Scroll of Success!

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Well, in life someday we all reach at a stage where we realize our kids have their own ideas about life & these ideas doesn’t math with our, especially most of my generation which is between 45-50 plus stage, is facing this situation! And that way our this genre is extremely lucky as we have been bought up when hours needed to spend just to tune in Radio Ceylon, on Wednesday 8 pm to listen Binka Geet Mala & now on one click of Gana.Com we can listen any song created in the history of Bollywood! One thing I have concluded by myself, one needs luck to come across such cross section of life but one needs to be luckiest to survive to digest this kind of exposure! That way this genre of today's which is born post 90’s have pretty simple life as they have grown up seeing all the tech-gadgets from their birth & they are born in Inter Net era where everything is available to everyone (except emotions), I don’t know it’s a boon or curse, as only time will tell that!

The major problem this has created is how to communicate with your kids who are now out of college or on the verge of completing their formal education which we call a degree! As the only thing our parents didn’t teach us is, to having dialogue with next genre; as neither we demanded nor our parents felt need of it, when we were growing up! So this is one field which each of us has to find his own way & I try to do it via movies, taking my kids along with their friends to every cartoon, animation as well super hero movie as these movies makes you & your kids come on a common platform & these references of movies you watched together, you can use as a dialogue with this genre. In one such I wrote to my son rohit, who was leaving to receive his MBA degree from UK, sharing it as somewhere some Mom or Dad can share my feelings…

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do"... Pele.

Dear dada,

No need to introduce this name to you as some things (read as some names) cut across the time i.e. through generation & Pele is one such name & that's why I chose his quote to write you when you are leaving to receive your MBA Certificate at Bornmath, UK. I hope you remember what I have wrote you when two years back you have left for your MBA & today when you are going to get honored as MBA degree holder then also I will be sharing same feelings, may be just the words are different. Beta as I said some things never change, same as fairy tales of Disney, its characters change, heroes change, princes’ names change, villains change but the story remains same & so does the moral of the story which is goodness always prevails over badness & love can open any lock in the world! Same is with games also, even when I was not born there was Pele & today you have Messi or Ronaldo as you idols but the spirit of the game of Football is same & so is the stories of these great names; now tell me how can my feelings towards you will change or my sharing! 

Dada, I would have loved to accompany you on this tour & so would have your mom (rather most) & rohan & aaji, abbu & neeta atay & bhikya , ketki too, but sometimes everything is good but the timing isn’t, so are these times. I might be even cancelling my outing with rohan due to some 11th hour events, nothing to worry just my presence is need here more, in case & you know I give highest priority to my duties & responsibilities than my personal pleasures as that's what makes you a man of character! Just remember getting a degree certificate in your hands doesn’t make you an MBA or any professional guy but how you use that paper i.e. knowledge it has got along, will define what you become eventually. One classic example is our beloved Po the Panda's Scroll in Kung Fu Panda, you remember that scroll for which Tai Lung is ready to fight entire world as he believes it contains ultimate knowledge of Kung Fu by which he can conquer the world; interestingly, the scroll is nothing but an empty piece of paper & this Po understoods & himself becomes Dragon Warrior! Well, I don't say knowledge or education is useless but it’s the application of that knowledge is what matters, never forget it! And the more knowledge you acquire the more humble & hungry for the knowledge you should become as that's what education is meant for! 

And one more thing whatever knowledge you have got via this MBA degree, never forget when it’s you receiving that degree on stage wearing the black gown, many faces in the background are the barer of that scroll which you will be proudly displaying! All these faces will never say they have won it too, but you must not forget that no success is individuals & most people have failed miserably even after being successful as they thought they only deserve their success!  Everybody has his or hers share of sacrifice & by walking on that share only you have reached to that dais on Bornmath Versity's stage & none of these people will expect anything from you in return just they will want to see you understanding real success! Life has been good to most of us & now all that counts is how we will be sharing that goodness to not so lucky people around & there are many of them, use your MBA degree for that more than your own-self! You are lucky to be able to do things what you want to do & chose a path which is hard but you can afford it & as your father what more I can wish but to see you reaching your destination & yet be happy, the later part is more important for me as I know many who has reached to their destination but only at the cost of their happiness & peace!

