Plastic Ban, Clean City & Punekars!

“Civilization is the distance that man has placed between himself and his own excreta.”... Brian W. Aldiss.

Brian Wilson Aldiss, was an English writer and anthologies editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. And indeed going by the all recent sci-fi movies our planet's biggest enemy won’t be any alien with their eyes bigger than their head types but our own generated garbage which Aldiss is referring as excreta & yes majority of it will be plastic! There had been many science fiction movies where everything was shown made up of plastic even trees & with the rate we are going sure it wouldn’t have been long for us to live that kind of life, so rampant is our use of plastic! We human especially Indians are a funny specie as we care even for single rupee for saving while buying vegetables & then we live as if there is no tomorrow, caring a hoot about nature or any such thing! Few decades back when plastic (read carry bags or bottles) was not so common I remember to going to the vegetable market with my father carrying cloth carry bags from home as well we used to take along steel Tiffin boxes & steel water bottles, at the most aluminum to the schools. But nobody noticed when all these traditional things got outdated (read out-fashioned) & there was plastic everywhere; well nobody noticed means human, nature was taking notice silently in its own way!

And this plastic named poison, as anything in excess is poison & plastic also isn’t exception to this law, was not just problem of so called big cities like Pune; if you visit any small village which are usually bordered by a stream or river or nallah on both entrance & exit to the village, you will find mounds of all sort of plastic waste aligned near these natural water flows. Reason is simple here in Pune at-least somebody (read PMC) comes at your door steps & collect the plastic waste but who will do this in towns & villages but nature! Confused, well, all this plastic waste keeps on getting accumulated along the banks of natural water bodies till monsoon & then rains brings floods & floods washes away all the plastic stuff further down polluting rivers & finally the oceans!  For years this was a routine but seems 24^th May will be historic day as on this day our State declared ban on plastic of all forms especially carry bags, plastic containers, bottles & yes hoardings flex showing us happy (read ugly) faces of our self proclaimed leaders!

No two minds about the damage to entire environment by plastic but a ban without any fall back is the issue which common man is facing! Our govt is that way very active, when it doesn’t find a solution to some problem it declares ban; may it be stopping new constructions due to water scarcity or banning guthka sale i.e. form of tobacco (by the way production is not banned) or this latest plastic ban all are examples of govt’s inefficiency in a way for not being able to find proper solution to the main cause of the problem! For example we consider our Pune city is smart city as well we are ranked as number ten, amongst all the cities in the countries on the chart of cleanliness! Well, Indore ranks first in cleanliness & I haven’t been there recently so I can’t imagine the comparison between Pune & Indore but then why cleanliness needs any comparison as something is dirty & something is clean, it doesn’t need any scale to measure! And all those Punekar’s with or without famous (now infamous) “Puneri Pagdi”, is our city clean really & free from plastic waste? Ask this question to our-self & then pat our backs for being 10^th cleanliest city in the country! Every day I walk on the streets of this city & one look I have on the garbage collecting truck drivers & workers on that truck & even “pity” isn’t the word enough to describe their faces, as what kind of life these people has to live because of we the “Shameless Dirty Punekars!

The problem with our city is not plastic or garbage but our attitude towards dealing the garbage! Consider the western countries, they too have problems with plastic & such stuff yet I don’t remember any country even USA which is inventor of plastic has ever required to ban plastic or any other material. Because these countries have not only made their citizens available other recyclable alternative material for plastic as well they don’t have to fight over garbage depot type issue to take care of their day to day generated plastic waste!

The mistake that too repeatedly we keep on doing is we accept plastic is bad for environment but we don’t find alternative to replace it because it’s easier to ban use of plastic without giving a second thought what people will do for their daily needs! And then we have able & efficient govt departments which at such time very effective show their law & enforcement powers which otherwise are sleeping on all other fronts such as illegal constructions or encroachment on the footpaths or such public properties! Immediately the squads are formed & started raiding people (read shopkeepers) mostly smaller establishments & next day’s news papers are full with the amount of fines collected from various ward office range squads! Snaps clicked & dually published in media via public relation office of PMC as well other govt bodies. The question I will ask is what all these so called efficient govt departments were & are doing while every garbage bin on the road was over flowing with plastic waste & every stream, river even our oceans are getting dumped with all sorts of plastic by these very people of the society!  What efforts we have taken then to stop the pollution as out of world’s most polluted cities we have many of them & when we take competition amongst our cities it’s like running race between crippled i.e. handicapped persons (with due respect even the handicapped persons have more commitment towards fitness) & the we declare best amongst the cripples & pat our own backs! Have we got daring to take a competition with some city in Japan or Europe even with Dubai which is in backyard of ours on the scale of cleanliness & then see where we really stand on this front which is most important in urbanization?

