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”!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

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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

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"Wildfest for Kids", Building Hope for Wildlife!

 

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“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Only if we make our kids understand the role of a tiger in the forest, then they will definitely save the forest & eventually the tiger too.”

-- Me

Yes, the sharing is about wildlife & forests & there is Tadoba in it (can it ever be not possible!) but it’s regarding the most neglected aspect in wildlife conservation & no, it’s not about the tigers or habitat but it’s about the kids & their connection with the wildlife! It’s about an event rather a movement will be a proper term for it, which we called “Wildlife Fest for Kids”! Last year, in a brain-storming (read as argument at work, but sounds nice if called so) session of Jungle Belles (plz google) we were discussing about how to make people love wildlife as then only they can think about next step i.e. joining hands for conservation, we come up with the idea of focusing on kids for wildlife! As usual, like any idea, it sounded great but how to do it was the question as kids on their own can’t go to the forests as it’s the parents which decides the trip's destination (mostly) & then how can you decide to go to a place about which you know nothing. On top of that, such a place where wi-fi is an issue, no shopping, no TV in rooms (many places), no mobile range & no Siggie of Zomato means no Pizza or Coke, which kid will like to go to! And on top of it most parents, especially of today’s era, want full value of the money they are spending on the trip & wildlife, if you don’t understand in the right way then chances of you not understanding what it has given you in lieu of the money spending are most. In nutshell when most of our country men (And women) visits forests for tourism (wildlife) then they want to see a tiger & they forget it’s a jungle & not a zoo where every animal & bird behaves as per its need & not paid for some show to the tourists who thinks they have paid to their nose & if you don’t see a tiger the trip money is wasted! On such a background, taking the entire family to some forest as a trip is the last priority & that’s the reason most of the kids remain unaware about wildlife in real sense! Agreed there are kids who have been to the forests via organizations like Foliage or Nature Walk but the percentage of such kids is too low considering the cost incurred & it’s just once in a while. And even if any kids loved what he or she has experienced in the forest, chances of visiting the forests again are very less because of our parents’ unawareness about wildlife. One standard reason is, what’s there to visit again the same forest or say the forest itself, & I am sure many readers also must have faced the same question when it’s about visiting forests!

Exactly to answer this question we decided that if the kids can’t go to the forest, we will bring forests itself to the kids in Pune & that's the start of Wildlife fest for Kids, of which first edition was in 2024, i.e. exactly one year back. That edition (event) was too raw as everything was in a way a test case, right from duration to activities, which must be focusing the kids. And the biggest challenge was (well real biggest challenge I will share at end) to keep the kids engaged for all the time & what should be that time! We decided that it will be a four hours event & we will break these four hours in different activities & all of them must be related to wildlife obviously but will be a blend of fun.com & gyan.com as then only it will serve the purpose! Indeed, to our surprise it was a success as people were asking this year when is Wildlife Fest, what better receipt of success there can be than this! And that made us more tense as success is one thing & to repeat is another as it comes with a package of expectations to perform better & so was the second edition of Wildlife Fest which happened on 14th June 25!

Indeed, last years’ experience was with us to guide but kids are as unpredictable as forest, you never know what will happen with them in the next moment & our brains were busy thinking about this aspect. This year one major addition in the team was Tushar Joshi who is a media expert & he suggested we must bring someone who has media value, meaning the media will be interested in that person. I know nobody is bigger than the forest yet we live in a world where the media may not rule my life (personally speaking) but of the masses & if we can get someone who qualifies for both things i.e. media interest & kids wildlife aspect also then what’s harm in it! And first name was Sumedh Waghmare, a guide from tadoba who can mimic many birds & animals & has been in limelight thanks to a reel by Sachin Tendulkar about Sumedh! Anuj put all his efforts for getting Sumedh on board & yes there were some frictions about his remuneration but I feel unless people in wildlife doesn’t get right money it won't ever become sustainable & if some actor or actress can demand lakhs of rupees for mere appearance here is a guy who will be travelling nearly thousand kilometres & give his best about wildlife to the kids so if we spend some thousand then its worth as the cause matters most than the spending! And then rest of the topics were debated & finalized with personalities’ because there are many people in wildlife & great work all of them are doing yet one factor is that person must be able to connect with the kids & make them explain purpose of their sharing by going to their level of understanding & interest, & such must be the subject also!