Well, I don’t know whether my words has reached to you or not even if you may have read them but just do mind when you will be handed over that Scroll of MBA on stage  & your batch-mates clapping around,  listen to the loudest clap which will be of your father & among the hundreds of faces waving below one with biggest smile (and tears in eyes) will be mine too; just wave back with a smile & it will reach me!

Love

Baba

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

https://youtu.be/al0NZ-7Zhq0

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

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.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

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/#

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

New Guardians of the Smart City!

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Dear new elected MLA’s of the Smart City,

“Ask a child's guardians what it takes to be good at their jobs, and most will answer with a single word... SACRIFICE… Brian K. Vaughan

Brian Keller Vaughan (born July 17, 1976) is an American comic book and television writer, best known for the comic book series like, The Last Man, Ex Machine, and Runaways etc. No wonder he can define role of a guardian in a child’s life in one single word! Well, when the child is a Smart City this is what the guardians need to be remember, yes I am referring to our newly elected MLA’s of the city which are in a way, guardians of the city also! The State Assembly elections are through & though we may not be having a new ruling govt but the city has got most new guardians barring a few & I felt like writing them as a common citizen which are part of this child named Smart City! Indeed these elections may be bringing many changes in the way things have been happening at HQ i.e. Mantralay but as a city our eyes, ears, nose (read all senses) will be focused on our guardians which we have elected & will be representing us up above! I don’t want to go in to debate regarding political parties because that’s something for contesting the elections & to win them but once you have won then your role for the city (read as child) is you must give everything whatever is necessary for the better upbringing of the child, just the way some times a mother has to play a fathers role & vice-a-versa! And a times one has to keep his or her personal agenda i.e. liking, ego, hobbies, passion aside for the child & this exactly is what we call as sacrifice by the guardian! 

Let’s take a look at the scene before these elections means before entry of the new guardians; I don’t say all was well (sub changa si, sagala chaan aahe) but the comparing to all other cities Pune is blessed on many fronts & you can’t take away all the credit from the earlier guardians for sure, well we are not as bad as them then, if we say so, isn’t it? We have one of the best water supply (not system, read as source) in compare to our size other cities. We have better education facilities here (even if paid). We have a public transport in place if not as effective as Mumbai yet it commutes nearly a million people every day & Metro is in coming! We have nearly twenty four hour electric supply, a perk not many cities enjoys in the State, though in rains it does gives some trouble yet we have fairly good electric power supply. We have much better road net-work, here many citizens will lift their eye brows but behold, go the other District places of mid size cities & then tell me the road conditions. We have a system in place which takes away our garbage & don’t ask what that system does with the garbage & how it’s generated in first place in so big quantity! The list of good things is quite big & yes we are one of the country’s & not just State’s largest employment generation center, this is very important aspect in upbringing of a child (read as city) as this aspects keeps many people migrating here & add in the wealth of the city in many ways for their living as well by their earnings!

Now after going through all such goody-goody things one will say then why the earlier guardians were rejected by the “janata janardan” & you are not wrong to ask this question! Well, I am not a political analyst but as the fact remains there are new guardians elected (read as selected) by the citizens means even after the big list above of the good things yet there is something missing which the city needs to have but hasn’t been provided & the child has retaliated through only one act it knows i.e. change of guardians! 

