Vision of Life; by Sanjay

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Sunday, December 20, 2020

Bison, Saint Dnyaneshwar & Smart Citizens!

“Much of human behaviour can be explained by watching the wild beasts around us. They are constantly teaching us things about ourselves and the way of the universe, but most people are too blind to watch and listen.”... Suzy Kassem

Suzy Kassem is an American writer, poet, philosopher, and multi-faceted artist of Egyptian origin. The granddaughter of a well-known sage in 19th century Cairo, mysticism and wisdom run through her blood just as the water of the Nile flows through her veins. Well, the last lines are not by me but in Wikipedia & once again when my mind was & is too numb to start the sharing, her above words came to my rescue. And if you are wondering why my mind is numb (which is more often a state, now days) then it’s the murder of an Indian Gaur (mistakenly called as bison) in open day light by none other than the humans which are smart citizens of the Smart City named Pune which is also called as Oxford of East & cultural Capitol of The State of Maharashtra which again is supposedly one of the most progressive States in the country! Well, by now people have forgotten also as there was shooting of supposedly a man eater leopard which has taken nearly ten plus lives (human of course) & leopard is more celebrated specie than a gaur & then next there will be some tiger & we will forget the man eater leopard also! And then next week some another animal will do something & news papers will keep on getting head-lines, TV channels will have their bytes & we all will have whatsap forwards of such animal encroaching on human's settlements & outcome is death of the animal & the story keeps on! Yes, in between there was a female elephant who has been feed a pineapple full of explosives & who was pregnant & it died along with the baby inside after consuming the pineapple!

I wonder what kind of animal species we are as no other animal kills another specie or so is ignorant (read as careless or ruthless) about another animal's or specie's life. In the nature one animal kills another animal, only for need-base & the need can be hunger or territory ownership in the case of a tiger & that too again is for survival as two tigers in one territory mean food shortage or fight over prey! But take example of this latest bison (I am referring it as a bison as most people are familiar with that term in actual there are no bison in India) episode, as first how it ventured so far in the city like Pune where in nearly hundred plus kilometres there is no known habitat of the bison is first question & second is, it wasn’t a man–eater type animal (fortunately bison & elephants & rhinos are vegetarian) neither it has attacked any human person even by accident yet the crowd killed it! Yes, I used right terminology i.e. the crowd killed it is the word as we may not have beaten him by iron rods or shot it with a gun but we didn’t allow it to rest or feed or cared for its thirst which an animal like bison needs most & it died with exhaustion! Exhaustion of running from the public & shamelessly we were busy in shooting videos of poor fellow running all around just to have some peaceful moments. On the top of it we were so ignorant that instead allowing (if not helping) the forest officials to capture the bison & treat it we were busy in taking selfies with it & in the process the bison has to run all the daylong & eventually collapsed with exhaustion! In recent times I haven’t seen more inhuman act than this & we are just not bothered about it, is the saddest part! Now the question is, to whom we will charge its murder with as right from the media to police who were supposedly provide protection to forest officials in time or the forest officials who are not trained to handle such situation in the Smart City as well have not made masses aware how to behave in such times or the society which exhausted it to the extent of death or the bison itself, as why it ventured out of the forest & came in the human’s city, so its bison’s fault only that it has to die eventually!

This bison venturing in the city may be just one incidence but it has exposed our limitations as civilized citizens & ignorance towards wild life conservation seriously. The hohallas (hungama) of the crowd, the fun making attitude of grown up people, the casualness of the authorities & the news hungry attitude of the media all of this indicates only one thing that we are a bunch of animals which has just learnt to stitch clothes & wear them or else we are worst than any of the animals around! As nobody was interested in making the bison comfortable & then capture it which was the right course of the action neither we were ready to give space & time to the few such personalities who could have done it. The failure list is topped by the forest dept (sorry guys but bison is a wild animal) as if any terror attack happens whom we blame but police (I mean, first blame) so the forest dept must take up a drive to make city or urban people know about their duty towards wild life & such incidences. Indeed the job is toughest as the animals (read as humans) who has to be forced to wear a helmet or a mask for their own safety, to teach them about face the situation which may arise once in a while & think about other animal’s safety, is near impossible task but that’s what forest dept has to do! Then the failure is of the media which takes up news regarding wild life only when something bad happens that too, to the wild life! Media, may it be digital, print or TV never takes up seriously any campaign regarding wild life conservation nor gives publicity to such initiatives as there is no glamour or money in it, is a bitter fact! Then the police, which has already enough on their platter yet to give protection on priority whenever any wild life related incidence happens is something all police dept must know, after all forest & police both wear same colour i.e., Khaki!

