IPL Edition 19th; Sport or Circus !!

 

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“No cricket team in the world depends on one or two players. The team always plays to win’... Virat Kohli
“Cricket is not everything, not by any means, but it is a large part of who I am’... MS Dhoni
“Nothing is easy in cricket. Maybe when you watch it on TV, it looks easy. But it is not. You have to use your brain and time the ball’… Rohit Sharma
“The assumption now is that the interests of the brand and of the game overlap to the degree that cricket need hardly be mentioned.” ― Gideon Haigh

“Cricket may be the game of gentlemen but now it’s the game of businessmen” … Me

Three quotes by three greatest names from Indian Cricket (and IPL too) while Haigh is sports critic. And then my outcome from these great’s wisdom, to set the tone of sharing & needless to say it’s about cricket!

Last year in this month (IPL Month) I came across a meme where there was a screenshot of an IPL match & inset ad featuring Ranveersing & Deepika Padukone & the line says. “Ranveer Deepika ke adse time mile to bich bich me IPL ka match dekh leta hu”! The meme showed the kind of importance of commercial break (which were very often) during the matches of IPL & on that background this year there are reports & murmurs & posts about how the viewership of IPL has dropped & the popularity of the event (can’t call it tournament) has been on downslope. This can be part of the media war from those who aren’t sponsors of IPL or beneficiary but you can’t fool all people all the times, is true even for the biggest event in sports in this country, is also equally true! And among all these media wars there is a sport named cricket which is worshipped by all religions & caste, is my subject of sharing! I have written a lot about cricket & personalities’ but rarely have I shared my views about IPL & the reason is not many take it seriously but just as an entertainment is a fact, how much so ever we deny it! If you call IPL a serious game or sport then you can compare some club singer with Raffi or Lata’s (plz google) concert also & I am not disrespecting art or performance of the club singer, just telling you the difference! Indeed, everybody can’t reach where Raffi, Lata had & even the club singer also does his job sincerely & sing & entertain us, but that’s all what is common between them!

Btw if you don’t know IPL then it's ok if you stop reading here though you can for the commercial aspect as well the way the game is played (cricket) & how it can help us in our respective field, so be it! Imagine a test match cricket game where you have four slips, silly point, gulley, mid-on, midwicket & just one or two fielders on boundary & the bowler running with the ball menacingly aiming for the head of the batsman with 140 km/hr plus speed & the batsman helplessly tries to get away from the path & in the process ball takes edge of the bat & travels in the hands of one of the closing fielders! Or, the batsman is surrounded by fielders in such a fashion that except from plumb front side you can’t even sight him & the spinner spins web of the flight with till end you don’t know where the ball will turn & making batsman unsure whether to defend the ball or attack & result is catch in the hands of closing fielders or the lone fielder on boundary! Now look at this, IPL match, world's best bowler marching towards the unknown rookie batsman with no slip as field restrictions are there & target is to save runs, & the batsman swings the bat fearlessly (or desperately) & the ball sails in to the ground for six in the direction which even the batsman doesn’t know! The same thing is with the best spinner, there are no closing fielders to make the batsman think how to play, all he has to do is hit the ball as hard he can hit & send it in stand! The bowler has only four overs, the pitch is dry & dead without any spin or bounce, the bowl can’t be getting old as its only twenty overs match as well the pitch also isn’t going to deteriorate as entire game is going to be finished in mere four hours, means two sessions of a test match! So, all bowlers can do is control as many runs by bowling safe & in the process if can get a few wickets then its bonus!

