“Wisdom of the Wolf Pup:
Know when you need to ask or receive help and surrender to it. Surrendering or
letting go does not make you weak or deem you incapable but rather it is an act
of honesty and trust” … Rachel S. Roberts
“Wild animals are less wild and more human than many humans of this world”― Munia Khan
“If you go to the forests & come back without learning anything, then it's not the fault of the forest” ... Me.
R S Robert is Author and playwright. Writes Southern fiction, aviation, and articles. Munia Khan was born on a spring night of 15th March in the year 1981. She is a poet, writer and editor of several books and anthologies. And myself is trying to gain some wisdom by visiting forests! And thanks to Institutes like Indira University because of which I get to test my piece of wisdom which I have learnt from the Guru named Wildlife in the School named Forests (this is a cool dramatic line to start, lol)! Ok, when I got invited to speak about wildlife & forests at large from The Wild Ones, a nature club run by students of Indira University, I asked them, what you would like to know about the forests & the answer was, Sir, you only decide! Since long, this aspect of what we learn from the wildlife was in my mind but it’s not taking a definite form & what better opportunity than to address bunch of students who are raw , eager to know something different (which google or insta doesn’t tell them) & I thought of sharing something which I have learned or say experienced or lived by myself & understood a bit about the forests & which has helped me & helping me in my real life & I named it as Forest, School of Life. Thankfully the Club also accepted the topic & so the class was on along with a PPT just to keep me on tack & I will share the same in that format only…
First thing about this
forest school is, it has branches everywhere, in every city town in our country
is blessed with it as we have wildlife in its original form in many places. A
forest doesn’t necessarily mean a tiger park or sanctuary but even a big tree
right in the premise of your college can be a forest, is something I have
understood only going into this school. As, forest is a place where every
living creature has way to its life in best natural mode, so a beehive or a
lizard or a squirrel living comfortably on this big tree is forest for these
species & is a school in itself, only if we observe & learn from it!
And then this school doesn’t need any entrance exam or fat fees to get
admission here & is open for everybody, which is another good thing about
the school of forest! It doesn’t expect any donation from you but it’s our
responsibility to pay it back in some way which also the school only taught me!
1.In the forests nothing happens without a reason!
A tiger doesn't growl
A deer doesn’t run
A monkey doesn’t jump
A bison doesn’t dash
& for all above last
line is same i.e. without purpose! This is first lesson I learnt here, as
in our world we often end up justifying our failures (read as foolishness), I
thought or I felt so & that’s why I did it. Many times we lose track of
work because we don’t find purpose or don't bother about the purpose of the job
at hand & in the forest nothing happens without purpose. Whenever we think
of a tiger its synonyms with roaring but in the forest a tiger rarely roars as
or else entire forest will know its location & all will flee (which anyways
happens) but then the tiger will go hungry for ever, if this keeps happening,
so it roars only when it wants to attract its partner or as warning to another
tiger. And in the same way in the forest every smallest thing has a purpose
& timing & that’s what we must learn in our city life as then many of
our things will be easy for us. Because most of the CEO’s (or managers) major
headache is people (staff) not understanding the purpose of the job at hand
& behaving by their will & not by the purpose!
2.In the forest Discipline is Survival!
Every animal has its fix
timing & place
for eating
for drinking
for sleeping
even squatting!
This is the second lesson
which our generation has forgotten but our earlier generation lived by it &
was healthy, happy just by following it i.e. living by discipline. This is also
something our doctors keep telling us but we follow it when our health or work
both goes out of control & as a treatment! In the forest discipline is key
to survival as every animal has a fixed time for every action & not just
animals but trees & plants also follow it & this all is tied with
nature's clock i.e. sun rise & sun set! For e.g. tiger hunts from late even
to early morning as it can see better in the dark but deer & other prey
animals eat & drink in the day time & sleep at night avoiding conflict
with tiger in the dark. As if you change your routine then you are bound to
land in trouble for sure in some way or other. And this is a very important
lesson for, we, the humans who have forgotten this basic survival technique
(read as fitness) & it is costing us not just on the physical front but on
the work front too. As what is discipline but a system in place & no
success is assured without discipline may it be a work of physical fitness!
3. In the forest, curiosity can be a curse!
Monkey Circling on Tree
Sambhar chasing Tiger
Insects & spider web
Wild Flowers & Insects
It’s said curiosity is the
mother of inventions (after need) but in the forest it can be a cause of your
destruction & I will put here the term curiosity differently as temptation.
A monkey on the tree top keeps circling looking down at the tiger below &
in that effort one of the monkeys falls down from the tree, becoming food for
the tiger. Same way Sambhar deer keeps giving alarm calls till it sees a tiger
& eventually making its location known to the tiger for hunting! As well a
spider makes its web shiny which attracts insects & even small birds
towards it & ending their lives, which again is a trick used by some exotic
plants with colourful flowers. In our life also we often fall prey to scams
which look lucrative or interesting on the face which is a trap. Forest school
teaches us to look for the trap behind the mask of temptation!
