Articles by Seema Mundoli

The following is an excerpt from the book Shades of Blue: Connecting the drops in Indian cities, written by Harini Nagendra and Seema Mundoli, and published by Penguin Random House India. The excerpt is from the chapter: Bengaluru: Landlocked city of tanks and lakes and has been republished with permission from the authors and publisher: To know where a lake once was, Bengaluru has only to wait for the monsoon. The Kempegowda Bus Stand, the Sri Kanteerava Stadium, the hockey stadium in Akkithimmanahalli in the city and the Asian Games Village in Koramangala, all of which are sites of former…

Bas saaru and massoppu. These curries made of mixed greens are staples in homes of Bengaluru residents. But these greens are not always bought in the market. They are also gathered from sidewalks, little strips of soil beside the road, from drains, and around lakes. The act of gathering such edible plant species, from private or public spaces in the city, is called urban foraging, and it is a common practice across the globe. Honagonne soppu (Alternanthera sessilis) foraged from lake beds in Bengaluru. Pic: Seema Mundoli Experts on local wild plants In Bengaluru, it is mainly middle-aged or older…