If you are cricket watcher (I am not even saying fan) then earlier scenes are from test matches or one day games & later is from IPL & no wonder the predictability of the game in the later types is the reason for reduction in viewership as well from sponsorship! Yet IPL remains the biggest money-spinning event of the country’s sports world is a fact but high time to make it more better or else in the era of twenty seconds (reels) it won’t take much time to fade up whatever money is there for now, a reminder for us also for our products whatever they are, is my subject of sharing! I do watch IPL, two things, I love sports & second it used to be good entertainment without any violence or sex or coarse language which seems to be three-legged script for any series or movies in recent times. But what any sport needs most is, uncertainty & equal opportunity for all players to excel & exactly this year’s IPL is lacking it! Nearly seventy percent matches have been where both teams are making two hundred plus runs & still batting first team end up losing the game & the only reason is, the team’s bosses (read as franchise owners) are killing the sports aspect of the game by making it too much batsman friendly! We love to watch sixes just the way we love to watch tigers in the forest but imagine what will happen if every day & on every safari you are seeing the same tiger at the same spot, you will lose interest from the safari as it won’t be a jungle but a zoo, right? This is what happening in this edition of IPL; as even when first team has scored two hundred plus runs, we know other team is going to make it in nine out of ten times, then we lose interest from the match as it’s no more a match but a routine & that’s boring, high time for our country’s cricket bosses to know this truth about games, if the still consider IPL as game!

Indeed, the event has given a platform & opportunity to make careers to many new players & once in a while there will be wonder-boy Vaibhav Surywanshi (plz google) to brighten the fans but look what quality players we are getting in through IPL! And if we are taking the star performance of IPL players in the national team for test format & one-days, then while IPL is in full bloom (going on) our ranking in the test match format has gone down to sixth place, even Bangladesh is above us, is my subject of sharing! As even in football where league tournaments are popular & makes money yet they don’t deviate from the basics of the game & players still consider playing for nation above everything & FIFA world championship has highest regards of every football player, is the difference here! And the timing of the IPL is another aspect as merely one month after Indian team became World Champion ins T20 format, IPL started & outcome was barring two names ( Ishant Kishen & Sanju Samson) who themselves were a surprise entry in Indian team, all the super stars of team India made a big flop show in IPL as fatigue of playing an international championship tournament is too much & it has taken toll on most of team India’s players yet the bosses made them to play in IPL as here money is the stick not some cup or trophy! This is why greatest names like MSD or Rohit are paraded like Disney Parade just to make people (Janata) i.e. fans happy that their Superstars are alive & kicking though one of them didn’t play a single match & another who has won India a world cup has been made to play as a substitute under name of impact player, what an insult of the game, is my subject of sharing! Full marks to Virat though as he has put-up great show yet defeating his age till now in every IPL & everybody in respective fields must learn from that! But trust me, this won’t go for long however successful the IPL event may seem today. In nineteen years from the time IPL has started for the first time, there is a drop in viewership, the hype on media is less which is visual & there are no heated arguments in public places (read as bar & pubs) over the team’s performances, all are indicators of the downfall of IPL. Rather in one of the restaurants where we were having dinner the screening of IPL was made to go mute by the patrons as nobody was interested in watching, this I myself witnessed but our BCCI (plz google) & cricket bosses are turning a blind eye on it! I am not saying IPL is dead but we need to revive or it will be dead & run it as a sport & not some event like a big fat wedding where everything is orchestrated by the hosts as the public is fool but not that fool!