This is exactly what the guardians (read as elected MLA’s) must not forget & this can be achieved by forgetting the differences among themselves such as political party, rivalry, personal ambitions, old accounts with the opponents, taking the child granted & yes, greed (don’t ask of what); all these things were the age old reasons by which the earlier guardians have to go & in process the city has suffered a lot. As we have water in abundance but we don’t have proper water lines to carry that water to the homes of the citizens & thus we have new specie in the city i.e. Tanker Mafias (water tanker)! Then we have thousands of schools & hospitals here but where the quality of education & medical treatment is good those places are unaffordable for the common man is also a fact. We have a public transport system in place but its condition is like an old person in the family which exists but of hardly any use to the family members because of his poor health condition. We have good electric power supply but just like water supply systems, the power grids are inadequate making citizen to spend millions to get this supply in their homes or offices or factories, causing huge expense issues for the citizens who has to pay for this power grid from their pocket which is govt’s (read as guardian’s) job actually. And then whatever power line grids are there are of low quality causing continuous disturbance in the power supply as small rains also can damage the electric cables making the city go in darkness. We have road network but road conditions i.e. road surface  & monitoring of traffic i.e. signals , dividers, crossings etc is pathetic causing the city goes cripple not just in rains but any work or school hours on any day all along the year! Now it takes nearly two hours (or more depending up on your bad luck) to cross this city any hour of the time. And worst part most of the citizens need to this i.e. crossing the city for their every need may it be a job or education or health services or even recreation, such is planning of the city! And yes the city may be a much clean at first look but don’t get deceived, every now & then the garbage dump place gets in to controversy & you see heaps of garbage flowing all around. Decades have gone yet we have to find a dumping place for our city’s garbage & more than that we can control or treat the garbage without damaging peace (read health) of the people who lives around the place where you dump your garbage, is a fact! Same is the scene with public toilets of the city, just try by yourself using for your nature call & I am sure next time you will learn to hold the nature’s call also! And then there are safety as well security force's poor infrastructure aspect is there. As well ever damaging biodiversity policies which are ruining Pune's hills & water bodies (can't use the word river) of not just city but entire surrounding, so many other such issues are there! And then despite all the negativity, yet employment this city generates is still a positive factor, but then even an orphan also grows, that’s nature but how healthy it remains while it grows depends on its guardians!

And then the entire good & bad lists above about the city, is in a way responsible to the most important aspect of citizens, a Makan i.e. Home! As more & more people are migrating here in this city then their second need is home (first always will be employment) & here we are lacking extreme. Many will say, are there not thousands of flats (read as homes) unsold even ready possession & builders are running around screaming Mandi i.e. Slowdown in real estate, how can be you call home front as failure! Well, indeed thousand (may be more) flats are unsold & so are the many incomplete projects also there & it’s not a healthy sign for the city, because this slow down in real estate is due to uneven infrastructure this city provides to its citizens & not only because of the prices or over-supply of the homes available for sale. And that’s main reason just some three decades back when the illegal homes residents population (read as slums also) was hardly 15-25% of total population now this number has grown to nearly 45%, mean nearly half the population of this city resides in illegal homes & this is alarming for the guardians! As obviously nobody will like to stay in an illegal home or slum willingly & then time & again they will throw their anger on the guardians via only possible mean that is by voting against the existing guardians, may be just once in a five year opportunity! And then those who are residing in the legal homes they also if not getting the services they have paid for by their hard earned money (and lots of it). Current floods which made havoc for both legal & illegal homes is the classic example of the city’s guardians not looking after the citizens, where millions of families suffered in every possible way, may it be losing valuables or loss of dear one’s life or frustration due to traffic jams & power cuts!  These all citizens were going to revolt by voting against the guardians & this is what we witnessed in current elections!

This all scene our new guardians must study as five years will pass very quick & people’s memory is no more that short which media & rulers & so called business gurus’ thinks it is. The guardians (read MLAs’, MPs’ & Corporators’) who has been reelected they should thank their luck as the margins has reduced this means people are not that happy which once used to be as well the new faces has been given this as a responsibility or say faith that these new faces will change something on better side & this is where the Sacrifice aspect of guardianships comes in at city level. We look at you as guardian & that makes you responsible to the citizens & not to the political party of which ticket you have won the election! You will be needed to cut across the so called party walls & act united for the city’s wellness as well you must not be working for some group of the citizens but for the entire city’s greater good. And for that each of you must become part of the city as well make yourself available to the society & that’s only possible when you will understand the role as well definition of a Guardian & yes a Guardian is family member first, which in your case is citizen of this Smart City which has made you a Guardian! And when we say sacrifice then we don’t expect you not be ambitious or not grow by wealth or name or fame, just do mind these all are by-products of the duty you will be doing as a Guardian & not the objectives! That’s the sacrifice this city expects (read as demands) from you in lieu of the faith we have put in you all, just try to do your best & see the same citizens will keep on making you their guardians time & again; the examples are all around the State of such faces, this also the current elections showed us!