Lastly, we the people, lesser I say is better as for few of us wild life is just clicking snaps of tigers or birds with big lenses & fancy attire & for rest all others it’s on Nat Geo or Animal Planet as they have enough other troubles to face with than a leopard falling in well or a elephant eating explosive filled pineapple or a bison running around their city & dying because of exhaustion! Problem is we are growing in numbers (population) & we are giving space for no other specie to live or survive & outcome is this bison & many such incidences!

Guys, still there is hope, open up eyes & mind & make a life style which will have policies, rules, laws where all species will have opportunities to survive & live happily! There is one story in our folk tells about Saint Dnyaneshwar making a Bison utter Wedas (sacred words) when he has been challenged about his Holly Powers & made the Bison to speak the Sanskrit Wedas! Had there been Dnyaneshwar alive today even he would have given up looking the way we so called learned & educated human beings treated this Bison as he would have said I can make a Bison speak human’s language but to make the humans’ speak Bison’s language is beyond even my powers! That’s all humans, agreed it was a folk tell & we don’t have a Dnyaneshwar to teach us to speak language of a bison but that’s why we are human right, so go ahead learn the language of the wilds, which is the simplest language as its language of the nature & learning that, is the only hope of your own survival, mind it!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

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

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-good-home-is-good-deal.html

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

Think Green, Think Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Understanding Growing Up !

15th Dec 20

“Growing-up is, when you need not have to prove anything to anybody, not even to your own-self”...

Dear Dada & Chota & all younger brigades who is my main strength...

One more year is coming to an end & one more birthday for me! It’s very difficult for me to write to you both especially on this birthday as if the year has added some more wisdom in me then it has taken away a lot from you both! But then this is what I want to share with you as well the entire younger genre which actually is my energy source! Do you know, after a certain age celebrating birthdays isn’t a thing many people fancy about, especially when you cross the wrong side of the forties or fifties! Because in a way, age is a sword that it cuts you more by mind than body! Suddenly one fine morning you wake up & as usual look at yourself in the mirror & you realize you not in your 30’s & you notice the changed complexion of your skin, greying hair (not to forget patches of baldness which you try to hide), the dark circles around the eyes, a feel of incomplete sleep & all such signs reminds you that no more the mirror is your best friend! Every step you take while you jog & weight you lift in the gym makes you remember your age! Every small injury which now takes much longer time to heal makes you realize that you are getting weak by the day! You start worrying over the smallest of the things which you never even have noticed earlier & all this makes you afraid of your age & no more you want to celebrate an event where one more year has been reduced from you age, making you a sshade weaker on all fronts of the life! This is what the age does to most men & women too (more) & this is the biggest challenge which eventually every one of us has to face some day or other!

But that’s why I thought of the above quote (by myself) as due to all such bad aspects of ageing, most men or women start behaving (read as doing) in a way which others may feel weird as just to prove the world that they are not afraid of ageing or their age hasn’t done any damage to them! Suddenly some guy starts going to the gym & lifting weights which he wouldn’t have tried even in twenties wearing sleeveless (needless to say of best brand) or someone realizes he wanted to climb Mount Everest & starts doing tough trekking or there is a fellow who hasn’t ever paddled after leaving college now takes up cycling not as hobby but to travel to Delhi on the cycle & then there is fellow who was afraid to ride even a Scooty on Pune roads now buys a Harley Davidson & makes plan of making road trip to Goa on it & this list is as endless as Hanumanji ki Punch (ab ye mat pucho, what it means , it mean infinite). Oh, yes one thing more i.e. buying a fancy camera & click snaps of birds or tiger & get ourselves tagged as a birder or a wild lifer (this is in thing)! Well, women are also not behind in this age defeating game as most of them starts getting their hair coloured with streaks. One common factor followed by the most people is, dressing sense suddenly changes despite the gender & now the focus is how the clothes as well entire attire will make me look what I am not, i.e. younger! And yes, all these your achievements has to be posted on FB & Insta & Whatsap group & DP’s too or else how people will know what you are trying to prove about yourself & how successful you have been in winning the battle with this age named demon!

