BENGALURU: What does a group of tweens and early teenagers talk about? Exams, assignments, the latest in pop culture… But with Yathaarth Murthy, Mishti Kewalramani, Maitrii Patel, Ira Bhruguwar and Annika Saha, the conversation goes beyond these topics — from global environmental crises to the India visits of foreign dignitaries.
So it comes as no surprise that four out of these five students headed to the United Nations headquarters in New York in January 2020, for a presentation on their lake revival project in Bengaluru.
Carried out under the banner of The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), the initiative was part of an optional project offered by their school, Vidyashilp Academy. Since the former is a global nonprofit organisation that works to strengthen the UN goals for sustainable development, the students had to ensure the impact of their project would last a decade.
“We thought of many projects — volunteering at an animal shelter, etc, but a lake revival project made most sense since we are the city of lakes after all,” explains Kewalramani, 14, the oldest in the team.
Mentored by Anand Malligavad, who has previously revived other lakes in the city, the team decided on Manae lake in Kanakpura, which provides water to surrounding villages. The work, which began on December 5, had the students visit the lake 5-6 times, sometimes spending six hours a day understanding the process of revival. “We started with defining the corners of the lake, to see where it begins and ends,” says Saha.
Having completed phase 1 (desilting and bunding) and phase 2 (cleaning of the lake’s inlets), the team is now focused on phase 3 of the project. “We will identify the plants for the Miyawaki forest,” adds Bhruguwar.
The students found hacks for almost every challenge they faced, the biggest being funds. A total of 10 lakh was required, for hiring two earthmovers, diesel and salaries for laborers and project supervisor.
“During their projects, our seniors had only managed to raise 93,000, so this was the scariest part,” says Patel, adding that crowdfunding felt like the best option they had. Each member set up their own page on a crowd-funding platform to collect`Rs. 2 lakh each, Their biggest takeaway?
Says Kewalramani, “Climate change is a hot topic of discussion now so we made sure to remind people that these funds would go a long way in saving their city from going to ruins.”
They now plan to keep visiting the lake for three years in order to sustain their efforts. “It’s no longer just any water body. After watching it undergo so many changes, it now feels like ‘our lake’,” says Patel.
The highlight of their trip was meeting with the then Ambassador of India to UN, Mr Syed Akbaruddin, who spent quality time with these students, where they presented the project to him. Showing his encouragement, Mr Akbaruddin, tweeted about their visit and wishes them the best.
Though the opportunity is a dream come true moment, this was not Murthy’s first visit to the UN.
The 14-year-old has previously visited the international body’s headquarters in 2018, when he was asked to perform for visitors from the world over, thanks to his ability to sing 260 national anthems.
The journey began in 2014, with Murthy learning the anthems of India, Japan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and soon expanded to include many more regions, including Kiribati, Palau, Eritrea and Abkhazia.
“The toughest, however, was learning the Chinese anthem,” he says, adding that even the 26-minute Argentinian composition was nothing in comparison. “I now plan to learn the state anthems of USA, so that my total count goes up to 300.”
