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Last weekend, I had gone to Mysore, my hometown. One of the lakes of Mysore, the Karanji lake, has been given fresh lease of life by stopping the building activities around it , and the effluents flowing into it. Now the birds have started coming to the lake. The lone pelican is sailing majestically in the water, looking for fish.
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On the way to Mysore, we passed Channapatna, with its lake 'brimming with blood-red water lilies', as it is described in innumerable folk songs. But I could see only white lilies, and I remember seeing red lilies in the lake a few years ago. I think the town municipality which 'improved' the lake, threw out all the blood-red native lilies, and planted the imported white ones.