You all must be smiling after reading this start as you are lucky yet to be young (by age) & not required to do such things but that’s why I shared with you as if you don’t to do any of above such things you get tagged as weird, which I have been famous for, always! As never I was or am ever afraid or worried of my age & I may be having all the bad signs like baldness, tiredness, weakness, injuries, fitness but if the age has made me weak on physical fronts which I take as natural phenomenon then I look at my eyes & you will know what age has gifted to me! My eyes are a lot steady & calm & confident than they used to be & this comes by experience which is the outcome of my age only! That’s the wonderful gift age has gifted to you & then you realize the age is not your enemy but best friend actually, making you understand the real meaning of life! You realize now the journey onwards is outside in & that doesn’t need to show the outer world what you are capable of doing as well no more you are afraid of looking in the mirror neither you are needed to prove anything about yourself to others! Beta, if you can understand all of this looking at yourself in the mirror then only you have grown up or else you have aged, choice is yours what to take from the mirror, I have made my choice & you know what it is!

And yes one more thing, you now understand to be thankful for every aspect of life which has helped you to have courage to look in the mirror & make the right choice about yourself. No more you are interested in taking credit for your so called achievements but you are happy to let someone else take credit for them! All this doesn’t mean you have become inert or on way to becoming a Saint but it means you have understood the meaning of life & learning to live it! Agreed the list of tasks I mentined above which the ageing men (and women) took on, may not be necessarily to prove the world but it’s equally possible that our genre (those who are past mid forty) never had access to many things which has come to your genre naturally such as buying a bike or go for trekking or buying a camera types! And we didn't had much time, rather we didn’t know the time has to be carved for what you like to do & that’s why we take on such things now as we have money, time & access to things now! But then this also I have understood that if I am doing something for myself now then it’s strictly for myself & for my joy & not to prove what I can do, even to myself! This is what I think growing up & ageing in the right sense!

Well, the year has been hard rather on the scale of good & bad, it has been worst, taking away things closest to your heart & the damage isn’t reversible but that’s how the journey is, to become a man from boyhood! Beta, we all lose something or other on every passing day but then we gain also something, unfortunately most men think just about the losses & forgets to cherish the gains along. In the 2020, I lost not just some lives around but I lost childhood of my sons but I gained two fine young men & I am happy with the gain! This is also I have understood & may be that’s what kept me going. Lastly, to you both & to bhikya, ketki, rohit m, shruti, tanisha , siya & the younger lot, all I want to say is thanks for keeping me young as you all have been my company for not just animation or super hero movies but on paw bhaji parties too & gave opportunity to write letters to you, all of which made me able to see the world through a lot younger vision than what my age can see & that was my biggest gift! And yes, never restrain yourself from saying thanks to your parents & elder ones as trust me the biggest earning of any mom or dad is their son or daughter doing best in whatever he or she is doing & I am happy I have given that satisfaction to my parents in some extent (though Abbu will never accept it, is different part, lol)! And yes about two more personalities in your life, never stop caring & backing them; one is your sibling i.e. sister or brother & other is whom you call your friend! I am lucky on that front also & have realized, that’s something luck gives you but you only have to conserve the asset of the relationships!

So guys, Dilse Thank you all, for everything & my happily ageing! ...

Yours

Baba & Mama & Kaka & Sanjya & Sanjay!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

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

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-good-home-is-good-deal.html

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

Think Green, Think Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

Sunday, December 6, 2020

Magic Show Named, Melghat!