Then comes the quality of the game, as indeed IPL has given our country’s talent a big platform as well money no two minds about it but look at the career of players who have come from IPL platform & where they stand now. On one side players from football premier leagues all across the world are making way in their country’s respective teams & doing great for the country while barring one or two players like Rinku Singh & Abhishek Sharama rest all can’t stand the opportunities on international level. Sai Sudarshan is the best example of it as he is piling runs in IPL but in England his approach as well technique got exposed on pitches which are not prepared keeping IPL outcome in mind & same is happening with other players too. While our genuine talent like Rushabh Pant & Jasprit Bumrah gets bashing for poor performance in IPL just because they can’t keep up with the way this circus is being played. But again, there is different dynamics of team owners as more the players from the respective team are part of the national team, that takes your team’s ratings high in the eyes of sponsors & so-called fans, so getting entry in national team by any way becomes a priority & that’s why Ranji Trophy winning team’s names doesn’t even come in media but you bang four sixes in some IPL match & you are a national hero, is something we must think about! Coming back to quality of game, this IPL must be the poorest on fielding aspect as so many catches are dropped by every team that BCCI should star Best Catch Drop award than best Catch award, is the scene & we saw the same repeating by Indian team in the T20 world cup also, which costed us nearly the cup! Why nobody is speaking anything about it, again the answer is money factor, in nutshell you can’t say any bad wort about IPL as that’s taboo, you may be a legend like Sunil Gawskar or Sachin Tendulkar but you need money, so keep you mouth shut is the mantra which is prominently been felt while watching & reading about IPL this edition! Guys, this country warships two things, Cricket & Cinema, but you can’t keep taking the new genre granted as here even King Khan’s picture can flop if he doesn't deliver & IPL too is not an exception for this rule. This principle of philosophy is needed to be understood by every profession & business (even politics) as don’t take our patrons for granted. Today your business may be making money & looks super successful but if you don’t change & deliver what people really want & try to dilute your originality then one day you will be doomed for sure, is my subject of sharing!

To conclude about future of IPL I will share a story from Panchatantra about a whimsical King, long long ago there lived a King who likes to entertain weird things (well, that’s what Kings do) & one day he announced he will pay handsome reward to anybody who will make him invisible but if that guy fails then his head will be chopped off! Obviously, nobody accepted a challenge till one day a smart man (read as con man) came & told the King that he can make him invisible but on two conditions. One is he will be rewarded after the rituals have been completed which are necessary for invisibility & King will follow all his orders till then. King immediately agreed & the man made some Puja & such thing & told the King that from next day morning he will be invisible but only to his well-wishers’ & friends & not to his enemy’s eyes; means those who can see him will be King’s enemy & he asked the king to make this news public! King’s men did that & next morning King woke up thinking he is invisible & decided to parade the city naked. He rode on his horse naked & as it’s been announced the one who can see the King will be considered as King’s enemy, nobody acknowledged Kings’ presence & the King thought he has become really invisible, he handsomely paid the man who made this possible & the man happily went off! While people were looking at the King & pretending they didn’t see him, one small kid who had come to the city with his father, asked his dad, “father, who is that man sitting naked on the horse? His father said, he didn’t see any such man & walked away, but the King heard that Kid & realized his foolishness & from that day he stopped doing such weird things! Well, the King learned his lesson the hard way, I only wish our IPL Bosses had read this Panchatantra folk tell & they too learn from it or else one day the IPL itself will vanish, adios with this note (warning)!!

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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/2025/12/pune-real-estate-in-2026.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

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Builders, Cities, Society & Respect!

 

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“I knew, as every peasant does, that land can never be truly owned. We are the keepers of the soil, the curators of trees.” ― Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

“In an era where accessibility and convenience can make or break business productivity, infrastructure plays a pivotal role in shaping the success of real estate” … Niranjan Hiranandani (in one of his lectures)

“The first property you buy teaches you more than a hundred books you read.” ― Chad K. Smith

‘I like Home making, there is a lot more in it than just money making (till now)” … Me

Four quotes to start, sorry three, as the first three are great names & fourth is Me, who is still learning from such names & especially when the subject is real estate then, who can claim that he or she has mastered it, right? Indeed, there have been successful names in real estate but the list of failures is far more which usually gets covered by the figures & flash success of the successful names, is what I have understood in thirty-five years in it! Though many will say I am bluffing as most people associated with real estate are rich & earn lots of money, how there can be ever failure in real estate & my reply is this may have been true a decade back but today, look around with open eyes (and mind) & you will see its vice versa i.e. the rich people are associating with real estate not real estate is associated with rich people! You will say what's the difference in it, well, that’s exactly the subject of my sharing which I am honoured to be doing for Credai Maharashtra!