For example, the subject of camera trapping which helps forest officials to count & identify the animals in the forest, however important the subject may be yet it may connect with the kids & they may lose interest which exactly we didn’t want to happen as it will ruin next person’s sharing as well entire purpose of the fest! And thus, we finalized Dr Prachi Mehta who works for conservation of owls & kids are definitely interested in owls, thanks to Harry Potter (plz google). Then there was a puppet show with characters in forest & this was considering two aspects, one is this genre (kids) have never seen a puppet show (like Kathputali) & animal puppets speaking human language would be fun for them which does happen. And then we have a young RFO (range officer) from Bandhavgarh Tiger Project who travelled nearly double of Sumedh & presented life of forester & hardships as well commitments needed for the job! As well we decided to have some short films about wildlife too, just to keep the kids engrossed. And yes, there were stalls of merchandise related to wildlife & yes, mascots of a tiger & an elephant. Something more we added this time & that is, life size cutout images of four popular tigers in news, Maya, Choti tara, Mataram & Chota Matakasur (these are names given to respective tigers by locals, as forest dept gives them numbers) & with information as well their contribution to the respective forests. This was one more hit thing, as “Selfie with Your Favourite Tiger” which pulled lots of kids & even parents around & such things help kids to connect more strongly with wildlife! And there were book stalls with Anant Sonvane, writer of a book about tigress Maya himself being present at the stall, which made even the parents thrilled to get a photograph with him! Last but not the least we arranged for two mascots of tiger & an elephant respectively & they were a hit among the kids too!

With all stuff loaded yet to plan something like this on paper & execute it & make through are two different things & needed support of many people of which most important was place & Sidharth Gokhale with Nachiket, of Bougainvilla Farm was the perfect place. With lots of greens & trees as backdrop the place was perfect for the event & things started rolling! On the D Day, one more hurdle was there & it was changed (read as erratic) rain pattern of Pune though we have anticipated rains yet the way nowadays it downpour, one such burst was enough to ruin entire decorum yet I believed in our work which if for the nature itself & nature also responded with same vibe & thankfully it didn’t rain except a small shower that too when the event was already on roll!  Pune’s forest dept was kind enough to support the initiative & Mr Praveen CCF as well Me Tushar Chavan, DCF (wildlife) were there right from the start as well became partners for the event officially!

As I said, Wildlife Fest for Kids was a big gamble because till now nobody has planned something which is focused on Kids & with wildlife as theme, as there have been many events about wildlife & for kids but fusion of both, well I am proud to say (on behalf of jungle Belles & Nature Walk), this is first of its kind! Though we have a firm belief that if we want to secure the future of our wildlife then we must start from the kids & they responded with full enthusiasm. For more than four hours hundreds of kids were enjoying the presentations, puppet shows without showing any sign of boredom & I heard one mom telling to Hemangi that her son refused to go out even for snacks because he thought he will lose his prime sitting position, this is the best compliment we got, is what I feel! For entire four hours I saw faces of kids (and parents too) engrossed in the event, smiling faces when they saw some funny image or listened such incidence, amazed faces when they saw images of wildlife as well sad when they listened to sharing from Mr.Arpit Mairal RFO from Bandhavgarh forest & how they handle man-animal conflicts (though I will say, coexistence) & they do get engrossed when puppets were giving message for wildlife conservation! Even Dr Prachi Mehta’s presentation about owls was enjoyed by all as kids (and the parents) realized how interesting studying one single species can be & its importance in nature!  Sumedh’s presentation about wildlife was epitome of the festival & best part was its not just about mimicking sounds of birds or animals but he tried to explain to the kids that nothing in the forest happens without any purpose as well he shared hardships of his life & journey to reach the stage he was standing! We thanked the parents as unless they wouldn’t have brought the kids to Wildlife Fest it wouldn’t have been a success. Kids are like a car & steering wheel is parents, it’s the steering wheel which decides the path of the car & future of the journey along, & this is why we, at Jungle Belles are keen to make the steering aware to drive the car named kids on the path of wildlife as conservation will follow eventually!

Friends, as I mentions the hardest part of Wildlife Fest for Kids was (and is) funding, though thanks to personalities like Sidharth Gokhle (Bougainvilla farm) & Raju madkar (Madkar Contractions, Kamlesh Jhala (Mayuk Project), Ajay (Asmi Villa, tadoba) & such, who supported generously yet we need many more to join the moment as indeed even on marketing side its good opportunity but more than that it’s the cause which matters, is what I feel & that’s why team Sanjeevani is proudly associated with this fest as well with wildlife! After thanksgiving by JB team, many parents & kids were asking about the next wildlife fest & needs money, because unfortunately wildlife has no glamour to fetch money (yet) but it’s our only hope for our bright future & I think high-time for our corporate biggies to understand this fact, as what’s use of your product when entire future of mankind is in dark, think over guys, adios with this “waidhanik ishara” & a very happy, peaceful, satisfied feeling for the Wildlife Fest for Kids. And a promise that we will be there next year & after that also as we love wildlife & care for it! Three cheers for Jungle Belles, Nature Walk & Tushar Joshi, you rock & with people like you there is hope for wildlife!

