B V Doshi, a Monument By Himself!

 

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“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” …  Osho

Well, one can hate or dislike this man but one can’t disagree (even though many won’t agree openly) to this man’s logic especially when it’s about living or say life at large! And when I started my tribute to Dr. Architect Balkrishna aka BV Doshi its Osho’s words come to my rescue as I could have used BV sir’s words also (and trust me there are many of them) yet knowing him (by what my exposure with him was) he would be happier by use of someone else’s wisdom word of which he was so fond of! Well, I won’t spend much time in writing about honours or works of BV Doshi sir (will use BVD as short form) as those who will be interested in reading this sharing, most of them certainly knows about him a lot more than I know & those who doesn’t know who Mr VBVD was or just know him as one more architect, well you can google about his honours! Because some names or say some achievements only a fool tries to measure them on the success scale of volume or money or such things & its ok as in the era where success is measured on likes or retwitt figures, what you can expect! Yet some honours have their own value as they have been tested on the scale of time & gaining respect from other such achievers & one such BVD has received is, Pritzker Prize of 2018, which is considered as Noble Prize of Architecture & I will say that it was too late to award Mr BVD this prize as he should have got it nearly 35 years back such are his credentials!  

That way in this country architecture is always considered as just a profession & never get respected really for the art part of it & main reason is mostly (read as for common man) architects makes home which are built by builders & anything related to the builders get recognition for only one thing & that’s money making & never respect. And that’s the reason, works of Mr BVD likes never got true respect for their creations, had he been in any western or far eastern country he would have been a celebrity by now! But then Mr BVD was beyond all such things, though with all due respect in that creative mind there was a business compartment too & again that’s because of the place he is from i.e., Gujrat where business is in DNA of most, so that’s fine. And, it may not be at sale but that doesn’t mean it comes at free or no cost, which most people misunderstood it for!  Rather Mr BVD knew his art’s value & never compromised with it, this itself shows power of the artist in him as in a profession which usually has to bend knees in front of the system (read a builder, govt, clients etc) he was always firm for what he has created & that’s near impossible for most of the architects, is I have witnessed. This reminds me Sahir Ludhiyanvi (well, he was poet or say song writer in Bollywood) who used to charge his fees One rupee more than that of singer, music composer, saying, it’s his words which matters most in any song getting popular so his fee will be always more than all others associated with the song! Here Mr BVD may not be rigid with his fee aspect but he was very clear that any building (structure) where he is the architect is his creation or say baby & he has first right to have any decision related to the respective structure & not very architect can dare to do so, this itself speaks about his greatness in the field he was in!

I myself am an engineer & at site there always is a tussle between engineer as well architects & other professionals as who is the boss & till I meet Mr BVD, some 25 years back (I was way younger then), I used to think I am the boss of my site but post meeting Mr BVD, my perception changed. It’s my site agreed as its everybody’s site who is associated with it yet final word is of an architect who designs that site (read as project or structure), is what I learnt, that’s effect of Mr BVD on me & that’s why I felt paying tribute to him! “Mr BVD passed peacefully today morning in Ahmadabad”, is the message I got on my WhatsApp from few common friends & my journeys or learning with him in last nearly 28 years flashed in my brain.  “Visit the site often; give a patient ear to its murmur”, is his quote for the youngsters related to sites & this one sentence tells you how he is different. As most architects considers their work or say relation with site is via drawings & not much physical but BVD was different as he used to love to be at site & that’s why he could understand the language of dead i.e., cement, concrete, steel, wood, walls & such as he believed all these are alive then only you can really design & build a structure which is alive & that’s so true especially with home! On such background when I first meet BVD for construction of Savai Gandharva Monument building which he has agreed to design at fee Rs 1 only for the love of music & honour of Mr Bhimsen Joshi, who also was another legend by himself, I was all pepped up for the work & coldly Mr BVD told me, he won’t be working with an engineer who is a builder’s engineer as he doesn’t trust that we could build his building! Wow, not used to such insults on face, I said, give us a shot & then decide. Yet, he took me to his ongoing site Yashada Complex & explained to me the workmanship he wanted as well warned me that his reputation is, he gets the contractor to make losses as he simply asks to demolish the work if it's not up mark i.e., his mark! This was my first rendezvous with Architect BVD & entry to a school of not just architecture or construction but it was school of life, which I realized later! Not only we completed the Savai Gandharva Smarak building but it got the Best Concrete Structure of the Year award & credit fully goes to BVD only as we just followed what he told us to! Just to explain to you the complexity of the structure, those were not AutoCAD days at PMC building dept. & all the plans has to be in the hard copy form & the curves, as well everything about the shape of the building was such that the concerned officers were confused how to work out the floor area for FSI norms as nothing was in normal form, imagine what it would have taken to make it reality but BVD made it look so simple at site, that’s greatness!