So, go on Guardians, all best wishes for your responsibility ahead as this country is a wonderful place where people loves & hates with equal passion; especially to the face which they calls’ (read as thinks) a Guardian. And then do mind just like we make our own Gods, we only make or destroy our Guardians too!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

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

https://youtu.be/al0NZ-7Zhq0

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

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.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

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/#

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

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Ek Diwali Bina Hungerwali!

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“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” … Mahatma Gandhi.

No need to introduce this name though of-late the great man’s name is mostly correlated with wrong things for e.g. Note i.e. currency & when the entire country awaits its biggest festival Diwali, you must be wondering why I used this quote of his to start my sharing! Well because while all the news papers are full of advertises of sale of every sort of commodity, bikes to watches to clothes & yes sweets too, we as usual forget to take notice of a news which was carried on inner pages under the burden of full page advertises & that was, our dear country ranking 102 in the list of 117 countries for most hungry stomachs! Great, isn’t it as I don’t know how else to react because on one side we are busy in deciding what we should do (read buy) this Diwali & make ourselves as well our family & friends happy by gifting them something wonderful but at the same time we have millions of people (who are our countrymen only) with empty stomachs & they don’t care for Diwali as they just worry for their today’s meal!

This is why I recalled Bapu’s quote & now I want to ask each of us, do we deserve to celebrate Diwali with loads of shopping, which in most cases is just because we have the money to shop! Let me be clear, I am not a Saint neither I want to make your mood dark by such philosophy, as each of us has his or her own struggles (read as problems) & if because of some occasion which we call a festival, we are going to forget our problems & be happy for a while, with some shopping which we can afford; then who the hail I am to object it, is the question many of the readers may ask & they are right!  I am not saying don’t celebrate, don’t shop or don’t spend on sweets & chocolates & don’t make your close ones happy by gifting them, all I am saying is while doing so just try to make one hungry stomach gets rid of its hunger! And you can see many of hungry faces around; all you need is, just think for one such face!

Friends, Diwali comes every year & by the grace of god most of us don’t need any occasion to shop or eat at exotic joints but for millions of people, Diwali just comes & goes, as for these people there is no such thing as festival, all they know is survival & that too by day to day! And at Sanjeevani we also started celebrations with Diwali Faral (eating snacks together with family & friends) but with all those associated with our work, clients, vendors, contactors & yes even the labors at site. We had one more guest with us & she was Sharada Sawant, a lady auto-riksha driver in Pune. She lives ina home near ambil odha (its 10ft x 8ft room) which accommodates her two kids & parents. This year’s monsoon floods saw her home got submerged with 10 ft high water, destroying whatever the family has. So we decided to help her financially, whatever we can from our side & make the family joins us in diwali faral. To our pleasant surprise, Vidarbha Wasi Pune Niwasi Sangh team (an organization for natives from Nagpur region in Pune) also joined hand & helped from their side financially to her, making our belief grow strong that a good work always gets supported by the society & there is still lot of goodness around!  

I didn’t shared story of Sharada Sawant here to tell how great or philanthropic we are but just to make people know, a lot can be done on Diwali for the real needy ones, along with our fun & shopping.  Just give a try & see how more joyful your Diwali can be & then we live in  a world where bad things gets publicity very easily & that’s the main reason we start thinking world has gone bad; so, sharing good things around is one sure way to curb the badness around, is what I personally think!

Many will say, what’s our fault if so many people around are with empty stomach or there are thousands of people who has lost their homes in disasters like floods & such lists of unfortunate souls is unending, what we can do about it! We have our problems & we do pay our taxes, so what the govt is doing & why we should be upset on festival thinking of all such people which is not our responsibility! Again you are right, its not your fault that there are so many hungry stomachs’ around but let me ask you, does our responsibility ends at paying taxes to the govt? Are we just identified by our Pan-Card number or the post we are working at & have we forgotten that we are a human being also, which makes us blessed with a quality named as humanity! And if we consider ourselves as humans then what are we doing to deserve being called as humans!  So, friends, this Diwali while you make yourself as well your close-ones’ happy, just make someone joins you in celebrations, who isn’t lucky to have a spending brother, sister or a friend like you are!  It will be great if you do it for ever (read year long) but then however long journey it may be, yet it starts with a small step, isn’t it? Let’s make this Diwali that small step towards a hunger-free world & then you have earned your celebration in true sense!

