Meera, Sreeja and Sowjanya.
Whose lake is it anyway?-1
Birth of the Hebbal 'lake'- Physical and Social
Bangalore has two unique topological terrains — North Bangalore andthe South Bangalore. North Bangalore is a relatively more levelplateau and lies between an average of 839 to 962 meters above sealevel. The middle of the taluk has a prominent ridge running NNE-SSW.There are gentle slopes and valleys on either side of this ridge. TheHebbal Lake situated in this low-lying area of the valley was oncepart of this large wetland landscape. It was made into a deeper lakeand part of a chain of interconnected tanks through impoundment tomeet the town's water requirements in the 16th century by Kempe GowdaI. As the city grew big the drinking water for the city could not besourced from these lakes alone and the lakes were reduced to an inletfor sewage, storm water drains and cattle bathing places. Meanwhilethe physical boundaries of the city have been expanding taking Hebbalinto its folds: the suburban became the urban; the village that was'Hebbal' on the road to Hyderabad became a town enroute the newinternational airport. The lake caught in this urban influx founditself subsumed as a part of an urban park making a transition intovisual and recreational space. With the physical transformation of thelake from a wetland marsh into a drinking water reservoir on to beinga component of a public park, the social meanings of the lakeconstructed by different people and its waters has also been changing.
The features of the lake which indicate its healthor integrity have also changed according to the anthropocentric viewof the lake. When it was being used as a drinking water reservoirpotable water quality parameters were its markers. In its new avatarthe discourse of lake restoration highlights visual parameters ofvastness and blueness. Silt and water plants disturb this aestheticnotion and the idea of a lake drying up as a part of its natural cycledoes not fit this new portfolio.
'Artifact' of natureRolston (2004) claims that human beings are naturally political andbuild themselves a polis in which they can socialize. According to himthe architectures of nature and culture are different, and culturealways seeks to improve nature, yet the management intent spoils thewilderness. Culture processes by their very 'nature' interruptevolution. Fear is the general response of the urban dweller to thewild. Communities would be happier with plastic plants and trees.Despite this, human beings have dimensions within themselves whichrelate to the wild and the rural. Parks and gardens package thiswilderness and nature for the urban dweller. A tamed nature is thedesirable halfway artifact that brings the wild into the safety of atotally built space. "Still, our homes are cultural places in theirconstruction, but there is always a natural foundation, a sense ofbelongings to the landscape. For all those boundaries that we defendagainst the external world, our virtues are not confined to those ofmaintaining our separateness. "( Rolston, 2004)
Nature is thus adopted into the urban but it is underthe terms of urban living. While nature is unpredictable, unstable andconstantly changing, the artifacts of nature are as frozen as thebuilt environment. No erosion, denudation or asymmetry is allowedunless planned for. Flower beds are laid with seasonal precision tomask the natural flowerless state of plants. New species of flora andfauna are introduced for aesthetic appeal alone. Lakes are maintainedfull even in hot summer months. This 'aesthetic' value is then addedas an amenity to market real estates. Thus land, air, water and livingforms are brought to the service of human markets.
These habitats are complexly embedded. They are notjust contrived because they contain aspects of nature. At the sametime they are not merely receptacles of nature, they are not meresubstitutes for natural landscapes. These are managed ecoscapes. It isin this management that the various politics are played out – politicsof man and nature, politics of aesthetic values and utilitarianvalues, politics of state and civil society and the politics of thepublic and private.
Whatever the nature of these ecoscapes, they areassociated with culturally shaped values. The lake and its environsare meant to embody all that the urban is not. The experience ofnature is seen as that which purifies and restores. Thus it's a spacefor activities that assume a high value such as those connected withparenting, spending time with loved ones, leisure or intellectualactivities and fun and health activities. The park is also seen as alaboratory to learn nature appreciation. Nature journalism adds tothis social construction of nature with a steady stream of exoticphotographs and articles aimed specifically at the urban middleclassIndian.
The park planners are thus merely catering to theseparticular social constructs. The question that then becomes centralis which construct is being commodified in the present management ofthe lake. This shapes both the inner architecture of the lake and theactors involved in the business of lake development. This is whyboating, food courts and amusement will get a legitimate 'public'space in the lake.
This conceptualisation of a public park as a visualand recreational space for the urban dwellers is a recent phenomenon.The best urban spaces were always imperial gardens which were reservedfor the ruling elite often out of bounds for the common urbanite.Urban planning before 20th century contained recreational spaces forthe ruling class but largely ignored the needs of ordinary citydwellers. With the acknowledgement of the importance of open andrecreational spaces in promoting public health, the public parkmovement for the common public began in Europe in the 1830's. InEurope and United States two distinct phases are identified. Earlyparks emphasized the natural landscape offering a pastoral orwilderness component to the urban environment of straight lines andrigid angles. The second phase saw sports facilities invading parkenvirons which were originally designed as quiet retreats. The mixtureof sports and landscape created a new concept of public parks andlinked recreation . Dayton (2000)
The conceptualization involved in the present restoration plan ofHebbal Lake involves a singular notion of the public. Our studyreveals that the public is manifold with different social constructsof the lake. There is also a multiplicity in the claims and discoursesof lake management. The next posting will present the field notes ofour rapid ethnographic study containing key informant interviews.
References
Drayton, Richard, "Nature's Government: Science, Imperial Britain, andthe 'Improvement' of the World", New Haven, Yale University Press,2000.
Rolston, Holmes III, "Environmental Virtue Ethics: Half the Truth butDangerous as a Whole" , 2004 from URL -
http://www.cep.unt.edu/ISEE2/rolston.pdf accessed on 03/07/07