And later after nearly eight years post that, I again got admission to BVD school & this time for a builder’s project i.e., DSK Vishva, at that time in year 2000, a project of nearly 5000 plus flats was out of imagination & when it’s decided to be done who else but Mr BVD’s name could have been there for such job. Again, I was project in-charge for construction & BVD asked me to come & live at his actual architectural school “Sangath” at Ahmadabad & there I learnt, how little I know about buildings! During that more than a month’s period (I was accompanied by my friend Prakash Kulkarni, who himself is a big name in the profession today) I was lucky to get personal teaching time from BVD & that included everything about life, not just buildings. We visited his created structures such as IIM Ahmedabad as well Institute of Fashion Design, we spoke about his works & he told me that how important it is to understand life before we start planning any structure as then only, we can make that structure to serve for the purpose at its best! At the same time, we discussed every aspect of planning, space utilization & let me tell you, he was humble to the core to acknowledge that he never understood the FSI concept & that’s why he wasn’t successful on name or fame with builders as well he never believed to design a building which will be an eye-catcher! Rather he said, "Why do you want to build something which will stand out from the surroundings & how you can call such a thing as home, was his question to me! This, I could correlate from my wildlife exposure, as he asked me, have you seen some trees in the forest which are different from other trees & birds making nests on such trees, never as it will be easy for other prey birds to locate such nests. In nature, BVD said nothing is designed to stand out & everything is created with some purpose, it's we the humans who want to stand out from others & in the process we spoil everything, even our buildings, was his philosophy!

Unfortunately post dsk Vishwa, I couldn’t remain for longer time in the school named BVD but what I learnt remained with me forever & distant learning was on till last month i.e., Dec 22 via WhatsApp sharing or calls! Mr BVD was unique & he wouldn’t have liked to be mentioned as he thought he was just too plain & part of the environment. A lot is there to learn from him not just about planning or workmanship but the way you should carry yourself also & that indeed is important as a times he was curt or straight to the extent of arrogance & that came from the love for his work & not because of just knowledge or experience, that’s the biggest difference one should understand! He loved his work to such a level that he was ready to make a loss at times for achieving the desired results yet was commercially professional not to offend people across in the process, that’s what I call balancing profession & passion! In today’s world where people get million likes by trying to stand out doing crazy things (check Insta), person like BVD are rare species who don’t wants to get their creation noticed but this is what nature needs actually & keeping this attitude towards work as well life alive will be the best tribute to Architect BVD, so be it! Thanks Mr BVD, for letting me in your school of life & making me able to take pride in what I create (not just build) & stick by what I have created with head high even if it may not be the best but for my effort to create the best! Sure, the Gods must be happy now & Vishwakarma afraid, with your presence in heaven to supervise his creations there!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You 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/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html

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 / https://junglebelles.in/

Defining Good Home; Real Estate in 2023

 

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“There are no college courses to build up self-esteem or high school or elementary school. If you don't get those values at an early age, nurtured in your home, you don't get them” …T. D. Jakes

“The American Dream is one of success, home ownership, college education for one's children, and have a secure job to provide these and other goals” … Leonard Boswell

I am always in awe of the USA not for its progress or technology or living American Dream Life but for the depth as well as the controversy of their thinkers (read as writers, leaders, celebrities etc)! Because if on one side these thinkers in USA’s society speak about family bonding & values & home then on other side, they live a family life where kids leave home after turning 18 (or maybe 16) & small kids dial 100 number for Police help against parents being hard with them on fronts of study or discipline & the law stand by kid’s side & punishes parents for doing so! Yet what they write or say about the concept of Home (or even work space, will explain that later) it’s worth thinking as may it be USA or our beloved tradition loving country i.e. India, a home is something which is a very special thing for everybody rather that’s why it can’t be judged on any commodity scale like other products because  a home is very different (read as difficult) to tag as good home or bad or home due to hundreds of criterions that to two ways! What I meant is a good home from the builder’s purview, is the one which gets sold & makes money for the builder & this is not the correct definition of a good home even for the makers (read as builder)! At the same time, a good home may not be necessarily something which will fit easily in the budget (read as cheap) for the buyer yet he should feel that he has got a good deal; as this is the basic aspect of any product i.e., client-merchant both should feel happy about the deal. Indeed, making money & saving money from respective sides of the deal is an important aspect even when it’s a home, yet there are many other sides to this particular product’ deal i.e., a home, & that’s my object of sharing!