As take a look at Pune city, it will overtake population figure of fifty lacs this decade but are we geared up to provide a clean & healthy environment for this population in first place? When we call ourselves clean city (again with due respect to PMC we are much cleaner than many other cities in the country) has the opinion of citizens taken care in account? Every day news-papers publish garbage bins over flowing on the roads & garbage being thrown in all corners of the city, under the bridge, on empty plats, in river bed, you name the place & you will find garbage there. Then take a look at our public toilets, I think after the garbage trucks another shameful sight is of our public toilets & still we call us cleanliest city! Whom we are making fool but our own self! Many will say how is this related to real estate, well it means a lot as a good real estate potential city must be clean & garbage free as that assures health of the citizens which unfortunately we don’t have. And why PMC at least it has some infrastructure in place what about PMRDA, has someone gone around & seen the scene of garbage in the so called villages under PMRDA, well if you haven’t then do go & then you will realize why we lack in urban planning! Because does it matter if a person is living in PMC or PCMC or PMRDA as these are the notional boundaries defined for administrative purpose of govt, practically all is Pune region, so how can one PMC ranks 10^th while PCMC ranks 43^rd & PMRDA hasn’t been part of competition of cleanliness (better or we would have been required to find the place in that chart)!

Need of the time is like water, make cleanliness as core part of everything right from education to every private & govt work establishments, as to keep a city clean you don’t need some garbage depot or garbage processing plant or garbage collection vehicles (“ghanta gadi” as they are popularly known as) but you need a clean attitude & that of every citizen, which exactly is missing from the city!  Form enough squads not just for fine people with the plastic carry bags but to that every person who makes this city dirty & do it regardless of that person’s position or status! And before that first make the people aware about their role in cleanliness, then give them alternative for things like plastic & then punish them if they still don’t improve; is the way we make a city clean & for that we doesn’t need any competition. And the one most important fact in managing garbage we are forgetting (read our govt) & that is ever growing population as who generates the garbage but we the people & what are we trying to control the population as that is main reason of ever growing garbage may it be plastic today tomorrow there will be something different! As more the population then considering our basic needs of living we are going to generate waste in all forms, if we really want to curb the waste at source then do it at root level is population, which we are turning a blind eye on!

As do we need to compete in any competition for making our own home clean, no, is the answer then why we need it for city, is the question we should ask! And here CREDAI or MBVA which are real estate people’s organizations should take the lead as it’s like watering a tree by birds (which poor specie can’t do by their own home) as if we make this city more better then only it will become more livable & do I need to explain the so called business minds in real estate, who will get benefitted if the city becomes more livable! As it’s not the numbers which will define our rank in cleanliness but the actual condition of our rivers, streets & public toilets will tell that story, lets remind this fact to ourselves & the cleanliness drive starts from inside out & not vice-versa, so first start cleaning our mindsets & then only we will be able to make our city real clean!

-- 

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.in/2017/06/conveyance-unique-get-together.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

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

www.punecorporation.org

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Architecture, Balancing Creativity & Professionalism!!

“As we live and as we are, Simplicity - with a capital "S" - is difficult to comprehend nowadays. We are no longer truly simple. We no longer live in simple terms or places. Life is a more complex struggle now. It is now valiant to be simple: a courageous thing to even want to be simple. It is a spiritual thing to comprehend what simplicity means.”… Frank Lloyd Wright.

I have been always fascinated by architecture as the word is other name of creativity yet in the world of FSI, Viability the creation part has taken back seat is a fact! Yet in a way it has added challenges in creativity is what I feel & in such time when your niece becomes an architect that too with second rank in her college, I felt like sharing my love for architecture with her & here is outcome…

18 6 18

“A professional is one who does his best work when he feels the least like working.” … Frank Lloyd Wright.

