I had returned to India after successfully completing my second Master’s in Europe. And, it was during my European study stint, that I won a trip to the United Nations in New York, to attend a conference on Climate Change. Our Mundus class was asked to write a story on the environment and very strangely, my story won the trip.
So there I was listening to the then head of the UN in NY -- Mr Ban ki-Moon speak about the changing climate and the importance of the media using their pens, to educate the world. It was a eureka moment for me and was converted listening to him and Al Gore tell the world that we need to change our habits or were headed for disaster.
So when I returned to Bangalore and began writing for the Hindu after leaving the Deccan Herald, I decided to focus my writing on the environment only. I looked around me and picked up story ideas from my city which needed to be written about and soon, I had various organizations write to me and tip me off as well.
BBMP getting the silt trap cleaned
One such group was the PNLIT : A group committed to breathing life into the Puttenahalli lake. The lake when I was first contacted, was surreptitiously being filled up with debris and being swallowed up by land sharks, inch by inch. An Arathi Manay contacted me along with her group and asked if I would write about the lake. They were a group if residents who lived around the lake who wanted to revive it.
White breasted water hen eggs
I was working on a freelance basis with The Hindu and I knew that saving the lakes of Bangalore was the ONLY way the city could save our water table and be a great means of RWH ( Rain Water Harvesting). Slowly over time, not only was the lake revived by the group, BUT, I wrote about the first spectacular Purple Heron that had visited the lake after decades.
Click and read about the Purple Heron!
And then again I wrote about the beautiful Garganey ducks which had come from Europe to winter in the lake. The birders of the city were ecstatic and the PNLIT group were absolutely thrilled.
https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/ducking-it/article2674839.ece
Click and read about the Garganey Ducks
So today on Independence Day, the group sent me pictures of how the lake is improving with their constant checking over the last 10 years. Usha Rajagopalan, their President keeps me informed as she says I helped start the project with my articles.
I quote from her letter--
“On this occasion, we are happy to tell you that the lake has become free too - from sewage! Since the 29th of July, sewage has not been entering the lake! Exactly a year ago, in early August 2019, BWSSB had unloaded pipes to replace the existing drain. However, they were impeded by resistance from the encroachers, COVID lockdown and the monsoon setting in. Nevertheless, both BBMP (Lakes) and we, have been constantly urging BWSSB to keep working and, on 28th July, their contractor worked for a straight 24 hours or so to complete the pipeline. He, in fact, telephoned us at 5.30 a.m. to say that the sewage inflow had stopped.
Silt trap dry at last 2020
We take this opportunity to thank BWSSB and BBMP for saving our lake from sure death by pollution! Our heartfelt thanks to all of you, our dear well-wishers, for standing by us in those difficult times which began in March 2018.
BBMP has begun their work of bringing the lake back to life. To do this, they need to clean the lake bed, repair the bund and do a number of related work. We hope their progress will be fast and smooth.
On another note - Ever since the COVID, footfall at the lake has reduced. This, perhaps, has encouraged birds to build nests within reach. We've asked our gardeners to ensure that no visitor to the lake disturbs these eggs or the fledglings. “
These are the kind of happily ever after stories I like!
No comments:
Post a Comment