Monday, April 11, 2011

Real Jungle & Concrete Jungle !



Choose only one master - Nature….Rembrandt

Friends,
Just back from a four days trip from Kanha & each time when I visit the forest, its refreshment which only the one who has experienced can only understand or share. And it’s a thing which one has to feel by himself & for that we need to be open with our own self to accept that feel whole heartedly. A times looking at the way our needs or rather greed, are encroaching the forests makes me fear about how many more years or days I can enjoy this feel or surrounding may be the visit is only for 3/4 days! And then the next thought is unavoidable i.e. the comparison with the jungle we live in!  Its Urban Jungle or Concrete jungle as few may call it.

In so many ways forests teaches us how to live together in real terms & behave also, rather what we call society or community living is best exhibited in forests. But for that we need to visit it often & with open mind! Here are few of the scenes which you can compare with our day to day experiences in a Metro…

A full grown male tiger crossing a grass land right in the middle of Barsingha group (its rare specie of dears & very favorite food of the tigers) without even looking at them! Because he isn’t hungry but thirsty, so was heading to water. The tiger only kills out of need & never out of greed & this is applicable to every animal in the forest. Nothing in nature happens without a purpose or just for the sake of an individual! That's the way a balance is kept in living & no one crosses its limit. And look how we behave in our jungle, size of a  2 bhk flat has gone to 1200sft to 1500sft when it’s easily can be fitted up to 1000sft making it impossible for common man to think of 2bhk.
Similarly in forest each tiger has his own territory of 10-12 sq km. This allows each of them to survive also maintains the balance of grazing animals in the area. And look at our living style, all are interested to have a flat in posh locality making the rates in a particular area go sky rocketing!  Thus eliminating chances of most to buy a home in that area, for e.g. Prabhat road or Koregaon park ! It’s our greed for more which makes us forget what’s our need & that’s why the real estate industry & people surrounded to it are looked up by common man from black goggle! It’s often talked about affordable housing but that does only can be achieved if we understand this concept.

Another example is spotted dears (chital) & monkey’s togetherness is a classy example of how one specie can help other to survive. The monkeys stays on tree tops & can see the Tiger coming from a distance & alert the dears at the same time when its thick jungle & visibility is poor & monkeys have come down on ground for food at that time the chital can smell the tiger from a distance & alert the monkeys. This is perfect living together example & look at our attitude in living in so called posh complexes. How many times in case any flat burglary happens we read the statement of the family living next door than we haven’t heard any sound as we were busy watching TV or we did heard some sound but we thought its usual thing! And the criminals flee away undetected! And we call our self a society!

Then I saw a Tigress walking right across some 20 vehicles with visitors & went for the kill of a dear, without getting disturbed by so many spectators & paying any attention to them! She was focused on the job & that’s the hunting for her hunger! Again when I am a developer & building home for my customers, I should be focused with that target without getting distracted from my main job & that is to give a good home to the person who has shown faith in me & my organization! How many times we see that? And it’s not applicable for the developers only but to all those who are connected with real estate industry & are supposed to make a proper infrastructure for the city keeping the citizen’s well being above all. Again it’s our attitude which is restricted to our own self that’s what making affordable housing impossible.

If you look at Kanha forest from any hi altitude, all you see is a sea of all shades & sizes of greens. Its perfect blend of tall trees like sal, various creepers, fruit bearing trees like jamun, mahua & the grass as well bamboos. The whole forest has a pleasant & fresh fragrance where we can’t separate out the individual essence. Can we see such view in our city where all sorts of houses perfectly amalgamated giving enough room for all segments of the societies & taking care of their basic needs for living? Well, we all know the scene but it’s us only who can make the scene change!

As the Rembrandt said Nature is the best Master but as a human being are we not going to prove ourselves the best student by learning from this builder? I think the answer has got the key to our feature.

--
Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo_power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !


Social Side of Sanjeevani !



Think Green, Think Life

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Kanha, Battle of the Grens !



http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157626440314242/

Plz click above link to visit my kanha trip snaps.


Every time I have some moment on a sea shore, or in the mountains, or sometimes in a quiet forest, I think this is why the environment has to be preserved… Bill Bradely.