Dear Baboo & now Architect Ms Shruti Mahajan,

It feels amazing to write to the moody, temperamental, small girl not only has become a full-fledged architect but with flying colors & first of all congrats to you, as getting second rank in hundreds of girls, that too in a professional course like architecture is not small feet to achieve! And whose words other than one of the all time greats in architecture I could have used to share my feelings with you when now the basic education is over & your real journey in the field of architecture which is other name of creativity, starts which strangely is called professional world. Baboo I always wonder, when compared to other professions like CA, Advocate (you have one very much in your home), Doctor are few well known, and how architecture can be linked with it as a profession! Because professional is attitude towards the job at hand & even Frank Lloyd says in his quote when you least feel working yet you deliver its best; this I can understand being an engineer myself which also is a branch of consultancy as professional because not necessary that in all rest of the above mentioned professions you must like the job! May it be a legal case or medical emergency or filing returns & saving tax, these all are the jobs where emotions gets ruled by the hard facts of the life but architecture is different, its blend of creativity versus delivering the results to  your client i.e. profession! And that’s why this is most wonderful & challenging profession as you have to give justice to your clients needs (read demands) & at the same time you can’t allow the creative you within get killed while you fulfill needs of your client!

Baboo, long back during your admission days when I started interaction with your teachers, I asked your Princi one question, how come every successful architect is a philosopher as the way I used to read quotes by the names like Charles Korea, B V Doshi, Frank Lloyd, Frank Gehry & many more; one thing I realized these guys speaks about life more & not about bricks- mortar & plans, which actually is there life as a professional! Your Princi smiled (in his special way) & said it’s actually reverse, they all are philosopher first that’s why they become successful architects! Well my respect for the Princi did grew a lot that day as it’s like you keep on banging a door to somebody open it from inside & then a person passing by makes you realize its actually closed from outside only & you only can open it in a moment! It was just like that for me about architecture by the way let me share with you, I too wanted to become an architect (no I am not even a bit of philosopher by myself) but any building or say project or structure is creation of an architect first is what I believed. And thanks for that belief to Ian Rand’s “Fountain Head’ & the iconic architect’s character in it, yes Harvard Roark, & I was not the only one who wanted to be Roark! Though there will be always a debate that it’s an engineer who makes that creation possible in reality but by me you can’t build something which hasn’t thought of in first place! There is a famous story in Panchatantra where three young men travelling together find ashes which actually are remnant of a girl’s burnt body. Each of those men has one super power, i.e. the first man can recreate the subject from the ashes, so he tries his power & the ash took form of a girl. The second man can decorate or say make clothes out of anything, so he make that body clad in finest of jewelry as well clothes, transforming the mere body in a beautiful lady. The third man has power to bring back the dead & give them life, so he uses his power & make the girl alive! Now when the girl is alive, looking at the beauty they all think of marrying her & the debate starts between them, that who has got right on her? As they can’t conclude whose power is more effective to have his claim on the girl whom they have rejuvenated together! So they took solace to a wise man & after sharing the story of the girl asks him which of them can marry the girl? The wise man after listening the story tells to the first man, you have given her form which she belonged to as well the second man indeed has given her clothes & jewelry to make her look beautiful but it’s the third man who gave her life as that’s what most important aspect of any living person, so he is the one who should marry her! (Pardon for the girl as nobody asked her choice but it’s a story after all). Role of the architect in making any project is like the last man i.e. it’s the architect who give life to any structure by his/her touch & that’s why for any project architect is true owner of the same!

Coming back to the philosophy aspect which I don’t know whether was part of your syllabus or not, yet mind one thing unless you understand life you won’t be able to bring the same in your designs. And here is where great architects differ from normal architect (with due respect nothing wrong being normal) what I meant is this is why some buildings or say structures stand out from others as one look at them & you can feel the life in those structures, may it be as mechanical structure as even a bridge! Baboo every structure has a soul just the way living objects has got & it’s the people using the structure who makes it livelier as why we design any structure in first place but for the people to use it, so it’s the people about whom we should think of before designing any structure! As there are two aspects of creativity, one is which you design for your own-self but not necessary it will ever come to existence as you need to have a taker for the same (read client) & another is how you use this creative self as per the needs of your client. I will call this second aspect as creative professionalism & I think this is what Frank Lloyd was referring to, as there will be times when you won’t like the needs (read demands) of your client in very first place yet you have to give your best creative mind! And in such case to create something on those lines is the most difficult job as how can you create something which you don’t like? Well, that’s life of an architect is what you have to learn now; though this doesn’t mean all the time you have to do against your likings but first you have to create a position for yourself in the profession where let people (read clients) understand your creativity, make them respect it by creating the structure beyond their needs i.e. giving more than their imagination & then you will reach to a position where whatever you create will be considered as your clients need! I think then that doesn’t remain just a professional success but it will be success of Architect Shruti! 

