Visit L Street in Koramangala and be awed

Two scaly-breasted munias pin you down with a unyielding stare. Across the road, a mouse pauses halfway up the pillar of a gate. Up ahead, familiar strangers in uniform and others who serve our community show up.For half a kilometre, the walls along a L-shaped street in Koramangala’s 3rd Block, beckon visitors with a bid to familiarise them with the flora, fauna, avifauna and people of the area.This artistic oeuvre is courtesy the efforts of the Friends of L Street, an initiative comprising residents of three gated communities — Raheja Residency, Prestige Oakwood and Embassy Tranquil — and independent homes in the area.It all began in 2012, when more than 70 strangers from these two streets (which join at an angle), came together to clean up the garbage dumps dotting the area, including one where the two streets intersected.Post the clean-up, strangers became friends and the secluded corner has since been christened ‘L Corner’. These friendships have led to organic collaborations to improve these two streets. Ashish Patel and Febin Sagir, two residents and naturalist-guides of KoraWalks, began the ‘L Street Walk’ for those keen on learning about the efforts that transformed this area. Art works of municipal workers, delivery partner, security guard, domestic worker, parent and child and vendor are brought alive on the walls of apartments. At a recent walk, they shared how as many as 120 trees (both exotic and native) have been documented in the area; many lean out from the compound walls of the three apartment buildings. Specimens of pongamia pinnata, copper pod, variants from the ficus family and other trees, line the street, while their feathered residents such as the white-cheeked barbet, red-whiskered bulbul and purple-rumped sunbird greet passersby.The trees have boards bearing a short description and a QR code offering additional information; there is enough to observe, enjoy and learn at your own pace here, even without the help of a guide. Old, rusty utility boxes on the street have been painted with nature inspired themes The mural representation of everything that defines Koramangala, from food, traffic, institutions, greenery to innovation. Spot at least 60 elements in this. One section of the walls celebrates unsung heroes — those who keep the wheels of the neighborhood running smoothly such as the domestic help, security guards, delivery agents and sanitation workers.The depiction of an iron vendor’s cart is a reminder that the street is a shared space, while an image of Zafar Futehally, pays homage to the conservationist and co-founder of WWF-India who stayed at Oakwood Apartment between 1990 and 2013.Better togetherAt L Corner, the trunk of an old tree from the street has been transformed into a bench. Resident artists Ritu Rai and Carol Pinto bring colour to this space, while the mural is the collective work of artists in the community. Uday Prabhu initiated setting up a small, free library and the garden is maintained by nonagenarian Padma Karunakaran. The cleanliness of the streets is overseen by Christina S. Joseph and Chinnamma; most of the wood work is the result of Ashok Radhakrishna’s efforts.Christina, a resident of Koramangala for over two decades, recalls sweeping the streets with her son and a few residents during the early years. “When residents started seeing us they too, wanted to chip in. Children, in particular, would bring in their friends, and for quite some time we sustained the drive, cleaning the street every weekend,” says Christina.Besides giving this busy neighbourhood colour and life, the initiative encourages other residents to adopt similar initiatives in their neck of the woods.Uday Prabhu, for instance, has already got requests from other neighbourhoods in the city to help set up a free library. “The library works based on trust and interest and if there is a community willing to take care of it, I am happy to set it up,” says Uday, who calls himself the “chief librarian”.To engage children and passersby to pick up a book, he plans to conduct book reading events, treasure hunts, book exchange meetups and writing competitions. Currently, “L Street Story Book” (kept inside the little library) encourages people to continue the story written by different people.Question of maintenanceThe community had two options: first, rely on the system as they pay taxes; second, take up the maintenance of street on their own.“We pay for maintaining the aesthetics within our apartment, so why can’t we also do that for the common areas? We crowdsource the money from several residents and utilise it to pay salaries and supervise staff to sweep the street, water the plants and maintain the pots and tree beds,” says Ashish. A short description along with QR code offers additional information of the flora and avifauna. They also work closely with the Greater Bengaluru Authority and take their help as without them nothing is possible. “This has been going on for at least a decade now. The way we see it, we should do anything we can to help our neighborhood and the city,” says Ashish. The library at the L Corner makes the street complete. One can either choose to sit on the bench and read a book or take it home. The L Corner was conceptualised by residents. A fallen trunk of a tree from the street has been transformed into a bench and old coconut tree stumps turned into plant holders. The art works (@param.art), the illustrator-cum-designer behind the name boards (Smita Kaushik of studiomintleaf.in) and muralist (Sanjay Lavakare @artorialsense) who do not reside in the area, but contributed to its beautification would be happy to help brighten other neighbourhoods too. So go ahead and invite them.Details of the next L Street Walk on @friendsoflstreetblr and @korawalks