Understanding Sustainable Development!

 

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“The most sustainable way is to not make things. The second most sustainable way is to make something very useful, to solve a problem that hasn’t been solved.” – Thomas Sigsgaard

 “Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It’s about doing more good.” -Jochen Zeitz

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”— Mahatma Gandhi

 

Architect from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1995. Jochen Zeitz is a businessman best known for his work as CEO of Harley-Davidson, Inc., and chairman of LiveWire Inc. Previously Zeitz served as the chairman and CEO of Puma for a long time. And the third name needs no introduction & beauty of that person’s quote is what these two gentlemen from the so-called developed world, have said today about sustainability, Mahatma Gandhi has realized it & said nearly eight decades back years back. And not only Gandhiji has just said or shown concern about sustainability but he started living by it, unlike his western world counterparts, that’s why he is great! Unfortunate fact is, we have the legacy of thinkers like Gandhiji about the environment & nature at large yet we hardly do or have done anything about it rather we are pushing the whole sustainability concept in reverse direction! This is not my subject of sharing, sorry for going off-track (as usual) but the reason about sudden my emotional burst is a call which I received from a friend who works with Environment Ministry & he asked Sanjay, can you tell me what is “Sustainable Development’ & his second question was, what is the term “sustainable materials’’ meant?  I was super happy for two things, first getting called for such question from such a friend, shows I am still an engineer who is more known for academic than just as a builder (this is my self-derived outcome) & second, those questions triggered the thinking mechanism on positive roll which is rare thing now a days, especially in real estate!

I have asked him , how much time you have got for listening answer, as he is a busy person just the way most people in the govt are (no sarcasm, I am referring to people who really work there) & he did truthfully said not much, so in short I tried to explain him sustainable development is like blind men judging an elephant by touching it (plz google for this story) & unfortunately, I too am part of that blind men’s team though I know this much, what I have touched is not a complete elephant & I keep exploring it to understand the elephant in the right way! And I did explain to him what my views are (which is the subject of this sharing) & the second question about Sustainable materials, is like a byproduct of the first question, is also I told him. Sustainable material is, use of what is available in natural form & using it with minimum or no processing! For e.g. making a home with Janbhya Dadgad (Red Stone) in Konkan & covering the roof of it with Naralachya Jhavalya (coconut tree’s branches) & using clay flooring for this home. In all this process you still have to chisel or shape up the stone block, but that’s the minimum, so you can call such home made by sustainable material yet you can’t call it as sustainable development always! He was confused & I smiled as that’s the gugli (bowling term not the person who kept googling all the time; forgive PJ) because I explained, even to use red Stone, you have to dig up earth, an act against nature. At the same time, if the home is not in Konkan region where red-stone is found but somewhere in Central India then also its not sustainable as to carry that stone there is use of petrol or diesel, again anti-environment action. As well, if everybody starts building their respective home in red stone then soon there will be no red stone left in Konkan or anywhere which again is not good for nature, this is the catch!

Hopefully he was satisfied & we said bye, yet the questions kept lingering in my mind as how we can achieve sustainable development of which sustainable material use is just one aspect, & first I thought shrugging that thought as such thoughts, however positive they appears yet ends up with frustrations (read as more frustration) is my experience & yet I know if we don’t act & collectively then its already too late for nature at large, so I started this sharing which is only way I have in my control! First & foremost, I have some very clear (and ruthless) confession, there is nothing like Eco-friendly in this world, especially in civil engg (read as real estate) as often the term used as sustainable development is in reference of nature or say its conservation but it’s just the way a doctor gives you a capsule coated with sweet covering under which bitter medicine is there. And, the sad fact is, here under the sweetness of a name like sustainable we are hiding the bitter reality of damaging nature! As sustainable when used in terms of only nature then anything which is not produced in nature & not being used in the same way is not sustainable for nature! If you are confused then, here is a simple example; a monkey living on tree, eating fruits, drinking water from natural waterbodies or a tiger living in natural cave, eating deer in raw form (no butter chicken or mutton rogan-josh) & drinking water from river or stream, is sustainable living & anything other than this is not sustainable, at least for nature! And till the humans were living by this way of nature we can say it was sustainable living but we are so called most intelligent species & we started evolving (in our term development) by using other means to make our life comfortable or easy & here is where the balance of nature also started changing on wrong side & now nothing we do is Eco Friendly or can be called as sustainable on the front of nature, lets accept this first, is my subject of sharing!

