It's 5 a.m. and I'm driving down the ECR. I have 140-odd km to cover; my interviewees won't wait much beyond daybreak. They don't know I'm chasing them, and they don't care. At sun-up they'll flap their wings and fly away. I'm visiting the Ousteri lake bird sanctuary and feel like I'm on a mega adventure.
It helps the sky is overcast as we take the by-pass at Pondicherry and stop at a hotel for a quick bite. Ramalingam (teacher-educator/activist/blogger) and bird-photographer Ilangovan walk in and hurry us out to Vazhudavur Road. Sivaganapathy, Surender and Siva Parthiban, all enthusiastic birders/educators join us with their hi-tech cameras. At the boathouse, we step down to the lake — and I'm stunned into silence by the beauty around. We take a boat, go crazy clicking a mind-boggling variety of birds and return for a sobering conversation. Ousteri has something for everyone.
For history buffs: The expanse of water has been around for 500 years, fed by the Sathukeny channel. Seven sluices let off water for agriculture. Historians believe Raja Raja Cholan carved the “Ozhukarai eri”. Two irrigation canals branched off from the lake — Gangaikonda Chola vaaikaal, built during the king's time and Surapunnai-oorukal vaaikaal that had Surapunnai trees on either bank (a plaque at Thiruvakkarai temple says so). In the12th Century, the Cholas lost power to the Pandyas, and the agriculture-friendly Vikrama Pandiyan appointed officers, levied taxes and maintained the lake. In Sambuvarayar's time, it became Pariyan eri, and the Senchi Nayakars desilted/deepened it and called it Ousudu – from puha-soodu (grows foodgrains). It was also known as Oor-suthu (lake that surrounds a village). Senior citizens say the “Oositeri” gets its name from a legend that a sage stood on a needle to do penance. Locals add that devadasi Ayi dug a pond during a drought (Ayikulam) and her sister Oosi developed the “Osseri”. The history of the Karnataka kings (Karnataka Rajakkal Sarithiram) informs us that the Nawab's army bivouacked on the lake.
Love geography? The lake's northern part laps Tamil Nadu, and its southern/eastern parts touch Pondy. It has a circumference of 15.68 km, of which 2.5 km is a Pondy-side road. Here, a strong chain-link fence discourages poaching and stops plastic litter from flying into the lake. Three islands dot the water – the birds love these and the reeds on the shore! Near the boathouse, an expanse is abloom with lotuses. A small temple above gives credence to the argument that the lake was once a temple-pond. Its waters get recharged by the run-off from Vidur/Mettur dams and Auroville nearby keeps the groundwater intact.
For birders, the Salim Ali Bird Centre lists 164 species of winged natives, 29 species of visitors, 63 varieties of butterfly, 23 types of fish, many dragon-flies and insects. The common coot is known to lay 600 eggs in season. My untrained eyes detect flocks of flamingos, pelicans, cormorants, terns, spoonbills, painted stork, Indian spot-billed ducks, brahminy kites and great egrets churning the waters. And we snapped downy kite chicks playing on the mud-flats!
Activists, this is for you: Since 1989, Pondy's Environment Education Cell and Animal Husbandry Departments have been educating students/teachers/others about the lake, and training volunteers to conserve the lake and protect the birds, says Ramalingam. At the end of the century, the lake was handed over to the forest department. Forest officers G. Kumar and others took steps to declare Ousteri a protected area. The Asian Wetland Bureau and UNDP have listed it as an important wetland. Ramalingam has appealed on Facebook that both states should declare it a bird sanctuary. In 2008, Pondy did this, and in April 2014, the Tamil Nadu Government declared Ousteri its (fifteenth) bird/wildlife sanctuary. The first formal rumblings on poaching/fishing/illegal construction/pesticides were heard in 2006. In March, Rajesh Nair ( The Hindu ) alerted readers of the absence of public hearing and follow-up, clearances and EIA for a medical college being constructed on the shore. In 2008, a fishing-rights auction tender by Ousudu Neerathara Kootamaippu was published and awareness campaigns followed. In 2011, complaints about fish/fowl from the lake being sold openly were raised in the Pondy assembly. Ramalingam wrote about resorts coming up on the northern end. Save the eco-system, he appealed.
Well, poaching has come down since Tamil Nadu's declaration, say activists. Spotting a tilapia, marine biologist Dr. Babu said, “The robust fish and the lotuses tell us the waters are healthy. We must ensure garbage never reaches the lake.”
We offer our suggestions to G Kumar, IFS, Chief Wildlife Warden. Stop the resorts, create a buffer zone all around for people to walk, plant trees on the central mounds to attract birds, lobby for fencing on the Tamil Nadu side, construct watch towers, make the area a “litter-free zone”, and go for noise-free/pollution-free row-boats, we say. He nods. “I'm putting up educative boards now, and will install spot-finders for bird-watching.”
