Investment, Real Estate & New New Normal!

 

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“Successful investment is about managing risk, not avoiding it”... Benjamin Graham.

Benjamin Graham was a British-born American economist, professor and investor. He is widely known as the "father of value investing", and wrote two of the founding texts in neoclassical investing: "Security Analysis" with David Dodd, and "The Intelligent Investor".  And no wonder he can explain investments in such simple words as usually most people (including myself) are a bit wary of this "Economist" club, not because they are bad guys but we just can't understand what they want to tell us, such is the communication gap! Agreed the present Internet (Google/ whatsap) universities has made many of us authority of every subject & economics is no exception yet to know long-form of term GDP doesn't make someone an economist which you find at every corner. 

Well, I am no authority on investment or economics yet my media friend asked me to write something about real estate & investment in current scenario i.e. post lock-down (I mean lock-down two)  indeed I myself am a businessman & that way each of us is a businessman or businesswoman in our way is what I feel. Many will smirk on this comment as how can be a govt officer or a public sector bank employee or a private sector jobber or a housewife can be a businessman, have I gone nuts! Well, ask yourself whatever profession or job you are in, what is a business, in the first place?  By me business is where one person trades what he or she has for something he doesn't have or wants to have & that makes everyone of us a businessman (read as business woman too)! Because even if you are an employee in some govt or private organization then you are trading your man-hours (woman hours too) as well as knowledge (well, that's the point of argument) for money or post or power that post gives, accept it! Even if you are housewife then you are trading your efforts for your relations & seek happiness or words of praise from family members & no wrong in it as you earn it by what you put in for your family which in many cases giving away your own career or passion, so you trade your feelings as a housewife! All this makes everyone a businessman because every day we are trading something to gain something, even students gain knowledge by giving their time in studying!  You may think where this is going as where is real estate & investment, well for that one has to first understand the term named "Business" as without the business in place what, where & how you will invest anything to gain returns from that business, right? 

By now if you agree with my concept of business then lets come to real estate which is one of the three basic needs of human beings i.e. Makan (a home) along with Roti (food) & Kapada (clothing) & then there is a fourth category which is needed above these three! That's why real estate will always be safe bait because till the humans are here & growing they will need a place to live is a fact & you need not have to be an economist to know this fact! If you study the businesses & profits they have made you will find the fourth category industries keeps changing i.e. it may be Oil, Health, Entertainment, Power (electricity), Information Technology, Automobile & many such but first three categories were always along when it comes to returns on the investment. What keeps changing in these basic three categories of the business is as Benjamin said the risk percentage! Let’s keep away all other businesses for a while as our subject of interest is real estate i.e. Makan i.e. Homes & let me tell you, until a little past i.e. hardly six to seven years back this was the best investment option & everyone who touched it had hit the gold, such was the magic of real estate i.e. land or buildings in general! But when you forget that real estate also is a business & start running (read as playing) it as a gamblers den then disasters are bound to happen & so they did. I am not referring to just Pune but everywhere in the world real estate was always dear to the investors not for the sake of homes or their quality of the product or need but just for the kind of returns it used to give to the investors & it’s a bad business which exists only for making money, this I haven’t said, the great Henry Ford has said those words by himself! But who cares, investors were making money & loads of it so all was well & that’s why never anybody then used to ask, is it good to invest in real estate because it was always good! But then you can’t just keep building homes because you can build them, right? One has to look for the need & capacity of the buyer to fulfil that need of the homes (or offices) which the real estate's many people forget & that’s why now the question is being asked, is it good to invest in real estate? 