In the famous movie Jungle Book (Disney who else), written by Rudyard Kipling which is a story about humans & animals, interestingly on the background of Central India’s forest, where human boy Mowgli getting trained by Ballu (sloth bear) & Bagira (black leopard), Mowgli helps Ballu to get honey by using ropes to climb at height & burning torch to shoo away honey-bees. Bagira objects to this way of getting food (honey) & warns Ballu, about disturbing the balance of forest. He says, this is not the way sloth bears’ are supposed to get their honey as if everybody starts extracting such excess honey from the beehives then there will be no honey left for bees & other animals which will definitely be a bad omen for the entire forest, this is unsustainability & this is how humans by their so-called innovations have damaged nature’s balance on every front which we have touched & high time for us to understand it before we define or design our so called sustainable development, is my subject of sharing! So, sustainable development is something, by which every stake holder’s life related with that development is going to get a shade better than what it is at present! Once we understand this concept (and agrees to it) then only we can plan sustainable development which can be any man-made thing, right from a bridge to dam to resort to airport to railway line to a mine or an industry, the list is unending, but as I deal with real estate, so let’s focus on making our homes from sustainability angle! So, confession no.2, there is nothing like an eco-friendly building in real estate; all we can say is, less eco-damaging or more eco-damaging! And do mind, nature is not the only stake holder of real estate so when we call it sustainable then its residents (flat buyers), the city, the environment(nature), government (how can we exclude it), & yes, the developer also! Many people will frown with last two factors & question, how can sustainability accommodate these two in development but this is what we must understand as any development if it’s not going to be sustainable for the government then how it can work for longer period & if it’s not sustainable for the developer then how & why he will complete it in the first place!

If you are confused then read today's (10-7-25) newspaper & you will find a whole page full of photos of traffic jams in the city due to rains & you will say 'what's big deal' in it! Well, that’s one sign that the development happening in & around the city it’s not sustainable for the city & it’s not just traffic front but right from water to air quality everything is under pressure & that’s job of the government to make it sustainable but somehow, we are repeatedly failing on that front, means the development is making things difficult for the government, & then can you call it as sustainable, is my question!  Speaking about the developer, you can build a Taj Mahal but if it's unsalable or not viable commercially for the builder, why he will complete it & then no incomplete development is sustainable for any segment, is simple logic! In nut-shell, the development must be sustainable for the maker financially also, when you make sustainable development, this aspect we forget. And for that we must have ease of doing business which is missing totally in real estate right now, but that's a separate subject of sharing!

At the same time any development must add comfort for its residents & the citizens of the city also which means the project must be affordable for the flat buyers & its periodical maintenance costs also must be making them comfortable & not burn holes in their pockets such as expenses for basic things like water supply. And any hole to the pocket means stress to our mind means uncomforting means not sustainable, right? This means whatever you built must be useful to the user (home buyer in case of real estate) from two angles, one is capital investment (cost of home) & second is monthly maintenance cost which includes property tax, electricity bills & housekeeping for the home or else it will keep on making the occupier discomforting means not sustainable & the same is true for the neighbouring residents of the city at large! Bengaluru is classic example of this as few decades back it was one of the best cities for the residents but the development has made life miserable for the existing citizens on the front of traffic jams, water logging during rains & inadequate water supply, this means unsustainable development at large even if some project can be a sustainable project if we restrict the concept only from one or more stakeholders' perspective, is my subject of sharing! This doesn’t mean we stop development or everything is wrong as I am no judge for it all I am saying is it's high time for us to define sustainable development in the right way as then only we can balance all the stakeholders interest instead of making some lives comfortable & others miserable!

And then comes the last aspect, its sustainable lifestyle which Gandhiji was referring to, as agreed we can’t live in natural cave & eat fruits but at the same time, we as user (read as beneficiary) of any development must learn to live in tune with nature which is not happening & then we blame to every other stakeholder for making our life uncomfortable! Right from trying to use public transport or consuming electricity at our will to unnecessary shopping to avoiding simple things such as plucking flowers from flowering trees, so many things we can do to make our life sustainable which we don’t! At the entrance of my building, I have planted many flowering trees such as Champa, Tagar, Jaswand, as flowers of all such trees are very important for honeybees & butterflies, or else in this concrete jungle where they will get food, right? Planting such flowering trees is part of sustainable development too, but every day, the morning-walkers & society’s residents pluck every single flower from these trees leaving nothing for butterflies or honey-bees & this is unsustainable lifestyle, defeating the very purpose of sustainable development, about which nobody thinks or speaks, is my subject of sharing! And only after we understand all such aspects of sustainability then we can not only identify the sustainable materials but can also quantify the use of the same in the sustainable developments! I think, right from making development plans to sanctioning processes to infrastructure making to forming urban development policies to planning of a single project, everything must be looked at with this wider vision about sustainability as then only we can achieve some of it!