One more thing, once you accept the tag of creator then do mind it comes along great responsibility & in present times the biggest responsibility is towards nature! As under the name of development, growth, modernism we are perfectly destroying nature in all forms, may it be green cover or thousands of species which are endangered now courtesy we the creator. Because if we are carrying the glamour of being a creator of any structure then we only should carry the guilt of displacing nature for our creation & to understand this you should spend time with nature as do you know who is your biggest or most valuable client, well its nature! And it may not pay you in Rupees or Dollars but it will pay you in a currency which will last ever & that is inner peace! Of-late if you have studied works of any so called philosopher architect (I deliberately didn’t said successful architect) then you will realize he or she has inspired by nature in their work & they generous enough in giving due credit to the nature for their inspiration! And then only those structures have been survived on the scale of time which has not just accommodated but become part of the nature!

Lastly how you consider yourself a successful architect is the question I will want you to ask yourself! As unless you have clarity about the answer of this question, you won’t reach to your destination in this profession. As these are times where success of your work is counted on money you make, whatever profession you may be in! I am not against making money but the time you realize money is not everything, you have lost something’s which that money can’t ever buy & I don’t want you to make that loss in the balance sheet of your life! And one more thing whenever you will be visiting your crated structures as a user you should be happy & at peace while doing that as that only will make the architect in you proud!

Yes one last thing, I know the hard work you have put in while you achieved this degree but never forget when you were awake whole night to complete your drawing sheets, it’s not just your two but six eyes in total were wake with you & the other four eyes were of your parents, so when you draw any line on the paper just remember those four eyes will be always looking at you, make them proud as you will be always Arch Shruti Nitin-Punam Mahajan, though the middle name will be always silent! All the best & looking ahead for visiting your project site soon…

Sanjay Kaka

-- 

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.in/2017/06/conveyance-unique-get-together.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

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

www.punecorporation.org

A Bhasmasur Named Illegal Construction!

“We don't seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business?”... Will Rogers.

William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers was a stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, American cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator from Oklahoma.  William though at best of sarcastic way has hit the nail on the head of not just present but every past (and may be future) govt’s in our country & for those who are die hard govt fan (there are always of ever  govt) for them as they must have missed a news which does made head line but forgotten soon! In April 18, at Kasauli, in State of Himachal Pradesh, a place which is famous for its scenic mountain ranges & known as tourist’s paradise, one hideous crime happened in day light. A lady assistant town planning officer named Ms Shail Bala has been shot dead by a hotel owner. And her only fault was she was there to demolish the illegal construction done by the said hotel owner & that too by the order of Supreme Court & yes she didn’t accepted the bribe by this hotel owner to turn a blind eye towards the Supreme Court orders  as well towards the said illegal construction! That’s it, seems the assistant town planner was real fool as why she has to bother about what a black coat wearing judge sitting some hundred miles away in Delhi was going to do even if she wouldn’t have taken any action on this hotel? Rather she should have happily accepted bribe which would have been not only saved her life but her summer vacations could have been wonderful in some Dubai or Singapore type destination! Instead the fool entered in to argument & tried to show honesty & got a bullet in return & now what? Govt wasn’t ready even to arrest the killer hotelier & claimed he fled away but again some judge in Supreme Court got the news of this incidence & on his persistence (read Supreme Court’s) somehow police caught the shooter in a city from nearby State & now the case will start. Hope there will be some witnesses who will stood by what they saw & the truth & someday the killer will get due punishment for his crime!

