BLR Echoes: Reviving Bengaluru's Lakes | ft. Zenrainman
As September comes to a close, deep dive with us into Bengaluru's lakes, collaborative lake rejuvenation, and the city's seemingly never ending water woes.
UnboxingBLR helps people understand and experience Bengaluru in newer and deeper ways.
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BLR Echoes - our newsletter, curates a monthly package on Bengaluru events, interesting tidbits, and the many amazing things that UnboxingBLR is up to - all yours to unbox and discover!
This month, we’re excited to bring you a series exclusively under BLR Echoes - Agents of Change, with a very exciting first guest;Vishwanath S, popularly known by his moniker - Zenrainman. Monsoon may be over, but our water woes seem to be never ending. Stay tuned until the end for an exclusive excerpt from our conversation with Bengaluru’s most famed water expert.
The Month in Minutes: A Recap of the last 30 Days at UBLR
Hubba in Your Park (HYP)
September marks the completion of the 12th edition of ‘Hubba in Your Park’ in Bengaluru! Anchored by UnboxingBLR, and presented by Westside, ‘Hubba in Your Park’ (HYP) is a run up to BLR Hubba, a city wide festival anchored by UnboxingBLR which takes place between Dec 1 - 15🎪
This month, we added two exciting activities under the HYP umbrella. Keep reading to see how they were received by our audience at Bugle Rock Park (Basavangudi), Inner Circle Park (Whitefield) and Subhash Chandra Bose Park (Vijaynagar)
Whether it's getting to know the flora and fauna native to your neighbourhood park via Nature Walks, packing in some cardio alongside a Zumba instructor, or enjoying Karnataka’s most famed musicians in action, parks and public spaces spring to life with every Hubba in Your Park.
In Akkamahadevi Park, we piloted a collaborative art activity under HYP this month - Collage Art. Inspired by the lush greenery that is typical of South Bengaluru, collage making got the creative juices flowing, and kept the excitement at an all time high.
In Bugle Rock Park and Subhash Chandra Bose Park, we had adults and children, both, join us for a Yakshagana workshop, facilitated by Tvarita Arts Collective. Yakshagana is a traditional dance form that is popular in parts of coastal Karnataka, employing a unique blend of mime, dance and improv. A beginner friendly workshop, the Yakshagana activity was packed with energy and was a beautiful hands-on experience that explored the city’s cultural legacy, and also served as a fun icebreaker for many residents.
Head on over to our socials to see highlights from the workshop, and don’t forget to RSVP for the next edition of HYP happening very soon.
Wondering how to get HYP to your friendly neighbourhood park? Reach out to us on our socials with the park location, and we’ll take it from there :)
What’s up and coming at UnboxingBLR?
From Code to Culture is all yours on 1st October!
Hosts Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash are gearing up to take you on an all expenses paid tour through the Silicon Valley of the East in From Code to Culture!
Tap on the link below to see what we’re upto on our socials, and stay tuned for our season trailer, dropping soon 👀
Bengaluru Rising - UnboxingBLR’s Annual Data Report
Bengaluru is changing rapidly, but how fast paced is its growth across sectors? How does the Silicon Valley of the East compare to Indian metropolitan cities in terms of wealth creation, employment and economic growth?
With extensive data collected from multiple sources - government, regulatory, digital and satellite, UnboxingBLR is delighted to bring you yet another exciting city based project as the year comes to a close. An annual data report, Bengaluru Rising offers a fact-based, rounded understanding of the city’s growth, its challenges, and how it stacks up vis-a-vis other top Indian cities and global tech hubs.
Stay tuned on our socials to see when it goes live!
Agents of Change | ft. S. Vishwanath
Welcome to Agents of Change - a series brought to you exclusively under BLR Echoes; UnboxingBLR’s monthly newsletter. This series features candid conversation with the city’s change makers, and deep dives into the stories behind the people and projects that inspire citizens to take action.
Our first conversation was with Vishwanath S, popularly known as Zenrainman, or the Rain Man of Bengaluru. Famous for his deep knowledge of the city’s weather patterns and monsoons, Vishwanath has been an integral part of projects and policies in the water and sanitation sector in the city. In this interview, he gets candid about lakes in Bengaluru, the city’s water ‘crisis’ and how citizens can take steps to be more water literate.
Read an excerpt from the interview here -
Bengaluru is a very special city because of the number of citizens and people who come together to address a problem and also solution for things. For lake rejuvenation, citizens, parastatal agencies and governments work together to bring the lake back to life. However, people from across backgrounds and world views have different ideas for what a lake’s purpose should be. How do these issues get resolved? Who has the last word in deciding a lake’s purpose?
Vishwanath: In the case of Jakkur Lake, for example, the issue got resolved with a series of discussions on the key ideas that were contestable. On this, there were several stakeholders who had come together - from citizen groups to Annapoorna Kamath from Jalaposhan.
In some lakes in Bengaluru, fishermen aren’t allowed, but for us in Jakkur, fishermen were an important part of the livelihood component of the lake. We had conversations with them to say, How will you carry out your operations? Will birds still be protected?
In some lakes, the fear was that if the fish were gone, the birds would be harmed. After a conversation or two, you realise that the fisherman’s worldview accommodates both his wishes and doesn’t harm birds either.
Parts of the lake were kept as what we call a conservation zone where no activity would take place. That too, conflicted with stakeholder perspectives which stated that the area instead should be cleaned, landscaped, and there should be no snakes, right? A compromise was reached when we said that some part of Jakkur lake would be landscaped, and the other would cater to conservation.
The final example I can think of is about the wetland, and the plants there are incredible fodder for cattle. We had bird watchers who said that if people come and cut the grass, birds would get disturbed during the nesting and roosting season.
Having a dialogue with different people to reach a negotiation that is favourable is key to such a project. And these were informal dialogues, but they helped immensely.
Ideally in my worldview, the lake’s purpose should be livelihood based; it should be pro poor and those who depend on the lake for their livelihoods should have first priority. Those who depend on the lake for recreational or aesthetic purposes should have second priority.
A lake’s design should recognise these issues. That’s what ‘Friends of Lakes’ aimed to do. But the BBMP doesn't see things this way.
There’s more to read! Tap here…
Liked this edition? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and we’ll see you next month 🫶🏼
Warmly,
Team UnboxingBLR