Friends, like Bagira the leopard of Jungle Book warned Ballu the Bear, if we mess with nature then destruction is the only way with which nature responds back; if a leopard & sloth-bear can understand sustainability then we, the so called most intelligent species can understand it too, provided we are really intelligent & not vice-versa, adios with this “waidhanik ishara”!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

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Think Green, Think Life

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Shubhman Gill, Intent & Indian Cricket's History!

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“History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”
― Mark Twain

“We'll be remembered more for what we destroy than what we create.”
― Chuck Palahniuk

“The great cricketer Virat Kohli said in an interview that he does not try for excellence in cricket. Rather he believes in a concept called 'betterment' - to become better each day (each game) than your former self.”

Mark Twain, probably one of the top ten authors in entire literature history, while Chuck is new era’s fiction writer from USA & Virat Kohli, well if you don’t know his name then as I always say (Vaidhanik Ishara), you can stop reading right here, because the sharing is about cricket (Again!)! Very rarely it has happened that I write about same subject is succession (n span of a week) & the subject is not Tadoba (sarcasm) but cricket & on a very happy note, so thanks to team India for this & keeping the track record of creating or say rewriting history with your game! For quick recap of subject, Indian Cricket team is in England for five test match series & first test we made history already in both ways by our performance which we lost & starting from there this test match which is still on (fifth day going) when I started to write already some more pages has been added in the history of game named cricket & this time it was one man (subject of sharing) who did it literally single handedly & it’s our captain Subhuman Gill! You may be wondering (many with frown as this game’s haters) what so important to spare so much time to write (and make then you read) about a game which is played in mere fifteen countries & when event like Wimbledon is going on in the same country & tennis is played in nearly ten times more numbers of countries in comparison with cricket! Then two things, (no offence with tennis) one, cricket is a game of twenty-two people playing together, & any performance is needed to be a combo of individual efforts & team’s support & second, unlike tennis cricket can be played with minimum setup & anywhere which is a boon for our poor country! So, cricket is a game of the masses, something which even cricket haters hast to accept. And then we all needed to play our game of life, may it be at home or at office (work) in a team format, so whatever we learn from such games, it does help for us to perform better in our respective game, is my logic!

Ok, the philosophy part is over (for now) let's come to our sharing’s captain & go through these achievements or say historic facts which he has written in the last four days as a captain & as an individual, many of which you must have read in newspapers already but just to make you aware once again. In his two innings of batting, Gill has made 269 runs in first inning & 161 runs in second innings, thus making 430 runs in a single test, which is record on many fronts in entire history of not just Indian cricket but world cricket & this history is one hundred forty years plus old, do mind! He is the only batsman to score a double hundred in first innings & one fifty plus in second innings! He is the maximum scorer in a single test from the Indian side & second in the entire world! He already has become the maximum run maker in just four innings from the Indian side in England! Well, there are many such first & only one & in doing so Gill has surpassed names like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Lakshman, Saurav Ganguli & Virat Kohali which are his seniors from India. At the same time, he has overtaken names like Steeve Smith, Grammy Smith, Brian Lara, Kumar Sangakkara, Graig Chappel & many such & all this at the age of twenty-five, is the reason my sharing! At the same time, he didn’t do it just as a batsman player but he was carrying the burden of captainship of a young team whom everybody has ruled out of the series even before it started! And captaining the Indian Cricket team is like a Game of Thrones as you are wearing a crown & sitting on a chair which is admired, loved more than that or prime ministership but comes with the greatest of price & burden! The price is, fulfilling expectations of one fifty crore citizens of always keep on winning whichever match you are playing & that burden is bigger than any burden you can ever even imagine as if you fail to pay that price then even the biggest names (read as God) of Indian cricket has been booed out of stadium for not standing to the expectations of fans, that’s punishment of failing to deliver in cricket in our country!