Now many people will say, what’s the link between the heading of this write-up as well the quote I started with & the incidence above! Like in some movie super star Shaharukh Khan has said , “Bade bade shaharome aise chote chote hadse hote rahte hai” i.e. in big cities such small mishaps keeps happening & here even the city is small so why make so much fuss about it? Well, the town kasauli may be small & there might be just one life lost (sorry Shail Bala, you have taken birth in a country where value of one life really nobody cares, that’s why I said just one life) but the message it has sent around which will reach to ever small & big town along with the Metro cities in the country is so loud & clear that only the blind’s won’t be able to see it & the deaf’s won’t hear it; unfortunately from “Galli to Delhi” every govt is full of both i.e. blind & deaf! And the message is for every that person in the system called govt who thinks they works for so called law (yes Shail Bala proved that there are such fools around yet) & for those persons too, who loves to be other side(read wrong side) of the law! And the message for the first category i.e. so called law protectors means officers & law abiding citizens is, please never put your neck in the matters of illegal constructions, stay out of it or the very same neck can get hurt even cut! And any way it’s just matter of few months as in every State of this country there are more illegal constructions than legal ones is a fact & every govt (whatever political party they may be of) eventually regularize all the so called illegal constructions ignoring Hon Court’s views about the same. So why risk your life for demolishing something which is going to be legal by the govt itself of which you are a servant, is the indirect message sent to all so called law abiding govt servants by this shooting!

And the message for the latter category i.e. for all the persons which are on wrong side of the law (well now days it’s really difficult to define which is right side of the law) is, don’t worry, keep doing what you are doing i.e. not following any law while you build your hotels, dhabas, buildings, factories or whatever you want to build. Just go & make money by what you build, no need to take any tension of any guidelines by any govt department, may it be Urban Development, Pollution Control Board, Revenue, City Survey, Electricity (I still love the term MSEB), Police & even so called Supreme Court! Just don’t bother about any environment or nature conservation types things, as do mind it’s not green color of the nature but the green currency in your pocket is going to make you happy, so just don’t bother about anything & yes shoot the person who is objecting to your noble (not illegal) cause behind whatever you have constructing as that’s what they deserve; as how can they be so cruel towards a person like you with has so noble intentions of just feeding your family & creating employment! So why does it matters if in doing so you end up breaking some stupid norms of construction set by some planning authorities & courts & violate the same! And then going by the precedence about our  “mai baap’’ govt’s soft corner towards the so called illegal construction you have done, just relax, right from some local elected corporator to Hon CM to even opposition party leaders, all are with you & keen to relieve you from the tension that you have build something illegal! So these all will be making every effort to regularize your construction till that time you can use all the tricks you got to keep some foolish, honest officer like Shail Bala away from your construction. Have you not seen the hit movie, “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, where the builder Boman Irani puts a wallet full of currency & a gun on table in-front of a Municipal officer who was not sanctioning his plans of anew project & asks him, “ye wallet & ye bullet, boal kya leke sign karega?” Means either choose bullet from the gun or take money a (as bribe), in either way you have to sanction the plans! Needless to say in the movie the officer was shown wise so he chooses wallet & clears the plan, seems Shail Bala hasn’t seen the movie or she too could have chosen wisely in Kasauli & saved me from writing this piece!

Well, well, I am extremely sorry for all above words but please do mind I have written it just like Will Rogers i.e. sarcastically as the entire situation sucks, especially when you look around not as a developer or engineer but even as a common man! As I came across one more news & it’s about PCMC (Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation) standing committee i.e. a body of elected members which decides development fate of the city, has take a decision that in eight suburbs of PCMC no new constructions will be allowed because PCMC is unable to supply water for booming constructions in these areas! Simply great move as logically yes, any sane person will say if you are not able to give infrastructure as basic like water then why allow constructions here in first place! But what we are neglecting is this is not judiciously taken decision but just passing the buck of responsibility of providing infrastructure. Because this  development is not something PCMC or for that instance any planning authority hasn’t dreamed about, this is their job & they knew about the upcoming developments right when they sanctioned DP i.e. development plan of the city! So if you have painted something yellow on a DP (read marked as residential zone) then whose job it is to provide infrastructure like water, drainage, roads to this yellow patch? And what about the developers who has bought lands in these areas only after confirming that they are in residential zones! And more than that its only in these areas where infrastructure is yet fully developed lands are bit cheaper & most home buyers can get a home in their budget & if you are not allowing any new constructions in a hasty decision taken over night then what alternative than going to build illegal structures is left with the people? And this is not something unique as history of our urban planning is full of such jokes where first you strangle someone to death & when the guy retaliate as defense to survive you call it attack on system & name him outlaw which is illegal construction in the law of court!