Again, real estate will be always best option for investment though  it’s a costly investment when it comes to figures (i.e. amount money wise) yet the product is non-perishable is the biggest advantage & you don’t have to protect it like gold or currency or it can’t vanish the way your bank deposit can vanish in a net banking scam neither its value can go down in one night from million to zero because of some fraudster management like it happens in share market, is the most important aspect of investment in real estate, by me! At the same time do remember, a lock & key ready to move in a flat or office or shop is the safest investment one can have but where that unit is located is what decides its fate as investment! This is the crux of investment in real estate! Because speaking about Pune & its applicable to any city or region as the real estate is very local business, just because land you can’t move from one place to another like any other goods. Why one will buy a unit in which you have invested is the question you should ask to yourself before investing in any real estate & this basic thing builders (businessmen) forgot & that's why supply become more than demand & if supply is not more than the need then sometimes it is beyond reach of the needy buyers, is the key factor in bad investment in real estate!  That way in real estate in Pune ask any person who has invested & got the product in his hands (possession) rightfully (read as legally) & he will confess that he has gained only, down the line five years maximum, is I can vouch for. Issue is, can you wait for that time & have you seen the future rightfully as in the real estate if you go by current market price then it’s ok to buy as a actual user of that home or the shop or land but if you are a investor then you should buy today which will appreciate in future. And the product should stand firm on two fronts, one is ability to sell the product at the right time & safety i.e. legal title of it!  If you are certain of these two aspects, rather the later one i.e. title then be assured about the investment returns usually follows! 

And for that it’s important to join hands with a pedigree name as the returns are directly tied with the legal possession of the property you have invested in, as what's the use of a piece of a paper which says you are owner of the land or a flat but it doesn't exists in actual, right? Speaking about returns, provided you have got a right partner for real estate investment (read as builder or developer) then maximum returns are from raw land  i.e. plots then the shop or commercial premise (office) in booking (under construction), then the flat in booking & lastly read possession units i.e. shop or flat. As the risk factor reduces so does the returns as per the chronology & again you need not have to be an economist to know this just a bit logical about the business named real estate! Coming back to Pune, it has all the raw material needed for the growth, even post-pandemic or two lock-downs as jobs are here, education is here; the two main reasons for which people migrate from their native places & settle in a city or a region. And on top of it Pune has water supply which again is an important aspect of real estate & most important is culture of the society as this is something each of us needs when our other basic needs are taken care of! All one has to do is make a bit of study of the locality where you want to invest in real estate & the people you are joining hands with & you will end up as the winner, mostly! 

Lastly, the most important thing about investment in real estate & this which you only can control & that is, your greed! When it's an investment of your money then usually it makes you blind to look at the risk factors which actually are facts I have mentioned & then even the best locations & best names can’t provide you the insurance for your investments if you can’t control your greed, not just in real estate but in any investment front! So, go ahead, choose wisely, choose with your greed in control & do buy a flat or a plot or a shop or a office for investment as people are going to need space of their own & the one who will have it & has patience to hold it till right time, is going to be a happy winner for sure! 

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

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

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way(Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

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

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Good Dad, Bad Dad & Father's Day!

 

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My father used to play with my sister and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, 'You're tearing up the grass'; 'We're not raising grass,' Dad would reply. 'We're raising kids”... Harmon Killebrew.

Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr., nicknamed ’The Killer’, was an American professional baseball first baseman. He was a prolific power hitter with his 22-year career in Major League Baseball with the Minnesota Twins & though  I don’t know Haromn’s father but sure with that kind of Dad, no wonder he become such a prolific hitter of the baseball! Very recently one of my friends asked me can I write something about Father as a lot has been written about moms & usually the Father is neglected when it comes to share the glory especially on family front! Indeed Fathers’ don’t enjoy much fan-fare & doesn’t have much of literature on them but that’s bound to  happen in a “Men” dominated society which we are, though we are ridiculous, pathetic & two-faced specie when it’s about honouring moms (read as women in general) is different subject of sharing, sometime later! 