And then your team was entering in this match (second test) after losing first match from nearly stage of winning & do mind there are defeats & wins in any games but some defeats hurt a lot especially when three-fourth time of the game your team is winning & yet end up on losing, that breaks your morale, as a player, as a human & even as a captain! So, Gill was facing three responsibilities, first to put a bitter painful defeat behind, brace himself as an individual player, then as a human being needed to overcome depression & as a captain lift himself & his ten men to give their best once again & his batting average (barring last match's hundred) in the England was against him, i,e,below par it was!! Oh yes one more thing was there, Bumrah (plz google) who is supposedly your best weapon & world number one bowler is unavailable for this match & to win any match you have to bowl-out the opposite team twice, means twenty wickets! Any man would have given up or buckled down with such Everest of burden of adversities but then such men don’t write history, only those who don’t break, face the worst of adversities as an opportunity, they do it & which Gill did with only one known & proven way i.e. by performing himself! I am a keen (diehard fan) of test cricket, this I have already shared & reason is about the grind of this game as well the opportunities you get to listen to the inputs about the game (and about life) by the commentators some of them are also legends of the game in their time. And repeatedly one word was used during the game when Gill was playing & it was, “intent”! We all can get the meaning of any word in any language nowadays at our fingertips (thanks Internet) but to understand the meaning of some word like “Intent” in a true sense is, experience someone living by it, which Gill showed by example. Intent was to not to prove anything but intent was to be there as much time as he can & lift morale of the entire team (and nation) by not breaking down, emotionally & physically & keep going! This sharing was a tribute to Gill’s display of intent & in doing so whatever record (read as records) he broke in the process is a by-product of that intent! And do mind, in the first test also Gill has made a hundred but so did other four batsmen in the team but in this test, he was a sole centurion in both innings, which made most of other players to chip-in with valuable contribution. This reminded me story of Shrikrishna lifting Gowardhan Parbat (mountain) on his little finger & yet made it look like its every villager who also helped in generating that power as a true leader is one who makes every team-mate feel that he or she too is the key person in the victory or say performance of the team, which Gill did!

This is why these two innings of Gill are so vital & I started penning down (tributing) him even before the match got concluded, just like last time I did for entire team India. Though the difference is Gill with his herculean efforts has made it sure that India won’t lose this match even if a miracle happens but to make a draw also would be like a win for England now, this is sheer outcome of intent! As first you wen on a tour where nobody gives you a chance to win & even our recent history of game says so, yet your team puts a super show in the first game & still you lose the match & then nearly single handedly you take the second game to such level that even the best team in the game on their own turf doesn’t have any chance to win rather they are needed to fight to save the match, this is what intent of one person can do, is my subject of sharing. And in doing so you naturally evolve as a person as a leader also & you gain respect not by the sword given to you but by the way you use that sword. And this is applicable to each of us in our respective career, life whatever we call it! This sharing I am penning down for myself first because as Virat said with v=every game you must become a shade better than the earlier one & even by watching someone becoming better we can also become so, right? But more than that I am sharing this for my kids & younger genre who wants to become something or prove themselves as success needs practice, extreme discipline, dedication & patience & yes fitness (as to play for nearly three days out of four days on the ground you need to be extreme fit), and when you put all this together then you don’t need to demand success, you rule it, is what Gill’s innings made me realize, once again! I wish every youngster must watch, read about these innings of Gill as they are like an open (and free) classroom of life, teaching how one should develop himself on the path of success & what is needed to do when you are confronted with adversities in life! Indeed, even after doing all this & putting your heart out there can be no victory, but one thing is sure, there will be respect for your efforts, lots of it & a confidence that you won’t get in any market or online but you have earned it by yourself! Thanks, Shubhman Gill, for teaching me a lesson of facing the hardships of life by only way you know i.e. your game & making me richer with the history you have created; keep up & keep writing more such history, adios with this wish!

(Well, while Gill was making history another youngster, rather a kid, Vaibhav Surywanshi already joined the history game in England itself by becoming the youngest person to score fastest hundred in under ninteen cricket).

* By the time you will be reading this sharing, team India might have sealed victory, one more history & I am glad to witness it, so you all will be for sure!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

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Think Green, Think Life

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Cricket, Team India & Lessons from Creating History!