Friends,
Just back from a four days trip from Kanha & each time when I visit the forest it’s a refreshment which only the one who has experienced can only understand or share. And it’s a thing which one has to feel by him & for that we need to be open with our own self to accept that feel whole heartedly. A times looking at the way our needs or rather greed are encroaching the forests makes me fear about how many more years or days I can enjoy this feel or surrounding may be the visit is only for 3/4 days! And then the
next question follows, what I am doing for preserving this
wonderful treasure which god has given us? Yes it’s this  question which  makes me upset & I think that’s the start of every change to our own
self. Jungles, keep apart the hypothetical aspect, has given many of us
immense moment of joy, may it be watching a tigress moving for kill or
an eagle taking a flight or a blue jay flying over grass flaunting its
exorbitantly shining blue range or even a large spider making its web &
awaiting prey! Watching all these & keeping guessing about what new
scene the next road turn is going to get unfolded in front of my
eyes, its more suspense than a Hitchcock thriller ride in jungle!

In so many ways forest teaches us if we keep our eyes, brain & most important the interest open to what it’s showing to us. For example I saw a tiger going right across the full heard of Barsinghas (its tiger’s favorite prey) & yet neglecting them like they don’t exist & heading to water hole as he was thirsty & not hungry. And then in other instance a tigress moved ahead for a kill towards a heard of spotted dears focusing intently on the prey & neglecting nearly 15 odd gypsy’s & aprrox 100 tourists watching her, that all commotion didn’t hurt her focus from the target! What we learn from all such incidences in forest depends up on why we are visiting the forests.
So much to learn as in forest nothing happens without a specified purpose & all the elements even the trees stick to the purpose. This is what the major difference is between human beings & other species. We are always looking for something more than what we have & neglecting what we deserve & what’s our real need is!


This all not only needed to be preserved but has to make it grow more.
Recently in Green Earth Summit 2011 our Hon. Environment & Forest
Minister openly & frankly admitted that it’s impossible to take the
percentage of forest cover to the ideal mark of 33%, all thanks to the
continuous growing population of our country which will be reaching to
120 crores this census! It’s not just our need but the greed which is
the biggest threat to the forests & unless we don’t curtail it or find
the means for doing so it’s the Jungles which will be going to loose
the battle with the men! Urbanization is an issue & it’s making
constant encroachment on the easiest prey that is the Jungle. We can’t
blame the people doing so as it’s easy to comment or speak patriotically
by sitting in our AC cabins in Metros. Ask those all millions who don’t
have a roof of their own on there head & they will see give away your
trees, give first shelter to us! We need to find answers for our
growing population & their long term future there only lies the future
of the forests.

When ever we say "Save Forests or Save Tiger”, it’s not what we are
saying, it’s what we are doing for what we are saying is what matters
most. It’s not a single specie or an area we are looking at, its the
entire system which needs to be modified. Like I always laugh when I
hear the appeal by many even the leaders " Corruption hatao"! To whom
we are kidding! Corruption is within us & that’s why we are unable to
remove it from others. Here I may sound hypothetical but then so is
the topic in itself. My words may not be true for all but think over
them & see on the scale of analogy & you will realize some where we
are also part of corruption, sometimes with will sometimes without
will. Same is applicable to "Save Forest" moment. How many of us have
done in any way to increase the Green Cover ,leave apart Saving
Forests! Frds, first act something on the front by our own, get failure
even after trying sincerely & then criticize others. Many of us go to
the forest places like Kanha or Corbet. Usually the jungle safaris
starts at 6am in morning, so you have to be up by 5 am something & you
get the hot tea ready along with break fast delivered at your room
before you ready for the safari. Have we ever noticed the local boys
who mostly are the room attendants which usually are local village
boys. Have we ever given a thought in morning cold these boys have to
wake up at 3.30am something daily to make your trip comfortable. Many
of us may be tipping them few bucks have we thought of making their
life comfortable? We can give them of thermal wares or shoes!
Ultimately forest isn’t just trees or animals, as I said earlier its the
system or the surrounding & our such acts will definitely help some where
strengthening that system as these are the peoples which are going to
decide the faith of the term forest. As if they are under paid they
wont look after forests but will encroached on them is a fact. And it
will be us who despite being capable of doing something hasn’t done
anything. Theirs is genuine need to survive where as ours is greed
this makes us neglect the real need & full fill the same.


Here I remember the famous Hollywood movie Matrix in which there was
shown a constant on going war with Machines/Programs against the
Humans & humans on the verge of loosing it till a super guy Neo comes
& save them eventually! Well is fine with movies, in real world no
such individual Neo is going to be there & the Greens are fighting the
loosing battle against human beings. But yes, there is one such Neo in
each of us which we need to wake up by our own self & let him go on
the mission of surviving the Greens in our own way. Then only the movie
will be a Happy ending or else the Tragedy is written on the wall!


--
Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo_power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !


Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157626440314242/
 



Think Green, Think Life