLIT from your doorstep, if you don't like online transactions. 

Harish (in yellow) and me flaunting our PNLIT bibs during the event.

Volunteers from HSBC

Yesterday, 16 volunteers from HSBC spent the whole morning, from about 7 a.m. to noon, at the the lake. They helped in deweeeding some of the lake bed and lifting the weed litter out of the lake. These and more volunteers from HSBC will be helping out on all Saturdays through June.

Pictures here.

PNLIT on Radio Indigo broadcast - 3rd June 9 a.m.

Mr. H.S. Balram of Radio Indigo 91.9 FM (Bangalore) spoke to PNLIT on the Puttenahalli Lake restoration and nurturing experience in an hour long programme called Namma Bengaluru This Week.

Please tune in tomorrow, Sunday 3rd June, to Radio Indigo at 9 a.m. to hear Arathi and Usha in conversation with Mr. Balram. 

Look out for PNLIT runners during the TCS run

Tomorrow is the Day!

The TCS World 10K run is tomorrow in Bangalore. It will be telecast live on television (Star Plus, Star Suvarna, Doordarshan Sports) tomorrow 27th May 2012. 

Race schedule:

World 10K Men - 7:10 a.m. Women - 7:55 a.m.

Senior Citizens Run 4K 7:20 a.m.

Wheelchair event 4K 7:50 a.m.

Open 10K 8:00 a.m. (has PNLIT runners)

Majja Run 5.7K 9:00 a.m. (has PNLIT runners)

Procam has informed PNLIT that they will be covering the PNLIT story during the run. They did a shoot at the lake and will be doing some PNLIT following during the live telecast. 

Thanks very much to all the runners (about 10-15 of them) who are running for PNLIT and trying to raise funds for our lake nurturing effort. Look out for them during the run, wearing green PNLIT bibs on their backs. 

We are happy that we have received some donations through the PNLIT page on the Bangalore Cares website. Some cheques and cash donations have also been received offline. Even after the run, contributions are welcome! 

We wish our 10K runners the very best for the run and hope that each of them achieves their best 10K timings. 

People's Green Award - Simple voting - Please vote for PNLIT!

We are delighted to tell you that PNLIT has been shortlisted for the People's Green Award instituted as part of the TCS World 10K. Public voting and Jury assessment will together decide the final three winners.

PNLIT is a local people's initiative to tackle the problem of dying lakes and water shortage through public participation. We were instrumental in getting the Puttenahalli Lake restored and are the first citizens' group in Bangalore to officially maintain a lake. We work within a very tight budget from donations made mostly by individual well wishers. 

The People's Green Award will help us get some financial support and also encourage others to take up lake restoration in their neighbourhood. Together we can save more lakes and avert the impending water crisis in our city.

We appeal to you to please vote for us. VOTING IS SIMPLE. No form to be filled, no Captcha to be deciphered! JUST 3 STEPS

> Click here

> Choose PNLIT

> Enter your name and email id. Click on Submit to register your vote. 

Voting closes towards the end of June but do not wait. VOTE NOW!

Please help us win by forwarding this mail to all your relatives, friends and colleagues. 

For more information about PNLIT, please visit our website.

Many thanks.

Boy drowns in Sarakki Lake

Sorry to share this sad news. Deccan Herald is one paper that got the name of the lake correct. Others have reported the lake where the incident took place (Sarakki Lake) as Puttenahalli Lake. 

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/251308/boy-drowns-sarakki-lake-brother.html

Deccan Herald, Newspaper dated 22nd May 2012

Boy drowns in Sarakki lake, brother critical

Bangalore, May 21, 2012, DHNS :

A nine-year-old boy, who went to fish in the Sarakki lake at Puttenahalli along with his four-year-old brother, drowned in the muddy waters on Monday afternoon.

Passersby who spotted the boys Vivek and Dhanush drowning, tried to rescue them, but Vivek had died by the time he was pulled out of the water.

Vivek was studying in third standard.

Dhanush, an LKG student, is undergoing treatment in the ICU at a private hospital.

Vivek and Dhanush, children of Renuka and Venkatesh, who runs Vivek Security Agency, regularly went for fishing in the lake, which is just about 200 metres from their house. 