 

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“Comparisons are really no good in sport, especially if it is a comparison between different eras and generations, for there are so many variables that come into play, starting from the quality of the opposition to playing conditions’…

“The true measure of a cricketer's greatness is not the number of centuries he scores, but the impact he has on the game” …

… Sunil Gavaskar

 

While I started (read as felt) like writing this piece, team India already has made a history in many ways & as the subject is cricket, who better than the author of above quotes can be there as opener of the sharing! I am referring to Sunil Gavaskar & if you need an introduction of that name then you can stop reading right here & continue watching weird (read as foolish) reels on insta (sarcasm)! Well, that way every day some history is made as yesterday is history (Master Oogway, plz google) but when you say The History is Made or The History is Written then that mean something great, something memorable which will be referred or talked not just on the next day but a lot longer, that doesn’t happen every day. I like sports, I consider myself a sportsman as I still play badminton consistently & I do like to watch sports, read about it & it’s the history of the sports which I am referring too! And in cricket, which is the most common religion in this large country, test cricket I like most because it needs patience, determination & practice, more than any other sports because no sport is prolonged (read as stretched) to five days! There are races like Tour D France, but that’s not a sport in the usual manner keeping due respect with those who cycle for the race, I am talking about games & most of them end in four to five hours that to a five-setter match of tennis! Reason is people’s patience is thinning by day & in cricket also more & more people follow the shortest format i.e. T 20, where the match ends in a maximum four hours! On such background who has time & patience to sit in front of TV or go to stadium for five straight days & watch the game for six to seven hours a day, right? Yet that’s the best game if you really have understood the essence of any sport, is what I will say about test match format!

Ok, about making history then it’s about India – England recent test match series which started last week with the first match on till today. But before that a disclaimer, I am not writing this to comment of performances or rights or wrongs of any player of any team because one, I have no authority or moral right to do so as every player (unless he is corrupt) tries to give hundred percent on the ground & that’s why he is playing, especially when its representing a country, so a drop catch or a poor shot selection & throwing wicket, nobody does it deliberately, it just happens, is what I believe! At the same time nearly more than some million players aspire to represent their country & out of that some eleven odd gets opportunity to play actually for the national cricket team, so taking doubt on their capability I (or rather anybody) has no right! Though in our democratic country you can freely assault your opinion on anybody & when the topic is Movies, Cricket & Politics then we have nearly billions of experts & I don’t want to join that band!  So, shaming or naming for poor performance of any player is not the intention of this sharing though one thing remains, a mistake is a mistake & you as well the team has to pay the price which is an important aspect of learning team work & when the game is of elven people’s team! This sharing is to make you realize the importance of writing history via game as well to learn the lessons of life which you eventually get (whether to learn or not your choice of course) while watching & studying this history in making, live; a rare thing to witness!

Just to give you a brief idea before sharing the importance of this recent history made, the first Indian Cricket team toured England way back in 1911, though then India was part of England yet this team was recognized separately from England’s official cricket team. And after Independence, the first official Indian Cricket team toured England in 1952, which is some seventy-three years back, ok? Now know this, in all these seventy-seven years, no Indian team could make five centuries in one test match which this team did. Rishabh Pant became the first Indian batter to make centuries in both innings of a test match in England. And read this also, Shubhan Gill, captain of our team & Rishabh Pant who is vice captain of the team both made centuries in the first innings of the first test, which happened only second time in forty-two years of test cricket & it happened first time in the history of test cricket as both of them were debuting in their respective roles as captain & vice-captain! History making doesn’t stop here, Jasprit Bumrah became the most & fastest five wicket taker in the history of Indian cricket tests & this team India was one the verge of breaking maximum runs in one day in test cricket on the day one in SENA countries which includes    S. Africa, England, New Zealand & Australia! And all this when senior players have been retired together & in the last eight tests team India has got defeated in a very bad way by the opponents & everybody thought how this young team will play in England which offers very challenging playing conditions with its weather to any team visiting here especially sub-continental country like ours! And on that background when a performance like the one which this Indian team has given, then that’s definitely history written!