We are in very interestingly hard (read as weird) times of phase which even our Hon Prime Minister also has agreed & has appealed to us for saving or avoiding spending excess money, a philosophy or say lifestyle for most families of this country for ages! Yet why suddenly our PM has needed to appeal to the countrymen who have been taught this savings’ mantra from their childhood is something important especially for an industry which has probably the costliest product to offer i.e. real estate! Today, twenty or thirty lakhs may not seem so big for Pune’s real estate (an amount which actually is very big for seventy percent of Pune) but for district place like Akola, Bhandra or Vardha, it is life times earnings of even a decently placed family & yet home prices there also are in that range, now you can imagine the money involved in real estate industry! Many will say, what’s new in this, we all know, it’s because of builders only this situation has arrived, that common man can’t afford a decent (read as well as legal) home anywhere & it’s this belief of common people about the builders is my subject of sharing! As when petrol rates increase & private bus operators or taxi/ rickshaw guys & aviation companies increase their fare, does anybody blame them for making travel costlier? Or, recently govt increased duty on gold, needless to say all goldsmiths increased rates of ornaments, does anybody says goldsmith has made their marriages costlier? Govt increases tax on alcohol products, making liquor costlier, I don’t remember anybody naming liquor companies responsible for making drinking burden on pocket! Recently govt put regulative norms (which was necessary) on RMC i.e. ready-mix concrete which is inherent part of construction & RMC suppliers increased rate of concrete by 50% overnight, nobody blamed RMC people for it as they are supplying to only builders & govt works! But when home becomes costly or unaffordable then only the builders are responsible & media also says so, is my subject of sharing!

Here, many from our fraternity will say what builder can do about this (while society will say differently), it has been always like this way, nobody listens to builder’s & their problems rather nobody accepts in the first place that builders have any problem & I understand but this is why we are an association, right? First & foremost, always when you are in a group or pack, the number is your strength & somehow, we have always forgotten to use this group’s strength in the right way for the society or say has failed to show the bright side of the builders to the society. As whenever it’s about getting respect from any personality from the industry or say private sector, which names comes to your mind, Mr Kirloskar (Kirloskar Group), Mr Ratan Tata (tata group), Mr Firodia (Kinetic & Force Motors), Mr Kalyani (Kalyani Forge), Mr Choudhari (Praj Industries), Mr Anand Deshpande (Persistence Comp) & these are names just from Pune, even on Nation level, you have Mr Anand Mahendra, Mr Bharti Mittal, Mr Aditya Birla, Mr Azim Premji & many such! I will ask you a simple question, what’s one common thing in all above names; it is, none of them is a builder or from real estate & whenever even govt wants to make any policy at least someone from these names opinion is taken in consideration as well media also give their say front page or bold headline! And I blame (yes blame) real estate industry as this is our failure accept it & high time, why no big name or any name from real estate industry which has probably biggest turnover & job giving industry gets such respect from govt, from society & from media, as there lies solution to many of our problems is my subject of sharing! Here, you will again say that it has always been a trend then change the trend is my answer & this is a long process because none of the above names have made space for themselves overnight. Its combination of knowledge, culture & the way you carry yourself in the eyes of the society which we call character, has made it possible. I am not saying hardship & wealth, as real estate people also have both but the way we use our money is what defines us. Do mind all above people are no charity doers, they too are in their respective business for money making but the way they make money & the way they spend that money is what makes them different from us i.e. the builders, is something we must accept first & then follow!