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

https://youtu.be/al0NZ-7Zhq0

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

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.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

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/#

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Master Shifu, Satya Nadela, Sundar Pichai & Po!

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“At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child's success is the positive involvement of parents”… Jane D. Hull

Satya boss,

Well with a dad named Bukkappram Nadela Yougandhar, IAS, sure you must be agreeing with Jane Hull & first of all sorry for loss of your dad. Taking liberty of calling you by first name as I presume we hardly differ in age by a year or two & indeed age is just a scale yet your personality doesn’t allow me to call you by Sir or something that formal! I am an engineer by myself & run a small construction company in Pune & knew you dad by his work he did from his post & that’s why when I read the news about his demise then I came to know he is your dad as well; the Nadela in the end says it!

That way, however successful we become or grow in age yet loss of any of the parent is something which damages us most as till one of them is around you are still a kid as they makes you feel so by their little acts, talks or even comments when it’s a dad! And when he is gone, suddenly you realize that now you are the man as while departing your dad has taken away that kid within, with him! Now who will doubt your capabilities of taking decisions, (even when you are CEO of Biggest Company) or make a nasty comment about something you have done calling you “junior” & yet admire your achievements to your mom when you are not around! Indeed you dad must be one of the most proud man while he left this world though he might not have acknowledged this to you ever, I guess from my dad’s experiance!

Actually I wanted to write you since many days, yet for each thing there is a time & though it’s unfortunate, the occasion yet as they say in our Hindu traditions, two things one shouldn’t miss to visit, one is marriage & other is demise of a family member! I am sorry its later part is the occasion to communicate with you yet when I came to know who the son of Mr. Yugandhar is, then decided to write to you! As with a legacy of public service & brain like yours, how come the boy didn’t choose to follow footsteps of dad, is also a question lingered in curious mind! And then the main object to write to you is about making the young genre here (read as in India) know about becoming Satya Nadela or Sundar Pichai, as unfortunately what this genre (read who are in teens or post grad age) lack most, is the idols i.e. personalities they can look after to become someday by themselves! We indeed have Ratan Tata, Kumarmangalam Birla & Azim Premzi & Narayn Murthi but sorry to say they all were our genre idols & we need someone who can connect to today’s younger lot & that’s what is missing! We need a guy (or a girl too) who can think clean & share the way to life & not just career with the students & passing out freshers, which are aim-less or say frustrated with the hardships they have to face once out of the safety of college campus! And this young genre is smart enough to know about latest gadgets as well detailed information about happenings around the world but on other hand, they are clueless about their own-self, is the fun!  These kids watch Kung Fu Panda & laughs at Master Shifu teaching Po “Inner Peace” but don’t know they also are searching the same; all they miss is Master Shifu, which you & Sundar Pichai can play perfectly! Here, the college kids who are perusing degrees are confused about future ahead & those who have a degree are scared of their future. My younger son who was doing a trainee job in Amazon as marketing junior, he has done his BBA & there were nearly twelve engineering degree holders in his batch of fifteen & all are holding to this job which was no way an engineering thing, just because they are not sure they will get a job of their respective field of which those kids has done engineering in! And such numbers are increasing everyday of the kids which actually are our future & they are not dumb or lazy, just they are scared as well confused & need someone to look at; here is where you two can make the difference!