Well, the history making doesn’t ends here, the real fun is, with all the good history (will explain my views about it later) team India lost this test match on the last day by England which again is a new history, lol! Because, in the entire history of test cricket, no other team has lost a match when its batter has made five centuries ever which wasn’t made in the first place, that’s the gist of my sharing! Best part is there has been discussion about the defeat of team India & lacunas, but that’s common as every defeat comes with critics & especially when you had so much to encash yet you lost, “bhai kuch to loag kahenge na”!  But as I mentioned, I am not sharing this to criticize team India but to admire what they did in the first four days where the game they have nearly tilted in their side. A team which everybody was doubting about performance, a team which has lack of experience (for which eventually they paid price for), a team which was being looked down as a probable loser even before the first ball was bowled, such a team has given a performance which none of their seniors has ever done! Can you imagine Gill, Pant, Jaiswal, Kl Rahul, Bumrah has surpassed their seniors which includes names like Vijay Hajare, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurabh Ganguli, VVS Lakshman, Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumbale, R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma & the Great Mahendra Singh Dhoni & many such! Isn’t it a great feeling & look at the irony, yet they lost the match so the score board history will still name this team India as loser of the first test match & that too in a historic way!

There will be analysis of the defeat, more than us the team India & the management will be busy in doing that & may it be dropped catches or collapse in batting of tail enders or wrong bowling length by most of the bowlers, these things will be discussed, yet none of these things will be going to wipe out what has been performed in those four days & that’s sheer glory to watch & to remember, is my purpose of sharing! Life too throws challenges at us & at that time how we face those challenges is what defines us, the way we fight is what we become & yet we must not forget, that we can lose; even after making history by our performance, giving our best, yet that best may not make us win, but so be it! We have won something much more than this one match’s result & that is confidence to write a new bright history, this is what my take away from the lost test, which as a whole is historic! This test match made me realize (as well players too) a few things which are applicable to our work & life too! Bowlers like Prasidh Krishna & Siraj which were huge success in just a week before in IPL (plz google) but they couldn’t defend nearly 850 plus runs totalling in both the innings, is one more lesson which I learnt & that’s is success in one format of game doesn’t necessarily repeats in other format of the same game, a principle applicable to business also! At the same time dropped catches costs us very dearly & that too from centurion player, one more lesson, even if you are successful in one role yet your mistakes in other role can cost a lot to your team, that’s why while playing or working one needs to be perfect in every role you are doing (Yashaswi & Rishabh, do mind)! And even if you didn’t make a mistake deliberately yet the team has to pay its price!  This match while making history taught me many other lessons also & the important one is, despite team India’s batting squad doing exceptionally well yet the bowling & fielding laid us down thus when it’s a team game like test match then however strong some teammates may be yet to win the game you need entire team’s effort! I am sure team India also must have learnt their lessons as they are a young team & they have lots of cricket to play ahead!

Speaking about history, well history is never good or bad, it’s just factual documentation of events, it depends on us, that on which side of the line we are standing which makes us feel good or bad about the history! Like this match for the first four days, we were feeling good (rather great) about the history our team was part of, but on the last day we started feeling bad about the same history of the same match as the outcome was, we lost! All these things made me realize how wonderful this game is & to conclude I will say thank you test match cricket, as once again it offered me an opportunity to improve myself as a sportsman, as a team-man & as an individual person too, by mere watching it; all the best team India as “picture abhi baki hai mere dost”!

-

Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

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Tourism, Tourists, Accidents & Government!

  

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“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
― Gustave Flaubert

“In any case, a little danger is a small price to pay for ridding a place of tourists.”
― Tahir Shah

“Oogway: There are no accidents.
Shifu: [sighs] Yes, I know. You've already said that twice.
Oogway: That was no accident either.
Shifu: Thrice.”
― Kung Fu Panda

Well, two quotes about tourism & one about accident, the first two about tourism are by writers from West (Europe) & will explain why I used them in regards of my sharing, the third one is obviously by some writer but came to me via my most favourite (one of the most, I meant) movies KFP (Kung Fu Panda, plz google) & though many didn’t understand its meaning (including the great maser Shifu) at first but this quote is gist of our attitude towards life, is what I will say. And what’s your attitude is reflected in everything you do, so your travel (tourism) is no exception to this Law of Human Behaviour! Now, you must be wondering where this fellow is going leaving his favourite Wildlife (tadoba) or real Estate or say City, then well, this is about tourism which is connected to our life & my business too & wildlife also but it’s also one of the subjects including Pune Traffic & Illegal Constructions, which I have decided not to write about thinking it’s of no use!  Well, I feel like Vikram, of ‘Vikram & Vetal” (plz google), if not by glory or greatness of Vikram but I do match with dedication & relentless of him when its sharing (writing) about some topics!