Many of builders does do charity but again giving money is necessary yet the cause is also important, we pay lakh rupees for Festivals & Jayantis’ & Punytithis’ on just one phone call from some local political leader but we don’t even take call leave apart returning that call or meet that person who may be some environmentalist, wildlife or someone working for sports (not cricket) as we spend money most of the time only when we see what returns it will give us or how it will benefit us & that’s not charity that’s business again! We rarely visit schools & colleges in our locality asking them what they need, may not be money they may be needing even our time, our expertise which will benefit students. Here, again answer my question honestly to yourself, when was last time you did something by spending your time & money for any school or for any NGO, any organization, which is not run by any powerful person, I have done & trust me no more joy than that! I have delivered lectures in front of hundreds of school kids about wildlife making them aware about its importance in our life & trust me it has given me happiness & respect & honor along & in the long term it has been helpful for my business also, which I considered as a byproduct! Sorry, I am not boasting myself but explaining to you the way to honour & respect for the entire industry & not for individuals! Today, take a look around & even in a city like Pune which is dear to millions for their career or well being, you will find thousands or lakhs of people who need so many things just to survive on their own & if we think govt is there then we are fooling ourselves! Right from funding to poor kids for education to medical support to supporting wildlife researchers to environment awareness programs so many fronts of society there are people who are fighting for right cause & this is what real estate as individual & as group must look for, support the people who are doing something right for the society as that’s how people will support us! And this won’t happen in a day or even in a year, it may take years but slowly the change will be there & then you can proudly say yes, you’re a builder & this is the object of my sharing!

Guys, everybody of us has earned our bread & butter with our hard work & talent (and some luck) from our respective city as well we are blessed with nature & its our duty to pay back to the city & the nature in every possible way the way we pay development charges to our municipal corporation for every sq ft we build. Govt has authority to demand money from us on every front of real estate, the city (read as people in the city) & the nature doesn’t have any such authority on us, they just silently keep telling us their needs & if we ignore that silent demands then one day they too will neglect us, that’s what has been happening all along & we can change it! We must care for this city, people in it, trees around us, water bodies we have & act & see how the society treats us & media will follow as it thrives on people only! Many a times I come across on forums or platforms of wildlife or education where somebody says all builders should have been like you & I don’t take it as my honour but  insult as that’s insult of my fraternity, that’s insult of my profession & my only wish is no builder should have to listen this but shall be respected & honoured the way Tatas’, Birlas’, Nilkenis’, Premjis’ & all such names get respected in this country, & we only can change our character, adios with this wish!

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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/2025/12/pune-real-estate-in-2026.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/

Sanjay Dubri; Tigers, Sloth Bears & Bhawki Bazzar!

 

                                                              

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“The book of forest has no beginning, as it has no end. Open this book where you will, and at any period of your life, and if you have the desire to acquire knowledge you will find it of intense interest, and no matter how long or how intently you study the pages, your interest will not flag, for in nature there is no finality.”
― Jim Corbett

 

“Every time I go to the forest I come back as a happier person” … Me

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https://www.instagram.com/p/DXw99Pdk0U1/?igsh=MTR2eG92cDVqcWl0NA==     

The King !!

Its vast expanse of Sanjay Dubri (MP) and to locate a tiger in this forest is like finding a needle in the stack of grass yet its peak of summer & he must be around some water hole to beat the heat & the water hole without any other animal is a sure sign of presence of him around! Now it's a game of patience & wait, starts, he is relaxing in a cool shadow & he has seen you waiting in open in scorching heat with mercury touching 44 degrees & your luck shines as from the other side comes an elephant patrolling forest. He doesn’t like to be disturbed yet this elephant is just doing its job & didn’t know King is resting and marches on. He is upset as he has to leave his resting place & came out of hiding, his glare pierces through your camera lens, you can feel the burning heat of those glowing orange fierce eyes & thanks god that he is nearly 100feet away from you, yet you are happy also for the poses he gave...that’s what a King is... Trishul, Sanjay Dubri National Park. Summer of 26.

#tiger #mpforest #sanjaydubritigerreserve #mptourism #wildlifeconservation

 