You can watch Vibes of Wildlife Fest for Kids on the link below...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/coexistance_is_the_key/albums/72177720327009569/

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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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Spellbounding Satpura via Madhai Gate!

 

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“To learn something from you, the forest silently observes you and quietly listens to you! If you want to learn something from the forest, do the same thing!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Out of the many things which forests has taught me, one is, every tomorrow is beautiful than today!”- Me.

Once again Mehmet to help me for starting a sharing about forests for which his country (Turkey) is not known for & actually stood against our country in recent clash with our neighbour! Yet keeping due respect for our enmity, nature has only one enemy & that is human so that’s makes all of us on one side of the table, which is why I am ok with using Mehemet’s words of wisdom! And then my own feelings (not quote) which gets in to belief after every forest outing & when the destination is Satpura, MP forest then I doubt whether my words will be enough to capture it or even my camera, such is the beauty & expand of the forest! Can you describe Himalaya’s height or Niagara fall’s sound of water or even try explaining someone vibe of blooming of Kass Pathar’s wild flowers (plz google), I think there are many such phenomenon in the nature which can’t be expressed in mere words nor can be captured in any camera yet these sharing are like a window for those who aren’t lucky enough to visit such places & can see at least whatever being shown to them through these words/ photographs windows of people who are lucky to live these moments (like myself)! Now if you are thinking this is bit over dramatic & philo then it’s nothing in comparison to the herculean task of trying to explain or describe Satpura forest, so be it!

I had been to these forests but from another gate as Satpura tiger reserve (will use this shortform ahead as STR) has three gates i.e. Churna, Madhai & Panchmadhi & they are nearly 150 km apart from each other, so you can imagine the expand of these forests! Of course, the distance of gates from within the forest is much less but then that’s only for authorized personals. I had been to STR from Churna gate & am well versed with the serenity of these mountain range which are known as Satpura in Hindi it means Seven Mounds or Boxes! On the eastern side of these range lies Melghat which is in Maharashtra & flora as well Fauna is much similar in both forests yet STR has been detached from all sides from the urban world & that’s a boon. First surprise (not a pleasant one for me personally) was when I went to ticket counter of Madhai gate for me was I could see a big river Devna in between ticket counter & actual forest gate & when asked how to go to gate & where are gypsy’ (safari vehicles), the guide casually told me, Sahab, baotsehi jana padata hai wahatak” i.e. Sir, we will have to travel by a boat to reach to the gate of the park! This was news to me, as probably Madhai must be the only gate of the forest where you have to go by a boat ride, at least in Central India & that too in peak summer where most rivers run dry. I hate water (sorry but a fact) & hate boat rides more (you can call it fear, that’s ok for me) & I can’t swim but that is also of no use here as the guide was quick to describe the crocks in the waters, this made my friends also curtail their laughter which came by looking at my face! Yet, forest is the only thing which can make me overcome my hatred (read as fear) for boat ride & I set foot on floating jetty to sit in the boat. One more thing, looking at the river bed span, I asked the guide what happens in post monsoon safari, then he tried to explain me how large the gorge is in monsoon with water depth more than 100ft & width of the river nearly half kilometre, which again has to traversed by boat only! I decided then & there never to visit Madhai in winters (sorry the forest must be super beautiful but to travel in that water is not my cup of tea), at least for now & we entered in STR!

I have seen enough tigers now to lose the counting of the sighting though I clearly remember every sighting (that’s power of a tiger) & yet I have told to the foresters ( fellow friends), not to expect tiger sighting as STR is very large forest, tigers are shy & they can be  anywhere in this forest as most of the forest is surrounded by river & lots of water bodies around, large prey base & all these makes a tiger not needed to show itself to the humans, simple logic! But I have told my friends to enjoy the forest landscape which they won’t get to see anywhere as well birds, deer, gaurs & sloth bears for which these ranges are famous for! And in the past we all have seen tiger very early also at the start of safari (thanks to tadoba) but what happened to STR Madhai gate broke all our records, as we stepped out (read as wheeled out) of the gate in the forest, at 100 ft distance there was a pond on right side of the road & a banyan tree on left side of the road & one gypsy was standing there, all people in it looking at the tree with excitement on the faces of the tourists which can only match with when they see a tiger! Yet, I thought they must be first timers & excited by looking at deer or peacock & when we looked what they are looking at, a tigress was sitting in the shadow of banyan tree, that makes sighting in 35 seconds (half of a minute) i.e. from the entry in the forest & this is Satpura! And from where the tigress was relaxing in water, human settlement (park management quarters) was stone’s throw distance, a heartening thing to watch, this is coexistence! From that movement next two days we criss-crossed most of the STR expand as that was the target & we end up with near eight sightings of the tigers which was not just bonus but jackpot & we missed sloth bear but more than that we tried to store as much of the forest in our cameras & the mind, which was the sole purpose of our trip.

