An unknown lake that is vanishing faster (Waterbodies of Chennai - 2)

Ponmar is a village around 15 km from Tambaram, the southern suburb of Chennai. It was a quiet and remote village till the first decade of the 21st century. Thanks to expanding the city's borders, it is no longer a calm village. The village, which had hillocks, paddy fields, water bodies and ancient temples, is dotted with educational institutes and high-rise buildings today.

There is a lake in this village, which is vanishing very fast. Even many of the village's residents are unaware of this lake. Of course, the migrated population outnumbered the original villagers. The lake lies hidden behind a college and a few residential flats. There is no proper access to the lake; it only contains water during the rainy season.

I am sure this lake must have been beautiful, and many migratory birds would have regularly visited the lake a few years ago. Unfortunately, urbanization has badly impacted the lake, and has become a neglected site. A few educational institutes and real estate companies clearly encroach upon the lake. It's shrinking daily, and I am afraid it will die soon.

Happy travelling.

Note: As per a report, there were about 650+ waterbodies in the Chennai region till the 1980s. Today, only a fraction of them exist. And most of those surviving waterbodies hardly have water, and even some of them that have water have been poorly shrunk. In Chennai, there are tank roads without tanks nearby and lake view roads without any lake nearby. There is a high possibility that even the few waterbodies we have today might vanish soon. I decided to visit the currently surviving waterbodies of Chennai and its suburbs and write about them in my blog as a series.