This I posted on Insta, first thing when I came back from Sanjay Dubri & Bandhavgarh & trust me last year only I had been there in summers, & I was surprised when I found myself again in Dubri this May! Because it's nearly 1500km from Pune, I had some work in Pench so drove there from Pune & again ahead to Dubri, though the drives in Central India in summer (or in any season) doesn’t ever exhausts’ me as once you are on outskirts of Nagpur then everything is wildlife, such blessed is this part of our country. Though I won’t say the same thing about the people living here as its difficult life with extreme weather conditions & earnings are less, however you curtail your needs. And Sanjay Dubri is last end of MP which I have already mentioned in earlier sharing & terms like Growth, Development, Prosperity hasn’t yet reached here keeping all due respect to every govt in country & in State, which if is a boon for the wildlife but then is biggest challenge for conservation, is one of the aspects of my sharing. Speaking about wildlife, a lot has been changed at Dubri especially on tiger sighting which forest dept as well the die-hard wild lifers & conservationists may say, is not everything which actually is, for wildlife tourism. Unless we accept this fact, that tiger sighting is not taboo, we won’t ever be able to strike balance between wildlife conservation & tourism i.e. sustainability, high time for all stakeholders to understand! And this time I was with my forester group, has kept them not to expect much on tiger sighting but to enjoy the forest which really is something your head knows but your heart always craves for those yellow black stripes is a wildlife fact & then we were to head Bandhavgarh post Dubri, so we can cover our quote of tigers there, is also I told my friends. Because Dubri forest is very big & unlike Tadoba or Bandhavgarh there aren’t many meadows or open patches where you can have a clear sight of tiger as well thanks to the river Banas which flows through this park & provides enough water to the wildlife of the park even in mid summer! And as this park yet doesn’t have flood of tourists like other popular parks, the tigers here are not much used to the movement of gypsies was my experience from the last trip & barring the famous Mausi (tigress who put Dubris’ name of wildlife map), other tigers are pretty shy, I put in the heads of my forester friends well in advance. But this is where forests or wildlife are such a boon, blessing whatever you call it as with all such bracing for non-sighting of tigers what followed in Dubri was reverse of what I told i.e. we saw nearly six tigers in mere three safaris which was like super bonus as we were there to see the forests which of course we enjoyed a lot. This was peak summer of central India & as Sanjay Dubri is towards north (border of UP, Ayodhya is hardly 80km from here) the heat was scorching & tigers were rushing towards water. Though there is ample water inside the park yet as a tiger is an animal of habit it prefers some particular water hole & come there only for drinking or resting. To my delight a young male Trishul walked head-on toward nearly five to six gypsies which is like a twenty plus crowd on scale with tadoba & was unfazed by eyes looking at him, this was new & heartening to watch. This means, the tigers are accepting humans around them & continuing with their routine in presence of humans around & that’s one very big plus when conservation is the purpose through tourism, is my reason for sharing! Though most of other tourists were normal families (read as not professional or so-called tiger searching wild lifers) & its this class who must see the tiger in the wilds as then only they start loving wildlife & the word from mouths (read as social media) is what makes any place tourism paradise & I can feel Dubri rising on wildlife destination chart by looking at faces of those tourists!

And then for all three safaris we were roaming through expand of Dubris, absorbing its landscape & Banas rivers blessing for the forest & came across some wonderful wildlife experiences. My friend from earlier visits Mr.Babunandan who is deputy ranger accompanied us on one safari, sharing his experiences in conservation & his heroics in saving a captured tiger from forest fire around its enclosure. Those who have not witnessed a forest fire for them its something which engulfs hectors of the forest in minutes & the kind of fury it unleashes on anything which comes in its way is something no words can describe but to experience only if you are lucky to survive it. When most people’s & animal’s first reaction is to run as much away from such fire sight here was small man with no modern fire fighting equipment’s at hand, risked his life & saved the tiger, this is dedication & you can’t make someone do it for mere salary but it has to come from within, salute to Babunandan & his forest labours! With him we witnessed a young & shy male tiger chasing a pack of wild boars who were faster than a tiger & in a few minutes the tiger gave up the chase & found solace in a nearby water body. The place he chose to relax was classic hiding which only some expert eye can find & as usual just one small window was open to click the tiger & he was very much aware of our presence & was looking exactly at that window & smiling at us from it, must be laughing on our efforts to have a glimpse of him from a small window in the foliage around him! After relaxing for a while during which we were patiently waiting in the scorching heat the young male got up & started his journey, for hunting & marking together. He was a shy male not much used to vehicles & because there were two gypsies we could keep his track & finally we caught up with him while he crossed the road ahead us & went in to patch of forest where no motorable road was there. While being with this handsome & huge male tiger I realized one thing, all the time he was knowing we were around & keeping an eye on us but not once he came head on at us which usually many tigers do. He was always keeping us at his one of the side, very interesting behaviour I got to observe, though the guide & tourist from other gypsy who were regular visitors here said, its first time this male was given such long time sighting or else at the first hint of gipsy this tiger vanishes inside forest & it’s a good sign that he slowly is getting used to be sighted, this is how  tigers become habitual to sightings of humans & that’s good for wildlife tourism in a way & that’s coexistence too!