The lake had swollen due to the recent rains.

Dr Somayaji told Deccan Herald that the condition of Dhanush was still critical but stable. 

The boy had consumed a lot of contaminated water and his blood had turned acidic. It may also lead to lung infection and other complications, Somayaji said.

Sunday evening at the lake

Update from Vijay of the Community Gardening group. Next session on Sat 19th May, 4 p.m.

--------------------
From: Vijay Kumar
Date: Sun, May 13, 2012

Hey All,

Myself with Vivek, Prajna & Jyothi met after initially doubtful start due to thunderstorms, lighting & rains at 4:30 PM. (We had a giant guest to the lake, check pictures)

Today we have finished the following work,

    1. Manured the trees left side
    2. Manured the trees right and left side inside the grills of the lake

With this we have finished manuring all of the trees and saplings in the lake today. ( luckily the rains had stopped and didn't stop us from coming to the lake )

Next action:

1. We need to still lay new saplings in the vacant areas

2. We have fourth & fifth (saplings) bed ready and we planned to do with methi and others

2. Clean up the entrance and other parts of the lake. 

We plan to do it in the following days ahead.

We have decided to meet up again on next Saturday @ 4:00 PM. 

Please find attached the memories of the weekend @ Lake.

Vj

Community gardening progress

Less than two months ago we had formed a team of volunteers to do community gardening at the lake. Though a small group, they have been working with great diligence and enthusiasm. An update sent yesterday by one of them, Vivek Krishna, is below. Clearly they have had a great time! To keep up pace with them, we've bought some 50 saplings and manure from Lal Bagh nursery last Friday. 

If you would like to join Vivek and his friends, please email (or better still, just join them today evening at 4 p.m.!). Alternately/additionally if you'd like to make a donation to the lake trust, you are most welcome! 

PNLIT has been maintaining the lake from June 2010 only with the help of donations from well wishers like you and volunteers like Vivek Krishna and his friends. 

--------------------
From: vivek krishna
Date: Sat, May 12, 2012 at 10:08 PM

Hi All,

Was a very productive day at the lake :)

We met up at 4 PM and tended to the three patches first: watered, de-weeded, put manure and watered some more.

We then dug up shallow trenches along all the plant/tree, put manure and covered it with back sand and leaves. Vijay and I dug up & covered the trenches while Prajna and Pooja (Jyothi's neighbor, who will be joining our group) put the manure.

We did it for the entire stretch on the right side (the side the patches are on). So we covered a lot of ground indeed :)

The plan for tomorrow is to meet up at 4 PM (Vijay, Jyothi, Pooja, Prajna & I have confirmed). We will manure the trees on the left and also plant a few saplings that were brought over today.

Have attached a few pics from today :). Sorry Jeanne & Jyothi, these were taken when you guys were not around :)


- Vivek

PNLIT on Treetle

There is now a new website called Treetle, that makes it easy for everyone to pursue all of their interests and passions along with other people around them who are interested in the same things. 

Treetle has an NGO module to help organizations like ours easily coordinate events, post pictures and receive donations (will be rolled out in a couple of weeks), among other things. We have already started the PNLIT club on Treetle and request all of you to join it. Treetle is also promoting PNLIT by advertising our PNLIT club on facebook - you may have already seen it there!

Treetle has many other interesting clubs already being formed around specific interests and activities such as for theatre, photography, motorcyclying, biking, and other NGOs.  So, you can use this for any and all of your interests.

It is completely free to use as well!

Do let Treetle Founder Pankaj pdugar@treetle.com know if you have any questions at all.

Students help in trench work for electrical connection!

Today BESCOM linesmen were at the lake to give a light connection from the road to the gazebo, and they needed a trench to be dug to lay the underground cable.

In the absence of labour on a Sunday, a group of students who happened to come to the gazebo to meet a friend helped dig. They knew about PNLIT and had heard Arathi and Usha at BMSCE Utsav. :-) Vidula pitched in too!

The boys put in good work and dug a trench half foot in depth. This is still only half way and our gardeners will complete the job. The students said that they live in the area and visit the lake almost everyday, so they've been invited to volunteer for PNLIT.

The trench marker photo below marks the place where the cable is laid.

Text and photos: Usha Rajagopalan