Well, more than two years of uncertainty has gone & yet every now & then a panic wave hits us (thanks to social media) making us fear or hold us back from doing things as per our wish & the reason is worldwide pandemic yet a lot has been changed (read as learnt) by the society. Thankfully we Indians, adhering to our resilient qualities have been shown the most courage to fight with the pandemic & come back to normality when it's dealing with life. Though as I said many dimensions have changed & on many fronts & the real estate (read as home/office) also isn’t an exception to this fact. A most common question which is asked to me (or any person in the real estate industry in any role) is, “real estate ka kya future hai Puneme?” i.e., what's the future of real estate in Pune & usually the question is in reference to sale of flats / offices & rates ahead. Here (frankly) real estate is no rocket science & most question askers already know the answer or have made their choice yet its human tendency that a man likes to ask others about his decision (without revealing that) & is happy or say eager to listen that decision is right from the other’s mouth! And when it's investment or life time buy like a home then this asking other factor becomes more prominent & especially when there is uncertainty all around then one loves to have an opinion poll for the opinion which one wants to take or already taken, so is real estate!

Let me tell you at the start of this sharing (I mean mid-start), a good home is never an accident but it’s a systematic disciplined effort by the people who has understood their product & here, the home represents entire real estate i.e., office, shop, plot or any such unit. At the same time a good home (or right home) is possible when the buyer also has understood the concept or making of one such home & indeed in the past good homes when just measured on the scale of making money, there had been many accidents but no more such accidents will happen at least not in near future on the real estate horizon is what my personal opinion is! If you are confused & thinking this is just word jugglery then let me clear you, for the builders, you have to be careful right from choosing the raw material i.e., land for your project where you will be making homes for sale & then make a right design of the same then only chances are you will make a good home for yourself. And for this Pune indeed is a good place but within Pune also one has to look for demand supply patterns as well as the mindset of the clients & their needs. As even in a posh locality like Model Colony, just don’t go by address as along the main road because of the noise of traffic on the road, even in model colony clients keep away from buying a home as when you are paying more than one or two crore rupees then you don’t just go for luxury & location in general but quietness & privacy also along is what you want to buy along! Agreed, of -late most families all around the State & from the entire Central Indian region are opting Pune a base for their next generation’s career which is a prime object behind buying a home for most families. Post pandemic the demand for bigger homes has increased & that doesn’t mean just bigger rooms, it means an extra room, may it be for kids or for parents or guests visiting (or even for quarantine) but an additional room always comes handy in hard times, is the lesson many families have learnt & will like to upgrade their existing  home, this also is a big market yet the margins 9profit, what else) won’t be bigger, mind it!

It’s always a puzzle for the developer (read as in recent time) that, what the customer weighs most when finalizing a home & by me whatever one can say but it’s always the budget as that’s something you can’t break especially in the segment of affordable homes which clientele is salaried mostly.  But fact is in that zone also many players (read as options) are there & now the race is for in minimum budget how much maximum space, amenities i.e., luxury you can give & this is trickiest part for deciding good home from developers’ perspective, so deal very carefully fellow builders is what I will advise! The only logical answer to this is in depth market research of which real estate is not much versed with but now we will have too! At the same time be in touch with your existing clients, keep sharing with them & know why they chose your project for their home, that will give you an insight for planning & pitching your project!