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it... Roald Dahl

Well, I do believe in the magic though I don’t expect turning a man in to a mouse ( How I wish) or pulling a rabbit out of a hat yet there is magic around us especially when we are referring to the magician named nature & when I visited Melghat recently my belief in magic got strengthened! Well, for the poor innocent (ignorant) souls who don’t know what Melghat is for them, its name of region which is part of Satpuda mountain ranges & is on North-east border of Maharashtra State along the boundary of Madhya Pradesh & its spread across three districts i.e. Buldana, Akola & Amraoti. Its covered by all possible flora i.e. trees, bamboos, creepers, shrubs, grass & what not & is home for thousands of species of animals, birds, insects & reptiles! And the Dahl's words fits perfectly to describe this region named Melghat i.e. Magic as in the world of humans yet this nature's heaven has survived is itself a magic! By the way I am lucky to have taken birth in a town named Khamgaon which is on the western border of Melghat but that’s what has made me part of this magic since my school days! Right from visiting Chikhaldara for school trips which is a hill station for Vidarbha from British days, Melghat I felt like is my home & is one of the main reasons for my bonding with wildlife! Ok, it’s not about me but about Melghat & thanks to Aarti & Hemangi, my friends who run an organization Jungle Belles to make city women aware about wildlife; it’s nearly after a decade I got the chance to visit Melghat that too in winter when forest is at its best in Central India!

The reason was, present Field Director of Melghat which now is a protected forest as well a sanctuary, Mr Shriniwas Reddy was guest on one of the webinar arranged by Jungle Belles & in that webinar its decided that JB will try to provide some support in the form of sweaters to the guards as well guides which works for the forest in Melghat & that’s how I landed in Melghat & it’s always a happy landing when you visit your home, so is Melghat forest for me. I have visited many forests & consider myself lucky on that front of life as not many people have that luck (or wish or will or need, whatever you call it) & I have told my friends that the Melghat I remembered was something they will never forget though I warned them not to expect tiger sighting which is the main attraction for every forest (sanctuary) visitor & reasons are two or three. First is the spread of Meghat, its far bigger than any reserved sanctuary or project tiger, nearly spread of some five thousand sq km & covering three districts from our State as well MP & that does gives the tiger huge space for its movements. Another is the landscape or habitat of Melghat, as all the time you are either driving up or riding down such is the geography & it provides lots of places for hiding for the tiger. Then it has thousands of water bodies which take care of the tiger's water needs & as the tiger doesn’t not have to come in open for cooling itself like it has to do in Tadoba or Kanha even in summer. And lastly the thicket of undergrowth, ever green trees & grass which grows taller to hide even an elephant makes it impossible to see the tiger unless it comes on road or in a patch which is clear of any vegetation which are very less! But none of these things matters if you are a wildlife lover & if you are not one then there is every chance you will become one once you visit Melghat such is the power of this place! And this is very important region as Melghat’s spread acts as a corridor for movemnt of the tigers & many animals from one forest to anopther all across Central India.

Right from leaving the town Akot behind (if you are coming from Pune or Mumbai) all you see around is greens & more greens in every possible shade & shape! If that is a boon for the wild lifer then it’s the curse for the locals who are mostly the tribes as nothing under the name of development has touched this place & that makes life very difficult here. In the stretch of some hundred & more kilometres while you travel from east end to west end of Melghat, there are no signs of the urbanization such as hotels, industries, shops, buildings & not even schools or hospitals ( sorry Mai Bapp Govt but that's a fact), I mean proper schools or medical facilities. But then wildlife lovers will say that’s how a forest remains protected what we want to do, get all these things which will need roads, railways also & destroy the last of the best habitats! Well, no, what I meant is make a balance of both as all the humans living in this region has to sacrifice many things to make this forest survive (including forest dept staff) & they do deserve good life with basic necessities, if not luxuries like Malls or Cinema halls & we are not giving them the basics also for their survival which in was making life of the people who are supposedly protecting these forests actually difficult! Indeed govt is trying but as usual the efforts doesn’t match the speed which is required to fulfil the needs of the residents of the Melghat which are pending for years rather decades! Outcome, there is unrest among the people here & time to time it surfaces from incidences, as just before the lockdown started there was huge outcry from the tribes & the locals over the shifting or relocation of the villages which are coming under core areas of the forests. Agreed we need forests but it’s the people in & around them are only going to make them survive is we should not forget. Forest dept is trying their every beat but that one dept won’t be enough for this herculean task for the volume of the forests Melghat has. We need top bosses who sit in Mumbai-Pune to get awaken & make funds available as well special policies & send man-power to assist forest dept on two fronts, first to protect existing forest & second to relocate the villages as well to protect the humans residing in Melghat!

