On Sunday the 23rd October I was fortunate to be invited for a Whispering Wilderness Programme conducted by the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC) Bannerghatta, on the Urban Lakes and Birdlife of Bangalore. What a great feeling to be among fellow enthusiasts cause being an environmental journalist one tends to feel isolated as 'normal' people do not feel as keenly as we do for the environment.
Over the years I have collaborated with Dr Subbu an ornithologist and scientist from IISC, Bangalore and was delighted to finally put a face to the man. Stories on everything from the dwindling Vulture population to Birding from Balconies and Bird baths in our mini gardens, I have collaborated on a plethora of stories with Dr Subbu.
He just opened his arms and hugged me when we met! It felt so good, cause he is one of the many environment voices that I use for my stories!
The whole day was spent visiting different lakes in the city. The first was Kasavanahalli lake which is fairly pristine accor to Subbu. Then we nearly died seeing Bellandur and Hebbal which are just cess pools of sewage and a so called joggers path-- see pic along Hebbal lake was under construction. Amazing how bold our municipality is to shamelessly go on with their filthy practices with no one to call their bluff.
Bellandur and its polluted froth. It was a shocker. As kids we played in the Raja Kalve and now its just pure sewage.I was depressed after that, totally depressed and there was a tired silence in the bus as all of us were horrified with what we had seen.
The Puttenahalli lake on Doddaballapur road is heading the same way as at night the huge buildings around let out their sewage which we saw pouring into the lake -- untreated please.
Do they not realise that they are polluting the ground water table? All that filth is seeping inexorably down and that is why we are all dying of all sorts of diseases.
There were many youngsters in our group. IT professionals both men and women who had given up a very sacred Sunday to come and listen to Subbu tell us whats happening to our lakes. I try by writing, but finally it is us who buy those expensive apartments who must lay down the law with the builder. Insist that he is careful with fixing proper sewage connections. Otherwise let me tell you dear reader -- it is YOU who live around and who tap the ground water who will die painfully and slowly with all sorts of diseases which our uneducated forefathers were smart enough to understand and who protected the lakes.