On the buyers’ side it’s a Feel-Good scene when it's home buying as many options are available & builders are ready to negotiate even in prime location & nothing wrong in it as no more real estate is a One-Way trade & we all knew which way this One Way used to head. But any good business survives when there are options & clients are free to choose though location still remains a major aspect yet today you have options for the locations also! If Baner is costly, you feel then there is New Baner in the form of Sus & so is with every location. Just be careful with this New Baner, New Kharadi thing & don’t go by tag or price but study the infrastructure growth pattern along with the builder’s pedigree, is what I will advise. As I said, a good home is not an accident, not even from a buyer's perspective too, as first you have to understand what a good home is for buying! Don’t go by google maps or likes or reviews as they can be as tricky as “Drishyam” (if you didn’t get the humour then go watch this name movie on Netflix)! A good home will always be a bit beyond your budget & nothing wrong in it because if you start getting good things easily available then they will no longer remain good, is nature’s law & I haven’t derived it! Define your needs about your home (or office or shop), study the options on a factful scale & then zero down i.e., start negotiating. Do mind, no builder is in business to make a loss or for becoming Raj Harishchandra & neither are you buying a home for being one, it’s a sheer business so do it professionally with the professional guy (read as company)! Indeed, a home is something which gets that tag with emotions & not just by brick & mortar but to make the emotions survive in that brick & mortar, first the walls should be solid enough, this is what you have to look for while choosing a good home! Join hands only with the builder who understands what a good home is & along with the parameters like budget, location, amenities, quality, luxury don’t forget to look for planning aspects as well philosophy of the builder & his (or her) team towards their job & life! Do look for what your builder does along with just building homes & making money, as Henri Ford has once said, “no business which makes only money is a good business” & it is applicable to good homes as well their makers also! So, go ahead dear home seeker, choose your home at the earliest as that is what will help you make yours & your family’s life better sooner!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You 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/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html

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 / https://junglebelles.in/

Education & Hope for Wildlife!

 

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“No one in the world needs a Rhino horn but a Rhino.”
… Paul Oxton

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” … Nelson Mandela

Two quotes to start a sharing & the similarity between them is both are from the continent which is probably richest in wildlife, yes, both are from the African continent. Though Paul is European but find his purpose of life in African forests whereas Mr Mandela is born & brought-up African & another similarity is while the later has to fight his entire life for rights of the humans, the earlier name is fighting for the rights of all other species than the humans & irony is both wars are being fought on the same land! Well, the reason for this sharing & choosing such words is wildlife (once again, some Puneri readers will frown) conservation but not from the view of some wildlife NGO or forest officers or researcher but from the school teachers & occasion is Jungle Belles recent webinar of three prominent school’s teachers on wildlife! Right from choosing the topic even few of the participants where a bit hesitant as what they can speak or share about wildlife conservation as isn’t this the job of the people in the list I mentioned above (foresters, NGOs’, researcher etc) & what some urban school teachers can have a say on wildlife conservation, is the hidden question these teachers had in their minds when my friend Hemangi opened up the topic of webinar to them! But today what wildlife needs is, support from every platform of the society & what better platform can there be than the schools & colleges as there lies the future of our society. And then it was the awareness campaign from schools which curbed burning of firecrackers at the time of Diwali & helped to reduce air & noise pollution levels in the cities not just in Pune but all across the country! Exactly that’s why Jungle Belles chose to have teachers on board for wildlife conservation as someone has to make a start, right? And I fortunately happened to listen to the webinar & the outcome is actually getting many new ideas in which lies the hope for wildlife. And then the crux of the initiative is, all these ideas are in the hands of the people who will be sharing as well executing them with thousands of youngsters making it a multiplying effect, which is the need of the time for the wildlife if we want to save it!

The three teachers of this webinar were from different segment was another best part as we want entire society to be part of wildlife conservation & if Ms Bhawana madam is Principal of Jr College at Symbiosis, Kiwale then Mr Vinita is from Millennium School, Kothrud as well we had Ms Antonete who is Principal of one of the oldest convent schools which is St Joseph! And best part is, all three institutes have their own campus full of plantation as well loads of greenery & on top of that Ms Bhawana is from Chandrapur where Tadoba Project Tiger is located, so they all have their exposure to Urban wildlife in some way. Here let me tell you the biggest difficulty I have found in awareness about wildlife conservation & responsibility of individual citizen towards the cause & that difficulty is most of the students & grownups has never been exposed to wildlife in true sense & that’s why it’s difficult to make them understand what wildlife is, in the first place! Unfortunately in our country the definition of good education is which gets you good marks which eventually helps you to earn good money & in this definition of education, wildlife doesn’t fit, at least in the present scenario, this is a major problem for the teachers when its cultivating wildlife in the students!