Wont test your patience much, last few weeks which are school holiday ending weeks in our beloved country where tourism is the new in thing, had been in news (obviously for wrong reasons as usual) & tragedies which has saddened the mood of entire country (for a short again) & keeping due respect to the sentiments of all the deceased in these tragedies, my sharing is to ask the question to all (read as survivors) , “Are we ever going to learn, right tourism”? And what I mean survivors is, all those who were not part of the tragedies in recent which happened during tourism because hopefully those who survived from the tragedies would have learnt their lesson & change their attitude towards life ahead. No, I am not blaming them or showing any disrespect towards the loss they have suffered, physically, financially as well mentally due to these tragedies, what I am saying is, can this be avoided? This is my object of sharing & as in our folk stories, “Pudhachyach thech, magacha shahana” (sorry difficult to translate), provided we keep our eyes & senses open that the person ahead has stumbled & corrected our course! You will ask what is about tourism & accidents, then if you have read the recent news then you must have realized the death toll recent tourism has created across the country & ways of it! As, tourists have died in stampedes of pilgrimage in crowd outside temples, tourist have died in helicopter rides to the pilgrimage spots, tourists have died due to boat mishaps, tourists have died while adventures sports like paragliding or fun sports in theme parks, tourists have died in hotel fires, tourists have died by drowning in water bodies may it be sea or river or lake, tourists have died while taking selfies at higher altitude by slipping in valley, tourist have died in road accidents, tourist have died in plane crash, last but not least, tourist have died due to collapse of bridge while taking selfies too! I can list more reasons but that’s not the purpose of our sharing, yet I have mentioned a few incidents which have made headlines where tourists who were coming out of their safety zone have been met with accidents & the trip has turned into a nightmare. My sharing is not to blame any system or the people (tourists) involved but to make us think, can we save some lives ahead by learning from these incidents!

Let’s focus on the first thing which is common in all above or such incidents & you will say what’s big deal, all have suffered some accident is the common thread & exactly that is the point of my sharing, how do you define an accident? If you think I am dumb, then an accident is something wrong happens which is beyond your control, right? Well, that something may be beyond my control but someone could have controlled it in right way & may be the accident could have avoided, is my point & for that we must define “that someone” who will be controlling the things if we want to avoid the accidents & make him responsible (or make him realize his responsibility) so that someone will be more carefully while performing his task! And it's every person’s (read as tourists) duty to ensure to place our life in the right people’s hands only & after that what happens even if it's wrong then can be called an accident! For e.g., avalanche happens or landslide happens on road & your vehicle gets buried under it, that is an accident still I will say you should have studied the patterns of landslides or avalanche at the place like Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh & avoided the period during which such incidences happen, is in rainy seasons or in peak winter. But even if you go in summer & a landslide happens & your vehicle gets affected, then it’s an accident! Remember, most of the time what we call an accident is the outcome of somebody’s negligence or overconfidence & the sufferer is somebody else, such as tourists in our case!

So, first lesson learnt, while going for a trip study the weather as well as all other factors related to your travel destination keeping in mind what bad or wrong can happen & how you are going to tackle it! At the same time take advice from professionals only, as a professional is the one who gives highest priority to doing the right things rather than just making money or cutting corners or is a fool! And the difference between a fool & a professional is, even if nine out of ten times a fool is correct yet it’s riding a luck & a professional may be nine times go wrong out of ten yet he knows he has gone wrong & has a back-up-plan for that, which a fool never has! And here is where most of our countrymen choose wrongly, as there is a difference between value for money & saving money at any price! But in tourism, the price you pay for saving money wrongly can be your own life also, at least after so many examples we must learn this basic fact about tourism. At the same time don’t ever make the mistake of taking nature for granted as it's far bigger & more complicated than our so-called technology & science. I have Googled & checked weather reports & nothing will happen, types logic won’t come to your rescue neither Google or AI can save your life when you get caught in floods or landslides, mind it. Especially, of-late tourism trends are no longer to destinations like Dubai or Singapore but more & more people want to spend time (their quality & precious time) in the company of nature but for doing that we must respect nature the way it is & enjoy by keeping right distance! Just by clicking selfies at the peak of a mountain or on the edge of a cliff or on the background of a waterfall doesn’t make you nature friendly, rather it makes you ending up your own life as in nature mistakes are not forgiven, whatever your intentions may be! So many lives have been lost because of this selfie thing yet people don’t learn anything from it & the reason is we have forgotten why we travel, it’s not to show the world where you have been but how you enjoyed the trip & came back alive to share those experiences, that matters most, right?