Ok, so Father’s Day is here, celebrated world wide on 20^th June of the year or may be 3^rd Sunday of month of June, by me it makes hardly any difference as my generation (in forties or fifties) has been raised where every day was undoubtedly the Father’s Day only! May be that’s why not much written stuff is there for the father or dad though there has been some wonderful movies on father son/daughter relationship in Hollywood (Mostly Disney, who else) like iconic Lion King & recently Good Dinosaur. No wonder this bond of father has been fascinated to the present crowd puller franchise of Marvel Super Heroes too! Right from Iron Man bumping in with his dad in time travel & exchanging some heart touching dialogues in recent Infinity War, End Game to legendary Black Panther meeting his father’s soul, the dad-son bond has become backbone to cash on the society’s emotions. Even the ultimate villain Thanos in Infinity War has a special bond with his adopted daughter Gamora & loves her to such extent that he has to kill her when the stone keeper asks him to give away most loved thing to get that stone! And how we can forget our Bollywood when it comes to father son relation & Tragedy King Vs. Angry Young Man’s jugalbandi in Shakti where the son on the wrong path has to die at the hands of father who is a cop i.e. keep of good things ! But as I said most of these things are to encash emotions & no harm that’s how you make money in the entertainment industry but when it comes to real life a father is usually preferred to be kept at the distance by the kids & even the fathers of my time preferred things that way!

On a very personal note I remember a kissa (incidence) when I was some 12 years old & has been gone to watch a horror movie of Ramsey Brothers (yes they did produce such movies which were supposedly horror) & when I reach to the theatre (talkies) the earlier show of 3pm to 6 pm was to finish but because my dad was known figure in the small town named Khamgaon, the gatekeeper allowed me to sit in & I watched the end part of that movie first. It was horror movie & hands of dead coming out of the graves type’s scenes frightened me to the hilt & I returned to my home leaving my show ahead to watch. To my horror my dad was at home early that day & asked me why I didn’t watched the movie & I too was innocent fool (I am still btw) I told him truth that how I watched end part of the movie & how scary it was & that’s why I came back home! My dad sent me back &  asked (read as ordered) me that only if I will go back again & watch the movie full then I will be allowed to enter in the home & he never used to give false threats (one more thing I have learnt from him) so I went back & now the movie time is 9 pm to 12 pm as that’s last show available. I watched the entire move with closed eyes & came back walking alone to my home which was in the outskirts of the town & my dad was waiting in the front yard of the home for me! This happened forty years back, name of the movie was Hotel & I still remember every step I travelled that night on way back, my father may not even remember this as for him it was just another lesson in the class named life but for me that was first lesson to face my fear & I remembered it forever!

This is why I can correlate Harmon’s dad so well as from that day I don’t say I was not afraid of anything, I am still  & of many things but from that day I have never faced off from my fears & this is why a father is never liked by son or daughter or even the mom or get respect ( I meant, Dilse) but this is why the father is special as he know he will be disliked, sometimes even despised by his close ones yet he keeps doing what he knows best for his family! And may be that’s why the moms always gets all the lime light as she has to play the good cop role with father as bad cop for the kids yet the father (most of them) silently accepted the role of the bad cop, just to raise their kids, that’s why a father is special! Indeed the modern child psychologist has their own theories & ways to handle the kids & the old school father are getting replaced by new genre fathers. These new genre fathers are often called as daddu or even by first name by his kids (a thing which I can’t dare at age of 52 with my dad), these new dads can take shouting or even abuse from their kids & smile back in reply of abuse & yes they take their kids to Daddy’s Day Out type outings & that to the places which the kids will decide, they don’t ever hit to their kids or raise voice while speaking to their kids! And yes these new dads don’t carry their work pressures at home, amazing, wow, wonderful & I am speechless when I see such dads, well with such dads it’s the moms which ends up as a bad cop! I respect such dads & I respect child psychology yet somewhere the stark difference between us & the millennium kids is there, may be that’s only because of the good cop dads is what my opinion is (very personal)! Because no harm is smiling, happy, dancing & goody goody dad, all kids will love such dad (I too would have) but only it’s not enough if you want to reach your destination as the journey won’t be just through the green grass but one has to cross deserts & dark forests also & it was the father who used to train or prepare us for hardships of the life making us exposed to them by himself & which is not happening now. And the result is, most millennium kids are unable to suffer or sustain or digest the defeat on any front of the life, leave apart learning form it & bounce back, is a hard fact! This is why a tough father is special, as it makes us rethink about why my dad hit me & how good it was for me in the end!  I did it today & I think that made two tears rolled from my eyes while writing this piece, which is actually a tribute to my dad, when he will read it, he will know! And yes I know two tears will roll from my dad’s eyes too (just two, not more) but he will never tell me that, that’s why I love & am proud of my dad as because of him I am the way I am & this doesn’t mean I have to be like him for what he did to his son but I will try to be a better one  than him as now I too am a father by myself, I think that’s the best tribute he will expect from me!  As there is nothing like a good dad or bad dad but there is definitely a good son or bad son, depending up on what you take from your dad, is what I firmly believe! 