All the three teachers shared their views as well as the efforts they are taking for making the students aware about wildlife which includes short field trips as well projects related to nature, arranging lectures of wildlife experts for the students as well as planting of indigenous trees in the campus. Yet at the same time they all agreed the efforts or say initiatives for wildlife conservation needs to extend to a larger number of students as well to their parents too. And for that the teachers showed open attitude for suggestions from the jungle belles & tying up with wildlife NGOs’ as together the goal will be a lot easy to achieve, was the important aspect. This willingness from the teachers for wildlife conservation is very important on the background of the negative approach of many commercially successful companies for wildlife, which I have myself experienced a lot! Because when it's spending for any celebrity or sponsoring an event which is a crowd puller, most of the business houses are happy to spend generously but when it’s about wildlife related spending then they all have hundreds of reasons for not spending or simply avoid. I think this is in a way failure of the wild lifers, as we (I am deliberately considering myself in the league) are a failure to make the masses know that wildlife is important & even it can help in making money also along & there is no harm in making money along with conservation of wildlife as focus! This is where these educational institutes can make the difference as if wildlife is made part of syllabus & added in getting good marks then it will be carried by these students in their respective career in making good money too part of which eventually can come to wildlife conservation in any form, even as time spent for wildlife is ok! And for this, all three teachers agreed to this aspect to make wildlife as part of syllabus at every level of education may it be primary, secondary or even junior college without putting any bar such as faculty or division. And for that we need to educate the teachers which will first have to understand what wildlife is, which is also discussed on the webinar! Here is where organizations like Jungle Belles & educational institutes can be teamed up for wildlife!

At present there are actually three categories of wildlife, one is urban wildlife, second is rural wildlife & third is raw or actual wildlife & every teacher must have exposure to all these three & later the exposure should be percolated to every student also. Urban wildlife is biodiversity of plants & animals (birds) in & around cities or twos, for e.g., pashan hills which are in the neighbourhood of St Joseph school. As well, whatever thick plantations Symbiosis, kiwale & Millennium school has made is also tomorrow's urban wildlife only. There are many such spots in Pune-PCMC which need to be explored so we come to know what we have to conserve within our own backyard. Then rural wildlife is the biodiversity around towns & cities for e.g., grasslands on south-east outskirts of Pune or Mulshi (western ghat) areas Devrais & vegetations & this includes farmlands also. One day field trips or overnight trips can be arranged to know facts (read as threats) to these wildlife habitats. And lastly the raw or actual wildlife which for common man is known as Project Tigers or the forests where you can see big predators as its easy to say Save Tiger or click its images from the safety of a vehicle but what about living along with the tigers & hardships of that life, unless you understand that how you will save or protect it! And one effective way can be, exchange of students from the schools’ nearby forests (such as Tadoba, Melghat) with schools in Pune & I know it's wilder than the wildlife! But please give it a thought, if we can arrange an exchange of students from foreign countries to understand their culture then why not follow the same pattern to understand our very own forests, right? And with the support of the right people & done in the right way this is doable, all we need is to plan it properly & yes take the parents in confidence even they too can accompany their kids for some time & this can be done in summer or winter holidays not necessary for year long program. The target should be making urban students understand hardships & challenges of living in actual wilderness & yet love the wildlife!

Such & many more aspects of academics going hand in hand with wildlife were discussed & on a personal note, the webinar ended on a very positive & hopeful note, with a promise of more such initiatives to be worked together & I think there lies the green & bright future of wildlife!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You 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/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html

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 / https://junglebelles.in/

Hon. Supreme Court & Fate of Wildlife!

 

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To,

Mr Dhananjay Chandrachud, Hon. Chief Justice of India, & all Hon. Justice members of the Supreme Court,