That way your & mine genre was lucky as most of us had parents who were able to hold us whenever we fall or even if afraid of falling & to hold, I don’t mean financially but mentally! It’s our parents who gave us confidence that we can succeed on our own & need not have to have some big name behind us or a godfather’s backing to make it big. The real problem of today’s genre is they haven’t yet understood the meaning of success itself as all they think about success is it brings posh cars, big homes, fancy clothes & lavish parties but what it takes to reach there they are not bothered or not concerned! And here is where you can show them the path, it may sound a bit philanthropic & I know it’s not the time to say these things but knowing your father I think this can be best tribute to him is what I felt so dared to share! To my knowledge, he was Director of Lalbahdur Shastri Academy at Masoori which trains Public Servants of this country (IAS, IPS, IRS); an Institute where every year millions appears for its entrance exam (UPSC) to get admission here & only few hundred of them gets selected. The position you have reached, now you in your own way are Director of an academy named Hope! It’s jokingly said (I believe in it) our beloved country lives on hope & what’s hope after all but a trust, a belief that somewhere someone is there to hold us when we are falling or to show us light when we are blind by the darkness around! And who better than you guys can make the hope a reality as you are from this very soil, just like any boy next door (even with an IAS dad) & you have  reached to a level of which not just any Indian but even hard core USA boy would also haven’t dreamed of! USA is said to be land of opportunities & what exposure I have of that country, it may not be as rosy as it seems yet looking the scene here, its land where knowledge is respected & ideas are valued, depending up on not whose ideas are those but what difference it can make to the world to make it a better place to live! Biggest threat to this country is not some neighboring country but our biggest threat is youngsters in this country (please, dear fellow country-men take it in right spirit) are losing their faith in knowledge & ideas, as that’s why they believe in things like reservation in education & jobs as well regionalism are the only way to succeed! We need to make them believe in the power of goodness, knowledge & hard-work as well not to be afraid of having ideas & for that you are the best man!

And for this, I don’t expect you to leave USA & come here & join politics, as for that you both (read Sundar also) have entire Internet media at your service, all you need to do is get some time for this cause & have a regular dialogue with the kids here by some way. How, when, what, I am sure you are far more experienced & resourceful than me & I also know that to make even some time is big job as CEO tag of Microsoft or Google doesn’t come free, yet take this as challenge, Satya do you know, back here, after demise of any of the parent,the son undertakes some challenging task to make the soul of his parents rest in peace & what better challenge you can pay to the soul of Bukkappram Nadela Yougandhar than guiding kids from his (yours too) land to find their Inner Peace, indeed it will be best tribute ever paid to any dad by his son! ! That’s all wanted to share man, once again accept my condolences for your dad & do mind , your dad won’t ever wanted to take the kid within you along, with him; sure he must have left some part of it back in you, just feel it & share it with others! Don’t know my these words will reach you ever as don’t even know where to send it but I will sure try & yes if at all it reaches to you, then do share with Sundar Pichai, as Google can tell you address of even USA’s President but not its own CEO, lol; bye with this note!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

https://youtu.be/al0NZ-7Zhq0

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

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.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

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/#

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Sky Pouring, City Flooding !!

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“The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless”… Nicolas Chamfort

Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, known in his adult life as Nicolas Chamfort and as Sébastien Nicolas de Chamfort, was a French writer, best known for his witty epigrams and aphorisms. And its personalities like Nicolas which has made Europe as not just rich in science & technology but understanding nature also! And his above quote about the flood, well, it seems the God he was referring to may has restricted himself to Europe as looking at the scene in our Smart City Pune, the God seems unstoppable when sending floods here! As this is what we the Smart Citizens are experiencing this monsoon & who could have believed that Pune will match rather overtake Mumbai on this front! Surely not something of pride to be especially when we have witnessed Mumbai’s failure year after year to face the rains from so close distance! By now so much has been written on the rains, environment, human(read builders) impact on natural water-ways, rampant tree cutting, concertizing, faulty rain water gutters, use of plastic causing chock-ups of drainages & many such with the only possible outcome is flood & damage its causing! I am living in Pune for more than thirty years & indeed I have witnessed some real heavy rains but what’s unique is the disaster this times rains are causing. As usual we are blaming rains itself but this is nature & nobody can stop nature, indeed we can cause disturbance in nature’s cycle & we are witnessing just that, isn’t it? Well, this is not one more blaming piece of write-up for the floods as there are enough to do that job but what I want to put forward is not just logical analysis of the scenario floods are making & solutions for the same! And do mind every one of us is the reason behind these floods if not rains, let’s see how & what to do from here…