The earlier part is easy ( I mean on a comparison scale) but the later part is very hard & difficult as animals are easy to handle, humans are worst as our needs are far more than animals & people from Melghat are no exception for this rule of the nature. We need to make the people survive by providing them jobs as well basic infrastructure without damaging the forests around them. And for that we must use the forests itself as tool of income i.e. right from house hold industries like making bamboo made utensils to promoting tourism which is the best way for giving jobs to the locals, many things can be done. But again that will need infrastructure as tourists will come here only if there are facilities which includes accommodation & proper (read as faster) means to reach at Melghat. The curse of being the best forest is, to reach at this place is difficult part in compare to its competitors i.e. Tadoba, Pench, Bandhavgad or Ranthambore & then in the tiger centric wildlife tourism Melghat takes a backseat for the reasons I have shared above! So, the challenge is, to make city people know that tiger everyone likes to see but what better than to see the home which gives shelter to the tiger in it as if that home survives then only the tiger will survive & for that we must visit the home, that much we can do for wildlife if we consider ourselves as wild lifer, right?

Coincidence was just after we returned from the Melghat after delivering the sweaters to many happy faces there, on the very evening on KBC (plz don’t tell you don’t know it, its Kaun Banega Karodpati) show the Big B was hosting & the guests were none other than Dr Ravindra & Smita Kolhe who has dedicated their career (now their son also) for making lives of the people of Melghat a shade better by offering their service in a small place at Melghat. Well, how much prize money the couple won is immaterial as they are already wealthier than many Karodpati's we know as it's not the earning in rupees decides your wealth but the numbers of lives you have helped to make able to live does & on that count Kolhe couple is richest! And there is Nirupama Deshpande who runs a bamboo hastakala teaching centre at one village amidst Melghat but such names are few rather just two in nearly four decades. What Melghat needs is not roads or industries but helping hands & govt (if it feels) can arrange doctors, teachers, skill trainers to come here to give their services to the people of Melghat & for that pay all such professionals four times what they can get in a city as not all are Kolhes & Deshpandes to offer their knowledge at charity! As well Melght officials can promote what they have to the urban folks & for this Melghat can tie up with various associations as well clubs such as Turf Club, PYC or Deccan Club in Pune as well Rotary & Lions types social organizations as through these initiatives many willing hands can contribute only if they know what & how things are required at Melghat!

One best part was the young brigade I meet with at Melghat in the form of the forest officers under leadership of Mr Shriniwas Reddy i.e. Navkishore Reddy, DCF, Vinod Shivsagar, DCF, then there are rangers Mr Bhailume, Mr. sunil wakode, Dinesh Walke & even the guards like mayur sanap were very enthusiastic about forest & tourist & was eager to try every possible way to conserve Melghat & its people; this is what I call, Hope! And it’s hard job out there, with nearly four different sanctuaries to manage with people, animals & forest in them under one umbrella i.e. Melghat! Lastly, apart from the tigers, Melghat offers probably the best bio-diversity in this country where you can come across absolutely anything right from a leopard to sloth bear to a cobra to porcupine to hyena to some of the rarest plants with medieval characteristics or a wild-flower which blooms only in Melghat & the list is endless! Like I said in a magic show you never know what next the magician is going to pull out of the hat & that’s what makes the magic show interesting, isn’t it? So, what are you waiting for guys, visit the Nature’s best Magic show which is on, all 365 days of the year & while you enjoy the magic show, you can become a saviour also for protecting this magic named Melghat!

You can email us for more info about Melghat & how you can help the forest there, at...

Hemangi/ anuj/aarti junglebelles.pune@gmail.com

Myself, sanjay smd156812@gmail.com / sales@sanjeevanideve.com

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

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

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-good-home-is-good-deal.html

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

Think Green, Think Life