Another major reason for accidents during trips is, wrong cost cutting on stays & travel time, as this makes you to travel at odd hours & with cheaper commuting service providers which has taken maximum lives in the tourism mishaps! I have deliberately used the term “wrong cost cutting” as I understand budget is a constraint of most of Indian families & yet we want to see the world but a little control on our greed (“sub kuch dekhna hai itnehi budgetme,” attitude) & planning the trip in advance as well with some study can save money as well lives, is what I want to tell! I have been myself traveling around for work as well for wildlife for more than thirty years now & I have seen people travelling at odd hours just to save one night stay’s expense. And on top of it using the service of drivers 9and vehicles) of which they don’t know anything. Take a simple example of travelling Pune to Nagpur by road & starting at night 9pm, which can make you reach Nagpur in eight hours i.e. by 7am in next morning, which does save the cost of your one-night stay in the trip, but! What kind of vehicle you will be taking, is it rightly prepared for this long travel & does it have safety features & most importantly about the driver, is he experienced enough for night driving as well has taken enough rest on earlier day & has a maturity to take rest stops during the travel, all such question either nobody thinks or nobody asks, because they come with some price which you are not ready to pay & think no wrong will happen, which does happens! Same is applicable even for a Chopper ride & professional backup the company operating is having as its not just some machine which is in air its your lives also are hung in the air with that machine, think about it & then book the ride to your loved god’s temple!

At the same time, even on day travels, I have seen people not allowing to stop for tea or just small rest stops to save an hour or that which can cost you, your life & many such small things while you travel! One more aspect is about choosing stay places just for the sake of convenience neglecting the safety feature or measures at such places as all small establishments in our country never follow any safety measure related to fire or flood, thanks to our govt’s liberal approach regarding the same (sarcasm)! Such places (hotels) don’t have basic life-saving equipment in case of fires, no trained staff & don’t ever think about safety audits & that's why they can offer cheaper rent which you get hooked up with! A little money extra which you pay for better place which you should book after asking questions about such safety aspects is like paying for life insurance which most of us turn a blind eye to & then, keep repenting for ever, if you survived! One more aspect is right insurance for the trip, which I think is "icing on the cake" in the list of not doing right things in tourism by the Indian tourists! As no harm in making little provision in your budget for insurance, especially when you are travelling to other countries or some lesser-known destination & the insurance must cover person injuries treatment as well baggage loss types claim also! I, myself have been saved in a big way just because I had a travel policy for my family during their USA trip which otherwise could have been a financial disaster for me! 

And the last is our govt’s approach towards all such travel agencies, hotels, adventure sports agencies, safety measures at tourist spots & sad thing is, govt cares a hang & does nothing about it but issue some circular & form a committee when some accident happens at any tourist place! At the same time people also neglect or ignore notice boards at all such tourist spots thinking it’s for others, though the govt's job doesn’t end at just fixing notice boards like “Stay Away” or “Take Care’, is govt also must accept (to whom I am fooling)! At least start posting regular awareness advertisements about safety norms during travels in all news-papers & social-media rather than just publishing advertisements of tourism promotions as well “Lokaprpan” events of bridges, that much the govt can definitely do, right?  Agreed, it’s a big country with one fifty crore people & the govt can’t take care of every single tourist yet on the front of making right safety policies & enforcing them on tourism industry, we are the worst, lets accept it & improve, dear Mai Baap govt, is all I can say (read as request)!  To conclude, we all love traveling & it’s not just the travel-time but the wonderful memories with which we come back from the trip is the soul of tourism; do mind the words, “we come back” & not ourself become a memory & then only decide your trip-plans guys, adios with this note!

* (just one curious thought, when any private segment’s premise succumbs to some mishap, even falling of a compound wall then its never an accident for the govt & immediately police cases are filed & arrests are done but when a bridge collapse or a road gives away or a govt operated ferry boat sunk & tourists dies, the very same govt neve ever files cases against concerns & punishes the responsible authorities, that’s one more reason of increas in tourism accidents, as you get away with whatever wrong you do)

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/