I have seen tigers as I already mentioned & I have seen Indian gaurs as well dear & birds but at Satpura when you see a lone gaur grazing & even one tonner (weighing 1000kg) gaur looks like a tiny dot on the back ground of the forest, that sight makes you realize how small we are in front of the nature! Yet, how dangerous we are to threaten existence of this huge forest just the way a small termite can damage our entire house only because of our numbers which are growing faster than termite! Beauty of STR is 1600 sq. km or core & three side river & backwater & mountains as well meadows created by relocating the villages inside, all of this makes STR is one of the finest habitats for every type of wildlife as it’s a home big enough to accommodate many living species of every type! Agreed tiger sighting is difficult though of late they have increased & the tigers are getting used to human movement around in safaris but things needed to improve is quality of guides & their interaction skills! Rather female guides were more enthu & talkative but most of the guides themselves has seen these tigers for less time so they have yet to understand its behaviour pattern which is very useful while safari & for that right kind of training at least twice a year is must, is what my observation! At the same time make these guides read English as well Hindi writeups, stories about forest as well general, it will help them to know more about the wildlife at large as indeed most of the guides are from local villages & knows forest but to know something & to understand that thing are two different aspects of life, which is true about the forest also! And the madhai gate has one wonderful souvenir shop so we can add a reading room also with it for the guides as well appeal tourists to donate books for this reading room, which can be big support to make the guides at Madhai better with their communication skills!

Next two days we were moving through the forests & kept bumping on the tigers also, which I took as sweet bonus. There is one wonderful temple nearly thousand-year-old (as per the guide), this place can get a facelift with information displayed as at present its just ruins! Its great piece of architecture but nobody knows anything about it in detail & we must make use of such spots, as imagine who chose to build a temple at such remote place that too thousand years back, something we must preserve in right way, as well make its info available right at the gate interpretation / reading room also! At the same time STR has excellent buffer forests too which are not know much but has lot of wildlife. Especially the late evening patroling safari is worth going & we were lucky again to meet a tigress in the total darkness around! And could click a Chusinga Male deer clear with its horns for first time in so many years, only because of the landscape, as it didnt noticed us from distance but with 500mm lens I could click it without disturbing it!

Speaking about the forest of Madhai STR, practically most protected & spread we can have but just a thought, can’t there be bridge connecting Madhai village & the main gate as look at waste of time & efforts in ferrying people across all the day long & it’s risky also in monsoon! And one more thing, connectivity from major cities to places like Madhai. The major problem with MP’s most forest is, commuting & money which required for it making such trip very costly for average families & MP forest dept can work out tying up with private companies as well State Transport Corporations of MP & Maharashtra for comfortable & convenient transport system connecting to parks like STR with near by major cities with airport & railway stations! Forests like Satpura Tiger reserve are our real treasures & we must conserve them as well support them (forest dept) to make these forests grow as they should not end-up as dead assets but must be of use to our next generations to make them know how rich we are on nature’s front, I said bye to STR with this feeling with a promise to visit again, soon!

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An interesting rendezvous in the wilds…

I'm an Indian tiger & not a Chinese tiger to eat a Frog!
Wildlife makes you experience amazing movements about nature & teaches you coexistence in a real practical way by living examples! On a recent visit to Satpura, a young tigress was relaxing in a water body which is a normal sight in summers in the Central Indian forests but while I was clicking at a wide range, I realized a small lump on the paw of the tigress which I thought was some injury. To check more closely I zoomed in on the tigress & to my wonder it was a live frog, God knows what it was doing on the paw of a tiger! Surprisingly the tigress didn't take any notice or offence of the frog's presence which was on her paw & just an inch away from her jaw & the frog jumped back in water after a few minutes! I don't know whether tigers eat frogs or have a taste for frog meat, but this tigress certainly wasn't of frog eating type (Chinese, lol) or must be with a real full tummy but the entire episode showed me one more dimension of wildlife's way of living by coexistence!

-

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