Dear Sirs,

I don’t know whether my sharing will reach you but as it's said, if you don’t try for something then that thing will surely won’t happen, so keep trying, that's why this sharing (letter) with you! Well, you may be surprised by a builder/ developer /civil engineer writing about wildlife tourism which is inherent or say only way of wildlife conservation but let me tell you at the start, it’s because of my education of civil engg. & in the profession of building homes (builder), I got to learn more about wildlife as the basic needs of humans & wild animals is same & that is, a home of their own! Unfortunately, of-late the wildlife tourism & policies about the same has been ruled by social media posts & that’s misleading the conservation aspect of the same which should be core of wildlife. Actually, wildlife tourism is the best & surest way to conserve wildlife as more & more people (read as common man) if they go to forests in any form then only, they will know what they have to save for their next generations as only after going in wilderness you learn the language of the wilds & then the dialogue with the nature starts. Dear CJ Sir & other Justise Sirs, that’s the sole reason to dare to write to you about wildlife today as day-by-day forests are getting detached from the common man & the outcome is disastrous! Many high court & supreme court judges visit forests but they do visit as a VIP & with full forest dept. at their service, not as a common tourist, that’s why this sharing! My sharing may be a bit lengthy but then you guys are used to reading petitions of thousand pages so sure this won’t be a problem for you.

 

“If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.” …  Steve Irwin

Stephen Robert Irwin, known as "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist. Irwin grew up around crocodiles and other reptiles and was educated regarding them by his father Bob. Life is wonderfully cruel as the man who was part of the wild ended his life while making people aware about wildlife i.e., during the shoot of his documentary about Sting Ray Fish, from sting of one such fish! But his contribution for wildlife remains through his films & words like above & unfortunately neither our media (news media) nor our govt learns anything for such wisdom is a fact. The reason is one recent front full-page news in Pune Times about wildlife tourism as the news has been printed with a photograph from Kaziranga where a rhino was chasing a vehicle & then there were some other incidences & how people break rules in wildlife tourism & how that’s dangerous for tourists as well wild animals etc etc! Any sane person (though such numbers are very less) also would have thought this is ridiculous thing & steps has to be taken to curb (read as ban) wildlife tourism so the wild animals will get some peace or privacy from the humans! Indeed, a good thought but let’s check the reality behind the incidence as to my knowledge that video clip was from Manas National Park & not from Kaziranga. Anyways, you will say what difference it makes, agreed but then the rhino was a sub-adult which are always curious about everything & that vehicle was not of tourists but forest dept (I have seen the clip) & it’s clearly a material pickup carrier type vehicle  & they have to face such animal conflicts as its their job. The road in the clip was barely 10 ft wide & both sides of the road there was deep so the rhino couldn’t move away from the road & even in cities the stray dogs chase passing cars that doesn’t mean they are disturbed! But the entire picture was painted such in the story that the rhino was being blocked by tourist’s vehicle & that’s why it's angry & chasing the vehicle! And then the story mentioned one incident in Tadoba Tiger Project where a tourist had fall (?) down from gypsy when some Maya named tigress was around during safari! As well there have been other incidences mentioned where a tigress allegedly chased a gypsy in some forest in centra India & the news was on and on about the guidelines for wildlife tourism, even quoted personnel from Forest Guide’s Association as well RFO (Range Forest officer) from Kaziranga, both of them blamed it on tourists’ behaviour & numbers visiting forest! As well, Insta & FB has often has posts with a tiger walking & numbers of gypsies blocking its path & heading of such posts usually is, we are damaging wildlife by such tourism!

Let’s see the facts about wildlife tourism & damages it does to wildlife as per such media masters (even news media) & then you can dig in further, as six years back all the national parks were running with full capacity & some Advocate (with due respect for the profession) from Jabalpur, MP made a Writ Petition about banning wildlife tourism in Project Tigers showing all such above mentioned media stuff! And then the Hon. Court banned wildlife tourism for six months & eventually re-opened the Project Tiger forests for 20% of its capacity for tourism, reducing the areas of such forests where the tourists can move in & around as well as numbers of the vehicles. In analogy terms, if the Tadoba forest core area is of 600sq km then only 150 sq km area of it will be open for tourism & if there were 100 gypsies allowed for entering in Tadoba core, now only 20 gypsies are allowed by verdict of Hon SC ! This directly hit the revenues of forest dept as well hurt the income of all those who were & are depending on services such as gypsy, guides, accommodation as well food etc as the footfall of such forests was reduced by straight 80% but I am not writing this for the revenue loss as in this country one can’t win arguments for loss of revenues is an unfortunate fact, so let it be! Point is, first the area of forest which was under watch of the tourists is reduced by 80% & time & again forest dept’s all over the country has expressed their weak infrastructure to manage such a huge task of protecting so much of wildlife & tourist’s movements in all these areas were & are like eyes, ear of the forest dept keeping ill elements like poachers & illegal wood cutters away from such areas, this aspect nobody took in account! As well to maintain the revenue structure, the forest entry fees have been raised to such an extent that now wildlife tourism or to see a tiger in Project Tiger forests is possible only to super riches or once in a blue moon for the middle class & impossible for the lower middle- or low-income groups. Today one safari at Tadoba costs nearly 12,000/- & this doesn’t include travel from your native place to Tadoba, food, accommodation which means for a family of four travelling from Pune to Tadoba to see a tiger will cost them nearly Rs 50,000 with four safaris, how many families can afford this just to see a tiger in wilds? Here, many will say why stress for a gypsy, there is an affordable option of a canter which carries nearly 30 people in the forest at a time but that's actually a crowd which must be banned or make all the Hon. Judges of HC & SC not to use VIP gypsies for their forest safaris but make them use canter & then tell the difference, is my suggestion! This is actually depriving 95% of the population of the country the basic right of visiting forests & detaching them from wildlife as what they couldn’t see or experience, how they can love that aspect of nature, right?

