The Lost Lakes of Bangalore
"The Lost Lakes of Bangalore" is a project to document Bengaluru’s many tanks and lakes which have vanished with unplanned urbanization and growth. As part of this project India Water Portal is organizing a contest to document this aspect of Bengaluru's history.
Background:
According to the Wikipedia article, in the 1960s the number of tanks and lakes was 280 and less than 80 remained by 1993 and 67 are now remaining. Various factors have lead to this: several of these lakes have been officially developed by the government into layouts etc. and several have been encroachment by commercial entities and private parties. Many people may not be aware that Majestic Bus Station and Kanteerava Stadium were once tanks! Land use changes have resulted in reduced inflows to lakes that have made the above possible. BTW – we use the words lake and tank interchangeably, tanks are man-made structures while lakes are natural structures. Most of Bengaluru’s waterbodies are tanks rather than lakes.
About the contest:
The contest is to create a short film (upto 10 minutes) that documents any particular lost lake of Bengaluru. The documentation can take the form of interviews with people, photo and video clipping of the state of the lake now coupled with any footage of the past state of the lake. The film could investigate the story of how the lake came to be originally and how the people around related to it, the circumstances that resulted in the lake vanishing and the current state of the lake. You could pick any ‘lost lake’ in the city or you could also document an existing lake that is on the verge of extinction. A typical process of shooting the film might be some investigation to find out which parts of the city used to be a lake or tank earlier. This could be through library or online research or talking to people who have lived in the city for a couple of decades or more and therefore have seen the changes occurring. Through this you could identify an interesting lake story worth documenting. Further discussion with people living in the area could yield insights into the story of the lake. You could then shoot the existing condition of the lake and see if you can get photos or video of the lake as it used to be. The above are just suggestions for those having ‘starting trouble’ , you are encouraged to approach the topic in your own way. The films must be made in either English or Kannada. If more than one language is used, subtitles should be provided so that the entire film can be understood in either one of the above languages. Films in English and Kannada will be judged together, there are no separate language categories. Please note: The films are meant for upload to YouTube and hence a good digital camera with the facility to shoot movies would be of sufficient quality to make the film. The films will all be uploaded onto YouTube as a permanent resource for people interested in Bengaluru’s lakes. The contest is divided into two categories: Students and General.
Student Category: Is applicable to all full time students of schools or bachelor degree or similar courses. Participants can work in teams of up to 5 students. Any number of teams can enter from a school or college. The contest is open to students from educational institutions in the Bengaluru area. The organizers can provide some assistance in the form of training with video shooting or editing to teams that are enthusiastic but do not have the knowledge or facilities.
General Category: Anyone can participate in this contest in the General category. You can work in teams of upto 5 people.
Prizes: The entries will be judged based on :
- How the film manages to explore the authentic history of the lost lake in an interesting way that captures the interest of the viewer. While 10 minutes is the maximum time limit, contestants are encouraged to keep the film shorter in order to keep the interest of a viewer on the internet; which is where the films will be uploaded.
- The technical and aesthetic quality of the film
- The film should comply with the format guidelines specified below else may be disqualified.
The winning team in the Student category will get a prize of Rs. 15,000/-. All entries that are found to meet a minimum quality level will be awarded a prize of Rs 1,000/- and a certificate of participation.
The winning team in the General category will get a prize of Rs 15,000/- .
The decision of the organizers regarding prize winning entries is final.
Deadline for submission: Register to participate latest by March 7th March 15th by sending an email to portal@arghyam.org with the names and email addresses of your team members (and name of educational institution(s) in Student category).
We strongly encourage you to register early ; this will help us a lot, and it will also enable you to receive any updates or other information about the contest
The contest entries must be submitted by March 15th For General Category: The contest entries must be submitted by March 30th. For Student Category: The contest entries must be submitted by April 30th
Submit your entry as a CD with the movie in a standard file format, sent to
India Water Portal Lost Lakes Contest
599 12th Main Road,
HAL 2nd Stage Indiranagar
Bengaluru 560008
Phone: 080-41698941/42
Guidelines for creating movies:
In order to facilitate uploading the movie to the web, the following should be observed: Use a standard format (like .wmv , .avi, mpg, flv, mp4) that can be uploaded on the web. You can upload a test sample to YouTube to make sure, or call us for clarification. Video should primarily be in one language (English/Kannada) and subtitles in that language should be there if people are talking in some other language. For any person you interview in the movie, the name of the person should be given either in speaking or as a subtitle as a minimum identification. The video should focus on one lake primarily. Please follow the below format for the beginning and the end of the movie: 1.) First shot of the movie should say “Lost Lakes of Bangalore” 2.) Second shot should be the title of the film 3.) Third shot should mention your educational institution and the names of the members of the team (for Student category), or your name (in the case of the General category). 4.) At the end of the film a screen should give the appropriate credits for the film 5.) Then there should be a screen saying “The Lost Lakes of Bangalore” is a project by India Water Portal to save memories of Bangalore’s lake history. 6.) The last screen should say " Visit: http://indiawaterportal.org http://www.youtube.com/indiawaterportal " For Clarifications: Email: portal@arghyam.org Ph: 080 41698941/42 or call Arun: 98808 91675
Some references that will be useful:
- The Lakshman Rau Committee was set up in 1985 to make recommendations to the government on managing Bengaluru's lakes. The report discusses the major lakes and the causes for their deterioration and disappearance, and gives an understanding of the major factors involved with the lakes. The report contains a full list of lakes that had disappeared by then, and also those that were still around. Click here
- A 1924 map of Bengaluru showing the major water bodies, and maps of the tank cascasdes of Bengaluru.
- A listing of the lakes of Bengaluru and BBMP area compiled from various sources
- BBMP website gives information including locations of current lakes including some that are on the verge of extinction
- Some videos on Bengaluru’s lakes
- A page that shows how lakes in Bengaluru exist as networks, with one lake flowing into another. It would be very easy to disrupt the network with unplanned urbanization. http://parisaramahiti.kar.nic.in/lakeseries.html