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

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

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way(Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

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

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Kadbanwadi Grassland; Timeless Beauty??

 

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“Some things cannot grow old; that’s what you call timeless.”... Matshona Dhliwayo

Matshona Dhliwayo is a Canadian based Philosopher, Entrepreneur, and author of books such as The Little Book of Inspiration, Creativity & many more. No wonder a philosophical mind always is intrigued over the scale of time, so are the words of Dhilwayo. And when I visited Kadbanwadi grasslands (I mean one more time) it’s his words about being timeless, echoed in my mind! I have visited first time to Kadbanwadi grasslands exactly ten years back & even after ten years its landscape welcomed me with same beauty i.e. the dry yellow expand of grass spread over gray plains & hills, shrubs with thorns, small water pools in deeps & chinkaras (oh yes, wolves too) running on this background, indeed this is what timeless means! But it’s not the time which is enemy of this beautiful habitat but as usual here too the enemy comes with a human face for entire Kadbanwadi grassland!

I know those which reads my sharing regularly (I appreciate your patience & am grateful) must be thinking what’s so fuss about this whole landscape thing which we call as habitat also & sometimes its grasslands (most of the times) or Sal forest or some bamboo forest or vegetation on some hills or some plantation around a stream or river (actually Nallahs) or whatever, does these all matters so much as when we have much more pressing issues like recovery from lockdown era?  Issues such as our jobs or our business or our kid’s school admissions, their college fees or our EMI’s which keeps mounting, are these things not more important & are of life & death level than some grasslands in danger! Indeed these issues are of life & death but then this above list is by our own choice, right? And what about all the animals, birds, reptiles, fish, trees, creepers even the grass in such habitats, they definitely are under stress not because of their choice but it’s our choices which we are forcing on them  & making them face life & death matters for which they don’t have any solution, the way have for our such matters!

Well, coming back to Kadbanwadi, those who are still unaware it’s a piece of some 30 odd sq km  of grassland on estern outskirts of Pune which is part of the vast rain-shadow stretch of the Deccan plateau connecting Satara road to Solapur road & further towards Nagar road mean nearly entire outer half circle of Pune city’s South-North outskirts. Agreed there are many such pockets or say islands like Kadbanwadi which once must have been connected give ample room for all the animals & birds like wolves, short toed eagle, chinkaras & many such to roam happily. But slowly with our (read as humans) choices we started forcing on these species & we cut them all their routes making them survive in small pockets & Kadbanwadi is one such & this pocket too is shrinking. Its this aspect is what I wanted to point out or say raise my voice for & for even if hundred times I have to write about such aspects of wild life then I don’t mind it as that’s one way to make humans aware about the damage we are doing to our future!