To start with let’s focus on the problem or inconvenience or say the damage rain induced floods are causing for the city & citizens. First is damaged retaining/compound walls of societies & flooding the parking’s thus damaging the vehicles! Then the flood water entering in homes adjoining to nallahs (which once were streams)  or even roads (which now has become nallahs), causing these homes collapse especially the illegal homes made of tin roofs & brick walls of poor quality (needless to say), causing life loss also along with wealth of the occupants. Even the legal homes i.e. bungalows made of good quality are not spared by the floods causing wealth loss if not life. Then on roads thousands of vehicles got stuck in flood water & little unluckier got swept away causing heavy damage to the vehicles along with loss of life too. Many trees have fallen down due to force of the water & even in many cases small bridges or culverts also got swept away. At many levels electricity appliances i.e. meters as well transformers & power cables got damaged. And there is another damage which is just immeasurable & that is loss of the man hours of those who are getting stuck on the roads or their offices due to road blocks the flood water has caused as well that of thousands of people involved in rescue or post flood works! Oh yes, one more thing, the terror or panic which now even the slightest rains create among the society, is also a part of damage as once considered as peaceful & happy city, can we say that now as here everybody look up in the sky while starting back from the office in the evening & the worried faces which are darker than the clouds tells the story of the damage the floods has caused!

This is the scene at present & now my question is, who is responsible for the floods if not rains, God? I don’t think we are that fool to answer that yes, the God only is responsible for the rains & the floods too! So, if we are not fools, then who is responsible for the floods & damage it has caused & then second question is, agreed we can’t control rains but then can’t we control floods & if answer is yes then again the first question whose responsibility is that? Well, answer to all the questions is yes, we can control the floods & its responsibility of each of us to stop the floods or else we all are responsible for the damage of the floods! The joke is when we say all are responsible for any bad thing happened to the city (read floods for example) then it’s just a finger pointing game which probably should be declared as our National Game, as we all are best at it! So the need is even if all are responsible yet everyone’s role in the flood control has to be defined & exactly that’s what we are not doing because each of us has failed because we have neglected our responsibility conveniently & now we are pointing the finger to each other for our negligence! As right now PMC (read as staff & elected members), Irrigation Dept, Revenue, Police, Judicially, NGO’s, Architects, Town Planning, Urban Dev, Media & oh yes Builders (how can I forget them) all are respectively responsible for the floods & none of these will accept it! And then even the common man (read citizens) is also equally responsible for the floods as if all above names are doing their bit in causing the flood then the common man is part of the every ploy of the above names doing. As maximum damage has been done to the slums as well illegal homes but nobody is asking the person living in illegal homes why he went to stay in such home which doesn’t provide any security from such disaster which is outcome of negligence of the entire system! On this logic I know many people will hit at me saying, “As he can’t afford a legal home so he opted to stay in an illegal home, is that his fault?” No it isn’t, I agree but with this logic any skilled or educated unemployed man can rob a bank & will say “as I couldn’t get a job or start a business of my own, so I robbed the bank”, will the courts accept this reply & let the man go free?  No, is the answer but in this case as we failed to punish the man, nature’s justice has punished, keeping full sympathy to the victims I am saying this as I don’t know about humans’ but god’s justice is blind as he has punished the wrong person for sure but then that how the Nature God behaves. For him crime is by some human so humans are punished that’s it, it’s, us, as we differentiates the roles & doesn’t perform as per our own differentiation as we know somebody else is going to be punished for our crime & flood is the classic example of this crime!

May be that’s why & this is how the floods have punished the wrong humans because so called right humans (who are unaffected due to floods) have failed to take responsibility of their respective roles in flood control. Now coming to the responsibility aspect of it, first & foremost is define very clear duty or role or responsibility or the work scope whatever you may call it with every above mentioned entity i.e. govt depts’ & publish it as gazette because in this country unless something is put on record, nobody cares a damn about it, is a bitter fact! And clarify very clearly what is whose responsibility & punish them for it doesn’t happen in a specified time, for e.g. the encroachments on the natural water channels must be removed by which dept & in what time limit. And before that first demarcate all such natural water channels, may it be nallahs, stream or rivers. Then comes the issue of rain water or storm water lines & its maintenance as insufficient & faulty as well choked up rain water gutters was main reason of floods making rain water flow on roads instead flowing through them. Define who will be responsible for functioning of all rain water draining systems & its maintenance. One main reason of damage to life & traffic was trees falling, so let’s do a survey of all the trees along roads which can be next victim of our concretization as instead naming concrete it’s important to undo the damage it has done to the trees. Open up areas around such trees to allow the water seep in as well tree roots to grow deep. As its observed most trees which has been fallen are rain trees, gulmohor or subabhul, so identify such trees & work on their strengthening as well cutting down over sized branches of such trees which gets wet due to heavy rains & the tree fall down due to this added weight! Also high time after this destruction to think about our hard paving planning strategy & think of making more open spaces giving way to rain water seep in ground. We need to have a city planning authority in place which will provide such plans of city especially the water logging areas. Then make a record of all water logging as well flood hit areas & work out local solutions to make way to rain water at such spots, so need is form teams with specific time limit for the execution of this task.

