[Urbanstudy] posting 5: Lake chronicles

[Meera (Mansi) Baindur]

Bodies engineered to perfection.
Perfection is planned, never an accident.
Every line curves in and out bounded while the,
Empty innards of the lake lie naked,
gaping at the sky.
That soon clothed in fresh lifeless waters,
People may gaze on the sky reflected
in the still sterile waters
There will be much to see,
Much more to eat than fish or Bhel.
Much more to see than water.
Now we stare at the empty innards of the lake that lie naked,
gaping at the sky.

  - Meera, the day the Hebbal lake was drained.



The final interviews with people over the last few months are bringing
our project to a close. As one of the final postings we bring you the
reactions of people as the Hebbal Lake was being dredged.
  	On our own side we were saddened to watch the water disappear and
the physical structure of the lake being modified. Familiar paths
banks and waterscapes were altered and as Sreeja aptly put it the lake
was getting an amoeba – like. Some of the gates had been replaced by
swank token gates but we were still using the side gate. Many visitors
were not aware of any other change in the park area but the vendors
outside knew.

Inside the Hebbal lake Sreeja and Sowjanya talked to the contractor
who was in charge of  "Civil works" in the Lake.


Contractor: Subramanyam, Kannadiga (interview notes)
(Wearing Gold chain, gold rings, gold bracelet)
He comes in the morning, oversees till 10, then comes back again n the
evening to oversee the diesel. An engineer from Oberoi always around
and sometimes he has to oversee requirements for the nights.
He owns a JCB (poclain), 7 tipper Lorries, 3 small trucks. He also
hired 6 JCBs, from Nellore, Gulbarga, who oversee their own work.  He
pays workers according to time wage, he has a 16 crores contract. A
part of this is for a water filter (treatment) plant for the lake. He
has spent12 lakhs for digging holes to drain the water. It took a
month of draining, 24 hours each day. A motor was specifically
installed for this purpose.
	There is a planned 50 meter walkway around the lake. He does not know
what to do with extra soil coming up from the lake bed. He has been
excavating at a depth of 3 feet. He felt that work might finish in a
month and a half if it does not rain.
	On fishing he did not think the fishing would be allowed anymore. He
estimated the whole expenditure to be around 30 crores. He pointed out
that the Oberoi hotel was coming up on the Lake bank. He said that
there were less than 50 people working and the island was being filled
with mud.
 He was of the opinion that fish pollutes the water. So since so much
is getting spent on purification of the lake he speculated that they
will definitely not allow fishes.
He estimated that since they were putting in so much money, they will
make it up like Nagwara.


Bhelwala: Tiger Khaja Building Demolisher
He used to demolish buildings earlier. This was a risky job, sometimes
buildings would collapses dangerously close, they had printed a
visiting card for him by that name.
He was also having a cloth business in Shivajinagar but sad he grew
tired of it. He said his sons manage it now. He sells bhel on the
service road near ring road entrance of the lake. He says he makes
good amount of money. Better than building demolishing, he said as his
hands still hurt from the previous times.
If the Oberoi comes will they allow him to continue to sell Bhel? We
ask. He thinks not. Since they are investing so much they won't allow
him to be there. Then he might go back to building demolition or do
something else.

Watchman: Jaya Kumar and ticket booth attender.
Working from a year, assuring that lake will have lot to see once they
develop it…..the ticket seller said charge increased to 10 from 5 as
so much investment is taking place. Automatic gates installed to zap
ticket with bar code so that the security need not check the ticket.

  A group of young boys and girls practiced martial arts on the lawns
oblivious to the violence of JCBs in front of them. We moved on to
Nagvara for a visit.