The major change I saw in the Kadbanwadi was not about the protected area as on the very entry we could see a pack rather family of four wolves which included two cubs. And let me tell you, especially those who are not forest goers, a wolf may be very commonly used term in our mother tongue (Marathi i.e. Landga) but to sight a wolf is ten times more difficult than to sight a tiger in a project tiger forest. This is because the wolf is a very shy nocturnal (mostly moves in night) animal & with constant threat from humans interference in its life the more shy & careful it has become to show its existence. We were so delighted though due to distance & the pack was on move, clear photography wasn’t possible but at least we could sight them & watch them for long a sheer joy as still this wonderful animal which is a major link in the grassland’s life cycle is surviving & regenerating! At the same time we spent nearly one hour in observing a wonderful aerial drama where a short toed eagle first hunting a snake & then a “Fast & Furious” type air chase between eagle & jungle crows which ended by eagle successfully avoiding the crows & landing on a babul tree & in the process swallowing the snake. It later went to its nest where it will throw up the swallowed snake to feed its infants, which were awaiting for food. So much to see & learn & rejoice in so small piece of land, that’s why one should spare some time for such outings!  The sad (or threatening ) part is, what’s happening outside of the protected pocket of Kadbanwadi & right from ploting for farm houses, bungalows to farming to excavation for murrum (construction earth material) & a road going through this piece of landscape, everything is threatening for the wolves & all the residents of Kadbanwadi landscape! And as I said earlier with all the respect for forest dept’s efforts within the protected part the major nuisance is from outside as just the way we are facing land problems at Project Tiger like Tadoba for accommodating more numbers of tiger same problem here is with wolves which are tigers of the grassland forests. And if wolves don’t have enough land means no land for their prey like chinkars & rodents & outcome is death of entire lifecycle & his is definitely not by all these specie’s choice, right?

Ok, two incidences I will like to mention related to this trip of Foresters (our small group of six likeminded friends), one of our female friend who was part of organizing this trip has to cancelled her trip at eleventh hour as her some relatives were to visit their home on that day. Many will say what’s big deal, all (read as most) women has to give priority to the family & the allied duties, indeed but had she be a man (male) would she had been required to cancel her wildlife trip for such reason, is the question every one of us must ask to ourselves & do whatever you want with your answer for the same! As it’s this female friend runs Jungle Belles an organization for making women exposed to wild life as well their getaway to the nature reducing their stress of daily routine & even she has to face such reasons for not being able to make for the trip!  Another was just after the outing, on the Jungle Belles webinar Mr. Asheem Srivastav, PCCF of Gujarat was sharing about wild life in Gujarat & one young girl in the webinar audience after seeing image of lesser flamingo asked him what use of this bird is? Asheem sir was bit baffled, what she meant as use of the bird & asked her what she meant? The girl replied she meant the way a hen gives us eggs, what this bird gives to us? Asheem sir explained patiently her, every specie but not just this lesser flamingo, has a role to play in the nature & that’s why every bird is useful in its own way & the girl was satisfied with the answer. But that question about “use of the bird’ lingered in my mind as that question shows what we the grown-ups thinks about not just wild life but all other species as for us it’s just about their usefulness & no wonder in such environment of the greedy thought process we are in a way corrupting entire next generations mindset too, about the nature & this mindset is the biggest threat to the timeless beauty of many spots like Kadbanwadi! 

Fun is we all know the problem & solution but who is responsible for the solution about that everybody is looking at each other whereas the poor wolves are looking at all of us for the solution! By me, the solution lays only with revenue & senior IAS officers & rulers i.e. Ministers of concerned depts. Because every square inch of the land in this country & its use is totaly controlled by these two people only & unless they don’t decide that more land should be given to wolves & chinkaras for their needs, till then even the god can’t give the land to these species! Agreed they all are servants of the people first but high time they must realize the people includes even wolves & chinkars & not just humans, just because they can’t vote, which again is not their choice but ours! Just a thought to conclude, (read as "Waidhanik Ishara"), if the choices we make can ruin or say destroy the grasslands like Kadbanwadi which even the time wasn’t able to destroy then the same choices will definitely destroy us also one day, mind it, that day is not far away!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

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

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way(Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

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

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Environment Day, Restoring Ecosystem & Humans!