And about the wildlife tourism policies or guidelines, I am travelling in most of project tigers of the country as a common tourist since last twenty years & has worked with guides as well lower rank forest staff & please trust me, common tourist rarely dare to break any forest tourism guidelines or rules it’s the VIP vehicles mostly do that, you can check from your sources my statement! And about things like a tourist falling down from gypsy, then you know the road conditions in the forests as well anxiety of tourists to see even glimpse of a tiger which is justifiable when he or she has paid from their teeth to see the tiger, there is chance of falling down & this is not some luxury drive, it’s an adventure & with thousands of tourists travelling in wilds, such incidences can happen that doesn’t mean entire wildlife tourism is a threat to safety of wildlife or humans! On our expressways thousands of humans have lost their lives, have we thought of closing the expressways, no, then just one or two tourists fall down from gypsy in the forest & we say all wildlife tourism is bad, this is my point! Rather make wildlife tourism easily available & accessible for all so all can enter in forests at peace & with proper care, there lies the success of wildlife conservation also, is my point, which you only can intervene & make possible! As the only mean of survival of people living around such forests is tourism & its these people who actually are going to decide fate of the wildlife & they have been living with tigers, leopards, deer & many such for hundreds of years, guide them, feed , them, give them means of survival with more wildlife tourism & these people will save the wildlife more fiercely than their own lives!

And lastly, what about the hundreds of tigers as well wild animals which lives out of such project tigers, what about their conservation & rules, as tigers have been seen around big cities like Bhopal, Nagpur, Jabalpur & such as well Leopards are common sight in many towns near Pune, so shall we ban the roads going through these cities or reduce visitors to these places also or what? As most wildlife road kills happen on roads not in protected forests like project tigers but around towns & cities out of protected forests & only because of unawareness of urban citizens about wildlife which they never have seen or lived! And on top of it, take example of tigresses named Tara & Maya in Tadoba as well one Collerwali in Pench project tiger, all these tigresses’ have given birth to lot of cubs & grew them up healthy & are used to gypsies surrounding them to click their images; so, had they been disturbed by the tourism, the numbers of tigers in tourist open areas wouldn’t have increased, right?  Hon CJ sir, high time our society must understand the true sense of wildlife conservation & I think if the society is incompetent or weak or misguided (whatever the reason) then it’s the job of judicially to make the society on the right track, this is my sole reason for writing to you! Dear CJ Sir, please open up all the forests in the country to full capacity so that every individual can go & visit the forests & see the tiger walking in the wild at peace! There are good forest officers, dedicated NGO’s, Wildlife experts, unite them & frame a policy which will make common people  can access wildlife as then only they will love & respect wildlife & the way goes through conservation, awareness & tourism. Please act fast, is a request as time is less for the wildlife with our ever growing encroachment on it & then no law can save the wildlife & gone will be the future of our human kind also along with it, that’s writing on the green wall, is the reason for my sharing to you!

If you can find some leisure time then please go through a presentation about the Tadoba Success story at Youtube link below..

https://youtu.be/hR15vYQi72Y

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Sanjay Deshpande , Hemangi Vartak, Anuj Khare , Aarti Karve.

Sanjeevani Dev., Jungle Belles, Nature Walk

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You 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/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html

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 / https://junglebelles.in/