As well the judicially & police dept must support the actions of above respective responsible depts’ as or else to take stay & get stop work seems to be the Modus-Opredy of all the encroachment entities & the cases keeps lingering for years giving a tool to push the responsibility under the tag, “Matter is in Court”! Most important role is of police, as this country’s citizens (at least till now) are surely afraid of the Khakis’ if not respect it! And may it be irrigation or pmc or forest, all these dept cant remove illegal structure without proper protection of police which time & again police dept has failed to provide as they themselves are understaffed for their routine things is also a fact. So give police dept enough man-power & infrastructure to help other depts. for flood control action, is also a responsibility only for the rulers! As well judicially must take fast action against any obstruction i.e. dispute regarding flood control, is a request I can make, as who can order to the judicially itself! And yes don’t spare politicians (read as elected members) if they come in between such action plan & suspend their elected posts or banish them for contesting next election, is the only way!

While I was writing this piece, last night a big piple tree fall down of the PMPML service van, well why the indigenous tree like piple also fall down, reasons can be worked on but sad part is the drive of this service van was trapped between the bus interiors & the tree & for two hours he was trying to escape & no help came eventually the driver surrendered to the death! In Smart City’s center a man gets in to accident & we can’t rescue him for two hours; still shamelessly we call ourselves Smart City, just great! High time the responsibility must be fixed for the post flood things also. Indeed all such responsibilities may be there but it’s not happening is time & again has been proved, that’s why once again I tried to make the readers aware, is all I can say!  

This is regarding the govt dept’s but the private sector i.e. media & builders & the common man as we may not be controlled by any duty but we are bound by something far more than paid duty & it’s our moral duty towards not just nature but the safety of entire city, high time to remind this to ourselves for private sector! Media should not get up just post flood & use the damage showing images as news value but must keep a keen eye year long on all above depts’ & their output & keep making people aware about the failures by the system! Well, then comes the builder & when I say builders I mean every that person who is associated with such buildings or structure which is illegal in eyes of nature & not just some development plan! Many won’t agree with me on this aspect that does it mean the so called DP is useless, well are we going to still just by some maps drawn by sitting in office which has caused such havoc  or are we really concerned about human lives, is what I will counter ask! The builders, the architects, the structural consultants, site engineers & the plumbing as well electrical consultants, don’t just think of fsi, cost savings & salable area but plan the building keeping in mind human life! And as a home buyer one must look for all such features right from the electric meter positions to drain out arrangement for rain water in the basement instead just going for fancy amenities which are worthless in disasters like the floods! Here I remember a story from jatak katha where a Pandit (read as learned man) is crossing a river to some village by a boat rowed by a local man. On the journey the learned man asks to the boatman, have you read Vedas (holy books), on this sheepishly the boatman replies no sir, hearing that the Pandit says your half life is wasted, you know! After some distance the Pandit again asks to the boat man, have you read Upanishadas (books of philosophy & ancient knowledge), again the boatman replies no, he hasn’t & the Pandit comments your three fourth life, has been wasted. The boat travels ahead & suddenly a storm starts & the boat starts swaying. The boatman now asks the Pandit, Sir have you learnt swimming, on the frightened Pandit says no I don’t know swimming, hearing this the boatman comments, oh o, your whole life is wasted, you know!

Well, the Smart Citizens, I am sure the story of Jatak Katha may be thousands of years old yet the Pandits & boatmen are still around, issue is what we want to become, a Pandit or  a boatman, is what will get decided in the next floods whether we have wasted our life or earned it! Till then enjoy the rains!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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