 

                                                  

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“It was a normal morning yet I woke suddenly feeling something unusual. Instinctively I looked at the bedroom window of my top floor flat which mostly plays alarm clock for me, making me know about the start of a new day! The window does it by letting in sunlight, fresh morning breeze & chirping of many birds like Koyal to bulbul to bhardwaj & many in my bedroom. But today no such guests came to wake me, instead there was darkness outside, I could see from the window & yet my body clock woke me up. I got up from the bed & opened the door of my balcony, stepped out & to my horror all I saw outside was smog, darkness & lungs suffocating polluted air. There used to be tall trees all around my building but today I could see just cars parked at the places of those trees. Birds chirping music was replaced by howling sirens of ambulances running on the roads with red blue flash lights! It’s said that fear is worst enemy of human mind but it’s a boon also as the worst enemy makes you able to fight with whatever best you have got in you & following that rule I ran with all energy I have got inside the home shutting the balcony door & nearly fall down from the bed & I woke up again, this time in reality! With fast heart beats I looked at the window & the sunlight, the breeze, the music of koyal & mainas, all was there as usual. I got down from bed, opened the main door & got the newspaper & looking at the messages with smiling snaps of the dignitaries I realized, it’s World Environment Day! And then my cell phone started ringing with Happy Environment Day messages & I too got busy in forwarding them with my name below. The dark dream of pollution & treeless world has got locked deep within, maybe till next Environment Day!

 

Well, usually I start my sharing with some wise personality’s quote but this time I thought of sharing something which each of us has dreamt some night or other & if you think its effect of watching too many Terminator movies (Judgement Day, then ask which of us has ever witnessed locking ourselves within our homes for more than three months & living under fear of some unseen virus for more than a year now? Well, nobody hasn’t dreamt of  present scene around, then how you can ignore the possibility of such dream where the nature has been vanished & once again we are locked down in some artificial world with the ehelp of life supporting gadgets but this time for ever & not because of some virus but because of our own deeds! Ok, enough about my Judgement Day dreams, let's come to the Environment Day things”...

 

“The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved”... Richard Rogers

 

Richard George Rogers, is an Italian-British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs in high-tech architecture & adhering to his philosophy, World Environment Day (will refer as WED) is celebrated annually on 5th of June and is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. First held in 1974, it has been a platform for raising awareness on environmental issues such as marine pollution, human overpopulation, global warming, sustainable consumption and wildlife crime. World Environment Day is a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 143 countries annually.  The theme for 2021 is "Ecosystem Restoration". The irony of this whole WED affair is keeping due respect for all its noble purpose yet it has been restricted to their categories only. One is, sincerely caring people (which we call environmentalists) & few NGOs’ as this category really does something concrete for the environment. Second category is of our leaders' (read as politicians & senior bureaucrats) who have to show their love & affection for the Environment as they have to give some message to the "Aim Adami" on this day. And third category of-late is celebrities & elite class of the society which use WED for promoting their own image & hardly care in reality about any aspect of environment! And yes recently there is a fourth category of people, these are “forward freaks” i.e. forwarding anything which comes in their chat box, so for them Environment Day is one more opportunity to forward some messages & that’s all! Rest billions of people care a hang about Environment Day & if you don’t believe me, try it by yourself. Tomorrow morning, ask the first ten people you meet, what is the theme of this Environment Day & if even three people out of the ten give the right answer then I will delete my post, lol (Muchhe mundwa dunga, type challenge)!