By no way I am justifying illegal constructions & in no case attack on a govt officer performing his duty can be considered as right yet why people tend to go extreme has other side of coin too! There is a famous dialogue in Hindi cinema, “insan gunahgar nahi hota, halat use majbur kar dete hai!” Means nobody is criminal by birth but it’s the situation which forces him to become one & indeed there are exceptions to every law, illegal constructions also have such personalities & many of them. There are some people which are born criminals & who go on building illegal constructions just making it their core business but then the very same system named govt allows such criminals to survive & grow is equally true! And looking at such people’s prosperity as well with  a sanctioning system which is ever changing as well nearly impossible to follow many other people follows track of illegality is a fact which we can’t turn a blind eye on! And why the person who shot Shail Bala, have we not witnessed attacks on the encroachment squads by the mob that has been on duty of demolishing in the cities in our very State? And in many such cases the elected members have been found provoking the mob to attack on the officers on duty, so what action has been taken on such elected members, is the question I will ask! Agreed many will ask no illegal constructions or encroachment happens over night so what the concerned officers were doing at such time yet one wrong deed getting permitted doesn’t ever makes it right is a fact! Only thing is the Shail Bala case must have been opened eyes of many such officers who allowed the killer illegal construction named demon (just like  Bhasmasur form our mythology) to grow so big in their respective jurisdictions. As now this illegal constructions demon has become so big & courageous that it doesn’t mind using bullet if wallet therapy fails, on the protector of the law itself! The solution to kill the demon named illegal constructions is not just to find & punish the murderer of Shail Bala, which eventually will happen. But solution lies in making a system which clearly defines what is legal & what is illegal & decides it fast as well gives permissions in fastest possible time if you are doing legal construction. And once something is declared as illegal then also within no time & without any mercy demolishes the so called illegality.

High time for every person around to check our attitude towards right & wrong, as finely what is govt but a reflection of our own faces collectively! It’s always easier to blame govt for any wrong thing happening around but we conveniently forget that we are that govt in first place! Today one assistant town planning officer has given her life to stop illegal construction in some remote place named Kasauli in State of Himachal Pradesh but tomorrow it can be anybody from your own family in your very own so called safe city & that tomorrow is not very far away is all I will like to put forward!

-- 

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.in/2017/06/conveyance-unique-get-together.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157627904681345/

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

www.punecorporation.org

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

JEE, CET, NEET Vs Happiness!

“Believe me, my journey has not been a simple journey of progress. There have been many ups and downs, and it is the choices that I made at each of those times that have helped shape what I have achieved”... Satya Nadella.

The boy from Hyderabad is an Indian American business executive. He is the current Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014. With salary $84.30 million per year & net worth of $ 1.34 billion, Nadella attended the Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet before receiving a bachelor's in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology (then part of Mangalore University), in 1988  Nadella subsequently traveled to the U.S. to study for a M.S. in computer science at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, receiving his degree in 1990. Later, he received an MBA from the University of Chicago. No wonder it’s the dream stories like Nadealla & Sundar Pichaii of Goggle which has made the month of June more awaited for terms like JEE, CET & NEET than Monsoon for the country which was known for its agricultural heritage few decades back! There are still few poor souls who are ignorant about these terminologies well for them, JEE; CET & NEET are the short forms of entrance exams which are gateway for the studies abroad as well for branches of engineering & medical. These exams are now a day’s conducted at Central (country) level across the country & if you qualify them then only you can think of becoming Nadella! Obvious that more than the students their parents are more stressed as in our country main aim (goal of living) of every generations is not about self thinking but to secure our next generations future  & for that they are ready to ruin theirs as well their kids present! No more now kids awaits for 10^th or 12^th standard’s results, they are still important but they are of no use to get you a ticket for or so called elite courses. The moment JEE’s results are announced news papers are filled with the full page advertisements of toppers which are claimed to be from more than one number of coaching classes & parents rush to stand in queue for these classes! We the Indian parents are really unique specie, first we make the our son/daughter ride on wave of competition & make them try like its last exam of their life & when they couldn’t succeed then we are worried about them for falling down from the very same horse & run to the counselors to pull them out from the depression created by not performing to expectations (don’t ask whose expectations)!