And best was yet to happen, as after chasing this male for nearly two hours we were slowly heading towards the main water body where we have sighted earlier male female tigers, suddenly we saw a black mass ahead on the edge of the road, it was a big sloth bear. I quietly tapped the shoulder of the driver & indicated to him to stay where we are & cut the engine as sloth bears are the most unpredictable animals in the entire forest & the only way you can click them is let them feel nobody is watching or disturbing them & then they move by their will. This one was huge male & for a while it stayed inside the foliage judging our moment & as it realized we are stationery it retreated & for a while we though we miss the opportunity to see him in clear but I was sure that it wanted to cross the road only thing is the bear will do it in its way so I asked driver to wait where we are & the moment sloth bear went behind us there was small hill in between I asked drive now to reverse a bit so the bear won’t know we also have moved! In minutes it emerged behind the small him on road & for a second it stood on its hind legs, a sight which I have wished for nearly two decades & witnessed finally in Sanjay Dubri, I didn’t know whether I was able to click that moment but seems I could what was more important is I saw it, that’s what forest is about, ticking our wish list!

Later on, we again bumped a very handsome tigress T17 & her subadult cub which is nearly grown up yet was seeking closeness with her mom which her mom refused as there was another male tiger in the vicinity who is not father to this subadult & she went away making he sub adult safe by keeping away from her. I wonder whether the young tigress understood the sacrifice her mom made as for a long time poor subadult was sitting in grass looking in the direction of her mom who never came, may be some days later she will understand what it takes to be a tigress mom when she herself will become one!  When we went back to resort  of MP Tourism’s, one of the best places right on the bank of Banas River, young RFO friend Mr Arpit Mairal came to meet us & shared his experiences which included rescuing a leopard which accidently went in to a kothi of a farmer family on the fringes of the forest. Such things indeed are common but imagine the tension they create as even a small honey bee if accidently comes inside our bedroom, I have seen people jumping & dancing like they have been stung by hundred bees & here a leopard is entering your home! This is why more of us must visit forests to understand what is wildlife as then only we can do our respective duty towards saving it, right?

With all such happening incidents, we left Dubri & there was a weekly bazaar of local villages called as “Bhawki” with many wonderful local items at sale & colourful dressed villagers & tribals negotiating at stalls, it’s a vibrant scene always such bazaars. I personally feel we must promote them aggressively as in European cities flea markets are a thing to be around & the concept is getting popular in our cities also, so why not the tourists experience the real flea market of locals & make it part of wildlife tourism. It's in such places you actually can experience the culture of people whose life is attached with forests, they too are part of wildlife, I hope my these words will reach somebody who will act up on them in the right way. It was late evening when we passed through this Bhawki bazar outside of Sanjay Dubri, there were voices of people, music & from long distance alarm calls of deer also was part of these sounds, this is coexistence; I smiled at myself & said adieu to Sanjay Dubri with a promise to come back soon!

 

We went to Bandhavgarh from Dubri & first I thought I must write about it in this sharing but then I realized it’s already been too long & then some things happened in last week at Bandhavgarh after I came back which also I wanted to cover, so wait for it in next sharing, lol!

Here are some Sanjay Dubri special sightings, you can check on link below…

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/coexistance_is_the_key/albums/72177720333421448/

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

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