And on top of it when the theme of WED is “Restoring Ecosystem” then less we expect the common man to know about the importance of WED is better. Why can’t we make environment related awareness campaigns simple &  straight as unless you know something, how you are going to care or respect that thing, is a basic psychology applicable to most humans & environment is not going to be an exception for that, high time for environmentalists to know & act on this fact! As first, how many people know what an Ecosystem is in the first place & then we speak about restoring it when half of the population doesn’t have access to potable drinking water is the state of the country we live in! Guys, whom are we kidding, as looking at such themes of WED types events I really wonder about future of the environment & I am not just criticizing for sake of it but the only way we can save environment is making its importance known to every single human being & with such difficult to understand themes, it’s not going to happen!

And then the humans are fools (most of them) though we proclaim ourselves as the most developed brain species yet when it comes to using that brain very few stand to the definition of most developed specie, is also a proven history, right? When it comes to working for future we often try to shut our eyes & take a short cut & most importantly we are greediest specie too as no other species on earth can eat just for sake of eating because more food is available, which we often do. No other species try to build three to four homes for themselves when they have one home available. No other specie wears clothes & even they would have been they would have been satisfied with one or two sets of clothes as well other accessories unlike we do, where our cupboards go overflowing with our accessories yet we rush to “New Season Clearing Sale” events making traffic jam on the roads with our equal love for the automobiles! This all because no other species does anything to show other species around how wealthy & capable they are! Well, if I too am sounding like any other frantic NGO guy then I am sorry, truth is always bitter & I said all above things not as a preacher but to make the so called environmentalists aware that you are dealing with such species, so make your awareness campaigns accordingly!

Agreed Environment Day campaigns can’t be run like some discount sale offer yet thanks to latest Oxygen demand due to the virus spread, somewhere we (read as common man) has realized (I hope so) that things like Judgement Day can happen here & today if the lockdown & fear is of some virus then tomorrow it may be due to lack of fresh air, polluted water & no green cover as well over increased population of one single specie that is humans! And this all may damage permanently to the existing humans wiping out our own species by ourselves & for that we should care for the environment as then only the common man will think about saving it!  And for this one need not have to give-up everything like wearing fancy clothes or shoes or buying luxury cars & eating in fine dining joints, no sir, all you have to do is while you try to make your life comfortable then just keep some space for every other specie & its needs as they don’t have a greed which you have!

I think each of us & to start with those who has understood importance of having good environment, let’s make others aware that, it’s not important whether we have understood what it means ‘Restoring Ecosystem” but important is have we understood what are we needed to save & why, when we say “Save Environment’! A big banyan tree is an EcoSystem, which we cut down for our road widening. A river flowing through the city is an EcoSystem which we destroy by polluting it with our garbage & drainage. An anthill (Warul) is an EcoSystem making earth fertile as well supporting hundreds of insects which we demolish for our homes. Our Oceans are Eco Systems which supports millions of species & whom we won’t allow to survive by pushing the sea from all sides for our land greed & on top of it end up polluting the ocean with our waste. We haven’t even spared tallest mountain in the world i.e. Everest & we are polluting it in the name of adventure games such as mountaineering & every day we make some Eco System go extinct because of our so called needs!  Eco system is nothing but a life cycle just the way we have our parents, a home, a school around all of which makes us grow as strong human beings & able to survive on our own. Same way, every species has its own life cycle which makes them able to grow & survive on their own. And around us thousands of such eco systems used to exist happily which we destroyed under the name of our needs which were & are our greed actually! All we have to do is minimize this damage & try to redo what we have damaged already. Joke is we have our redevelopment schemes for the old buildings & slum rehabilitation schemes for slums but nobody ever bothered to make a redevelopment scheme for some sparrows or a butterfly & which actually was the easiest thing to do. Because all that a sparrow or a butterfly needs is some green cover & some flowers but till we keep our policies for the towers there won’t be any space for the flowers to bloom & so there won’t be any space of our own future also, mind it! Till then keep forwarding Happy Environment Day messages & call yourself as caring responsible species; as any way we are experts at fooling our own self, aren’t we??

 

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

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

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way(Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

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

www.punecorporation.org