I don’t mean that there should not be competition neither I am against of any parent thinking about bright future of their kid, I am also no exception to that but are we really prepared for this grind is what I will like to ask & what cost we are paying just to make our son score something big in such entrance exam, is what I will surely ask to all the aspiring parents! Whether the pattern of this exam is right or wrong isn’t my jurisdiction as our generation has seen only one exam type thing & that was Board’s exam, at 10^th & 12^th, that was all which was supposed to be the qualifying criteria for higher education but with every branch & institute having their own entrance exam, somewhere we are killing the students appearing for the same is what I feel. Agreed many will say this is one way creating many opportunities for the students instead going by just one exam but then one can always take second chance, just the way it used to be in our times for 12^th!  My point is, why some branches of education should be monopoly of just few minds, don’t you think it’s high time that our country’s rulers should think on this aspect of education! And if every better brain goes to some branch of engineering or medical because it milks more money than other branches which we call as successful career then are we not killing improvement of other branches like pure science or arts? Because of all so called JEE, NEET, CET qualifiers goes to abroad, engineering or medical (99% of them do go) then have we thought what is left for all other branches in the country & what will be future of those branches as education as career? Its only the good brains in a particular branch is what makes that branch flourish further ahead & we are neglecting this very fact of development of the knowledge tree by focusing all our so called vision around just two or three branches of the tree named knowledge! I won’t blame the parents or students as, “what you do with a commerce degree or arts or science degree?”, is the question often asked when any student decides to go for these branches. And I think this question shows failure of our rulers on the front of education; because a society is made up of every branch of knowledge & not just by engineering & medical! Just the way a fertile land (read soil) won't remain fertile if only cash crops like Sugarcane or Grapes are sowed but you need all types of crops to retain the fertility of the land, same way it’s for education or going ahead say the culture of the society! Imagine what will happen if there are only engineers & doctors around then who will grow crops, who will teach us languages, who will keep our accounts & who will make us understand philosophy of the life?

I think need of the time is we as a parent must understand ultimately in any education it’s the knowledge which important & then comes the application of the knowledge to make the surrounding better world as that’s what success means! Indeed in the process salary package does count but if you know how to use you knowledge then salary does follow despite what branch you are in! At the same time make our kids know that competition is must but equally important is understanding our own capacities as well liking as one day you will have a million dollar salary package with the degree under your belt but you won’t be the happiest person around, sure that day you will realize even million dollars cant make you happy but that day it will be too late!

Sharing something I wrote to my niece after her NEET results as I think I want the kids around happy & not just successful & that’s duty of every parent around…

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8 6 18

dear rutul,

Congrats for doing good in 12th exam & NEET, anyways I never believed in one qualifying exams outcome defining you or any kid! By the way you might be surprised by receiving a letter from me but I like to share my views with kids as I write to  rohit, rohan as well my nephew & niece too much often! I have been helping your mom & dad about your BDs as well mbbs admission via some of my friends & let me tell you I am not writing you about becoming a doctor & how important it is to chose medical or any such line as I feel some paths are destined & all we can do is just push ourselves to our limits to give our best. It’s not important what field you chose but what you do after you have chosen any field is what defines you. Rutul I am diehard fan of cartoon movies rather animation movies & super heroes as they give me immense motivation. When all these kids were small, I use to take all of them together to every disney or pixar movies & still I do, surely will take you & aryan some time! Do you know what these movies like Zutopia or Good Dinosaur or even Avengers teaches me, that all you need is a good heart & sincere effort to succeed! 

And what our parents wants from us but we succeed on the path which we have chosen. Fortunately you genre doesn’t have to struggle the way you parents have required to do to find a footing in first place to stand & that’s no fault of yours as each generation has different challenges. Your generations challenge is you have options which we weren’t having & that’s what makes your job more difficult than ours! As your kaka all I will say is understand what you are & what you can do & don’t underestimate your own self as today you may chose an easy option just out of fear that difficult option you won’t be able to live by but few years ahead when you look back then you will realize you could have easily done what you feared as difficult! And remember one thing you can’t do with whatever power you have, that is you can’t change your past! Rutul, I have seen some life & do you know most people have failed not because they didn’t have capacity to perform but just because they didn’t have confidence in themselves that they can do it! 

So do think on the lines that how you can get best out of you & obvious the more hard the polishing machine the better shine a metal gets. Here polish machine & to be polished metal both resides in you only, that’s the best fun of life! Go ahead chose without fear & then you will realize life is wonderful & what more your parents can be expecting from you than you doing best in whatever you are doing! 

I will be sending you few letters I have written to rohan, as I write them on every birthday, do read them & then you will know all parents are same, so are all kids & we were also no exception for our parents only thing was we were lucky to have less options & we feared more to our parents than to challenges! All the best...

sanjay kaka

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    Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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http://visonoflife.blogspot.in/2017/06/conveyance-unique-get-together.html

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