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“The places of quiet are going away, the hills, the woods, the meadows.
And it is only in silence we can hear the voice inside of us which gives us
true peace.” … James Rozoff
“I write books about magic. Not the sort of magic that involves wands and incantations so much as the magic of being alive. Magic is the ability to see life unencumbered by the expectations that the outside world tends to place upon us. Escape artistry is the ability to rid ourselves of the artificial constraints we somehow become enmeshed in. It is easy to become trapped in viewpoints that limit our possibilities, easy to lose sight of just how magical life can be. Don't let it happen.” Well, not much is known about the writer of wonderful book named “Seven Stones: so along with his quote I shared his own words about himself! It’s now third time I am writing about the grasslands around Pune in the span of one year & many may say I am obsessed with the grasslands & they are right, I am! Two reasons, first is during the entire one & half year of lockdown when most of us from Pune were cut-off from going to the conventional forests, its these patches which helped us ( at least me) in connection with the wilderness & second, only after visiting them repeatedly I am realizing the beauty of the biodiversity these grasslands are home for & how much threat of extinction they are carrying & this aspect has to be hammered on the common people or else soon the grasslands will be gone for ever!
And then grasslands are in a way are like
brand ambassadors for the forests which are all around us in the form
of hills, wetlands, fresh water bodies & small patches of the greens which
are taking their last breath from the cancer like disease named urbanization
which actually is encroachment on the nature of our need or
under the tags like "human life first"! Frankly, I wonder whether we
have understood the concept of urbanization in the first place as no
urbanization which is a term used to describe human life with modern or
technological comforts but that never meant "no space" for other
species, which we are doing right now! This is also a reason I feel like
writing about the grasslands again & again as Pune city is blessed
with many of them around & every time when I visit these patches of wilderness,
I realize more strongly the threat they are facing & one of the ways (which
I have) is to make people aware as much I can for their responsibility towards
the grasslands along with other such patches of the forests around us! This time the reason was a wonderful opportunity, courtesy Mr
Satish Magar & Magarpatta City Development (A giant real estate
company) which made us possible to make a film "Wild, Wild Pune” (team Jungle
Belles, Nature Walk & Vinod Bartakke), an effort to document the wild
life treasures around Pune. I think for the first time such film is being made as there are
wonderful films, documentation about wolves, chinkaras (though not popular or
say promoted) but a film covering overall wildlife & habitats around Pune,
at least I am not aware about! And because of this film I visited a number of
times the forests (or say patches of the forests) around Pune & if on one
side they made me gasp in appreciation of the abundant wildlife these patches
are home for, then on the other side it's like an alarm call seeing the way
these patches are shrinking! We may not know (most of us) but right from the
butterflies to moths to frogs to birds to the mammals, Pune city as well region
is blessed with hundreds of different types of all these species along
with a shelter for some wonderful migratory birds. Needless to say, to
support all these species Pune has got such habitats also which all these
birds, insects & animals feel comfortable & it’s our duty to make them
remain comfortable, just the way we want to be in our homes!
This film about wild life in & around Pune is unique in many ways as
not just it’s a wonderful documentation of flora & fauna of Pune but it’s
in a way reflection of changed attitude (or say awareness) about our
responsibilities towards wildlife. Biggest problem in the conservation of
these urban forests is, ignorance or unawareness of the masses regarding such
habitats & unfortunately even the forest dept (read as entire govt) also
does not take much effort on this aspect of conservation. I said forest
dept as it's supposedly their responsibility to save every aspect of the wild
life but they alone can't do this job if the entire system named govt don’t
stand not just behind but beside them as right from providing enough funds to
infrastructure (man-machine power) many things needs to be provided to the
forest dept, which isn’t happening (and fast)! And govt as well so-called watch
dogs of the wild life i.e., NGOs & Environmentalists (plz take it in
good spirit) all of these people's attention or focus is the tiger or the
forests with the tigers & then no wonder masses also think forest or
wildlife means the tiger! And in this process, nobody cares about thousands of
hectares of the land which can be grassland, wetland, wooded land, hills,
shrubs or even just barren & which also is forest & plays equally
important role in nature, the way forests with tigers play! This is why I
repeatedly write about the grasslands as this is not just about saving the habitats
in Pune or around it but the story is the same around every big town or city in
the State as well in the entire Country!
And unfortunately, even the smaller towns or the villages which for
ages were saviours of the wildlife habitats around them are now also a cause of
destruction of the very same habitats & reasons are our overpopulation as
well disparity & their own survival. Here is where role of the system named
govt & entire society (read as those who are well settled) come in to
the picture as if the govt is supposed to act fast & make policies to
assist self-sustainability of the people in & around such habitats then the
society must not turn a blind eye but help the efforts of the govt (and forest
dept) to conserve these habitats. This we can do by visiting such places &
spending on people over there instead of just spending on shopping in malls on
weekends or holidays. Our Hon PM is keen on making the
citizens of this country to spend on local made goods to make our people earn;
same way Hon PM sir, plz appeal the citizens for spending their holidays (for
those who can afford to have holidays) at local destinations first, especially
the wildlife habitats, so the people residing at such places can earn their
livelihood & that's one major way to save all these habitats! Local damage to the grasslands & such wildlife habitats is
mainly the outcome of inability of the humans which resides in the
neighbourhood to survive resulting encroachment on the habitats for farming or
residence & if that's not the case then using these lands for industrial
purpose & if nothing then just as dumping yards for all sorts of our waste!
As I said, under the name of urbanization what we are doing is actually
a genocide of every other species then humans (sorry for the term genocide, no
offense guys) just the way Hitler did to wipe our Jews, only difference is we
are not directly shooting other species not building gas chambers for them but
what we are doing with our urbanization, outcome is same for the butterflies,
birds & fish& mammals! Just know that with every possible way to destroy the Jews & power,
in the end it's the Hitler who got defeated & perished & not the Jews;
humans, do I need to give a clearer warning than sharing this example regarding
the grasslands & our urbanization!
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about real
estate in Pune at You Tube link below...
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.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...
Think Green, Think Life
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Sanjay