“People of cities cannot know the importance of
forests; to know this, one must first have sweet memories spent in the
forests!”...
Contemporary Turkish
playwright, novelist and thinker Mehmet Murat ildan was born in Elazig on May
16, 1965 in the Eastern part of Turkey. And he amaze me with his philosophy
always especially the way he relates humans & nature which usually on
opposite side of coin of the battlefield. May be he is from Turkestan which is
a dessert i.e. part of middle east & that’s why he understands or knows the
importance of nature adhering the phrase about a Pyasa Musafir (Thirsty traveller)
& the Oasis in deserts! As its in
desert only one will know how important nature in the form of water & tress
is to survive for a human. And no wonder elsewhere in the world (read as our
country) which has (or had) ample of fresh water & tress in the form of
rivers, springs, lakes & forests, grass lands but we never bothered about
their existence leave apart the importance. And the outcome is today our
monsoons are erratic, all over our progressive State, even little rains cause
flooding in the so called Smart Cities, the trees fall down with mild winds
which used to stood to the storms also, our streams/springs have become nallhas
or nagzaris. Our lakes stinks, our once green clad hills are now slum centres,
putting the slum resident’s as well neighbouring locality’s lives in danger not
just for epidemic spread but for landslides & fire type disaster threats.
Our rivers, well lesser we say about their condition is better & we are
losing our forests in all forms, trees, creepers, grass lands or even shrubs or
undergrowth (haa, what I am saying, undergrowth, anyways) are reducing faster
than the hair from a balding man’s head. It’s not joke but the scene or say result of
our career which we call success race is not just men & women are losing
their hair cover from the head but entire city is losing the green cover from
every available patch it had.
And just the way no doctor or hair therapist can grow you hair again once lost,
nobody can’t create a jungle or forest cover once lost is a fact! You can
transplant the hair on you head & it’s a costly affair same way to
transplant one single tree itself is a painful & costly & not assured
job & here we are talking about transplanting forests! And then surface
area of your head is limited but when its green cover, while we are referring
to thousands of square kilometres of areas for replanting the forests!
And it’s not just green cover
what about thousands of species which has made these green patches as their
home for millions of years , how we are going to get them back again; high time
guys to ask ourselves about development & the way we define it! The reason
for this anguish or frustration is news which is twitted (retwitted) about
making Aarey Land in Mumbai as reserved forest by the Mai Bapp Govt! Some
solace, just the way a balding man will feel looking at few hair patches in the
mirror in morning when he wakes up! Well for those who are innocent (or ignorant)
Aarey is a milk product industry in the western suburbs of Aamchi Mumbai (govt
owned industry I presume) & is spread on some hundreds of acres of land
which is adjoining to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the only National Park right
in the heart of Metro like Mumbai & is habitat of some sixty plus leopards
as well many other species. And needless to say Aarey land is also thickly
wooded & is natural habitat with flora & fauna which has been preserved
in its natural form for many years, fortunately, till now! Now the smart ones must
have understand where my sharing is going & you need not have to be smart
for that as nature & human conflict is the next sci-fi movies theme but unfortunately
nature doesn’t have any James Bond or Superman or Avengers to protect it from
the enemy named human & which are growing in crores with every year!
Yet all is not lost for the
nature & joke of this war is we the humans are dumb to such extent that
winning this war with the nature will be our biggest ever defeat is we haven’t
yet understood! There may not be a James Bond or Superman
fighting the war from nature’s side but sure there are many (though very less
in compare to opponent’s army) Avengers who are fighting with nail & tooth
(read as pen & camera) this war for the nature. One such name is Bittu Sehegal,
founder of Sanctuary magazine, which for years has been voice of forests &
nature. The magazine as well its FB
group which has nearly one hundred thousand above members, continuously keeps
taking up issues which are threat to nature (wild life) in any form & needless
to say it’s mostly some development front only under the name of need or
comfort of us the humans. Sometimes its widening of a railway track passing
through Melghat forest or sometimes it’s a national highway at Pench forest or
sometimes its CRZ (sea shore restrictions) violation making coastal
biodiversity in danger or any activity which will demolish some green patch in
our State or country, Sanctuary always raise its voice about such issues &
makes common man aware about it. This is main problem, as most common men
thinks what they has to do with this war of humans & nature & keeps
themselves conveniently away from it thus in a away becoming alley against
nature only!
Well, there are other groups
also along with Sanctuary but about them sometime later, right now it’s a
welcome step by State Govt (if it’s true) that Aarey land has been declared as
reserved forest so the green patch has hopes for some time for now. And some
time back the very same land of Aarey which belongs to govt was proposed to use
for some development work of Metro of Mumbai, as that was convenient &
would have saved cost of the project by millions of rupees is what experts
said! Indeed it would have saved millions of rupees & of the people but
what about we will be destructing forest & habitat which was there from
million years, is something we need to ask, along with savings! I repeat I am
not or never was & will, stand against any development as I myself an
engineer that too civil! But it’s high time to rewrite our definition of
development which mostly ends up neither giving comfort to the humans nor is
able to protect nature, rather ends up in adding more discomfort to humans by
destructing nature in the process of development, we call it!
If you don’t believe me, well here are few
examples, Bandra (again a Mumbai suburb) reclaimanation or any sea reclamation,
hasn’t it worsened the flood situations in entire Mumbai? Then our so called Development
Plans of the cities, they never are able to accommodate the ever increasing
population flowing towards Mumbai (or any city) & result is ever vacant
piece of land which was mostly in the form of some reservation or greenery i.e.
hills, grass lands, water bodies even mangroves near costal areas are surrendered
to the slums or illegal human settlements which are centre for epidemic spread
& are actually hell to live for any human being & we destroyed the
nature also which was exiting in those places! Ok, not satisfied, then take a
look at Smart City Pune, if you have guts then try walking along banks of
Mula-Mutha (these are names of the rivers in Pune) for just a stretch of 1 km
& tell me how you feel! Take a look at Paravti Hills & tell me what you
see from Singhagad road side ! We couldn’t protect our rivers, our lakes, our hills,
our forests & we call it as development, you still think I am an extremist!
No sir, all the developments would have possible & are possible without
destroying nature but one needs will & wish for it then only vision follows
& ideas flow in the right direction, is what I am trying to put forward!
Today a small step could save a
small patch named Aarey forest or land (I still hope) & in end it will be a
biggest ever steps in nature conservation. As every day some green patch is
getting destroyed forever, along with its original residents which are
leopards, hare, butterflies, ants, sparrows, mongoose & many such &
once they are gone we don’t ever try to get them back or relocate them as they
cant demand their rights nor file a law suit against us. But do mind if
you believe in nature then there is something like god also, in the form of an unseen
power & he or she whatever we call it, has his own way of listening &
serving the justice; just don’t forget it, is all I will like to tell to entire
human army which is in war with nature & is happy with their present victories
in it!
--
Sanjay
Deshpande
Sanjeevani
Dev.
Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..
Please do visit my
blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way(Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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www.punecorporation.org
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Hon PM at link below..
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