3. In the forest, live by your strengths!
Honey Badger nocturnal
Deer in open land
Wild boar over
confident
https://www.flickr.com/photos/coexistance_is_the_key/53766574974/in/album-72177720317550777
Tiger CM hunting
Porcupine
These are the examples I gave them which I have encountered by myself or have read about them as not necessary every time you will witness all the learnings by yourself just the way in the school some lessons you learn by reading books & some lessons the teacher actually explains across! Recently there was a Honey badger's video, which is a nocturnal animal. venturing in day-time & getting killed by a tiger in the end. And then look at the deer as they have long legs but big body & beautiful horn, which can be obstructive while running in the thick forest so deer usually prefer or stay in open grass lands as then they can see tiger or leopard from distance & run faster which is their strength. If a deer starts living in a dense forest, they will easily become prey! One such example I witnessed where a big wild boar got killed by a pregnant young tigress as it was standing its back towards tall grass adjoining in which the tigress was hiding & unaware of her presence believing too much on own strength. In a normal case the tigress alone wouldn’t have dared to attack such a big wild boar but here it was not living by its strength & was careless so the tigress caught it by its neck & surprise! In our life also whenever we stop living or working by our strength, we are bound to fail is the lesson forest school taught me!
5. In the forest, greed is the enemy!
No storage
No sale
No overkilling
No fun hunting or eating.
Man’s biggest enemy is, our
greed & not knowing where to stop which is most of the time where our
downfall starts may it be health to wealth. In the forest no animal lives by greed
as I have never seen a tiger killing four or five deer at a time just because
it can kill them & selling the extra deer to another tiger. Or I haven’t
seen deer uprooting grass & keeping it for next day as food & this is
why they are fit as well at peace with the present day. This doesn’t mean we
shouldn't prosper or make a career as we are humans & we have upgrading,
named thing with us but where to stop is something we only have to decide in
the end, is the lesson I have learned!
6. In the forest, coexistence is the way to live!
Chital & Monkey,
balancing each other’s weakness
Prey animals lives by herd
Flycatchers nest &
Spider web
Wild dogs hunt by pack
The best thing forest
teaches us is togetherness & in the forest everything is interdependent
making the entire wildlife as a big chain where every link is important for
others. And here if you are weak on some front then there is no shame in taking
support of other animals as survival is the key. For e.g. spotted deer &
monkeys are best examples, as monkeys can see approaching tigers from a
distance & warn the deer grazing on the ground then the deer can smell the
leopard through its camouflage & warn the monkeys for the same. And this
partnership also is helpful for monkeys throwing leftovers of leaf & fruits
on ground where deer can’t reach to the heights & deer protecting monkeys
when they are needed to visit the ground for drinking water! You will find such
many partnerships in the forests & how can we forget the famous Jungle Book
where a Wolf mom tells Mowgli, strength of a wolf is in pack i.e. coexistence!
As alone a wolf or a wild dog can’t hunt because of their small size, as a
hunter bit with a pack they can take down big sambhar deer also, again
coexistence! In our work also if we combine our strengths with others then
that’s real team work, is the lesson by the forest school!
7. In the Forest Leadership is claimed by your actions!
Deer keeping watch while
herd drink
Indian Gaur taking on Tiger
Alpha male in wild dogs, wolves
Forest is about leading the
team by example as here nobody will give you leadership because you are born to
a group leader or pass some exam but only by your capacity & it’s right use
you earn the leadership as then only you can retain it. And for that the leader
has to have courage & willingness to sacrifice himself for the group or
team or family. For e.g. deer are most vulnerable to tiger attack when they are
drinking water as from behind it can attack easily but a leader of the heard
always remains behind & is vigilant when other deer are drinking water Same
is with Indian gaur leader as it takes on a tiger or leopard to keep the weaker
animals in the heard safe! This is what makes them earn the leadership of a
group, a quality which we also must adopt if we want to become a leader in our
respective careers!
8. In the forest understanding the enemy is key to survival!
Though in our life we don’t
have to fight or save our lives the way wild animals have to do in the forest
yet you can learn a lot the way they survive which is success for them. And key
is to identify the danger i.e. enemy as then you can keep it at distance &
live longer. In our life, the enemy is people who are jealous of us (most of
them) & our competitors if you are in business. We must identify them, know
their strengths & try to over smart them with our strengths. Something you
get to see live example in the forest & it comes in many ways & getting
blended in the surrounding is one of them. This is why unless its mating period
i.e. to attract opposite sex nobody shows off in the forests as no unnecessary
attraction for the enemies. Again, a lesson to learn where if you live simple,
humble life not coming in to limelight unnecessary you remain out of trouble
most of the time! Though the wildlife is unable to deal with its
most dangerous enemy i.e. Humans, and they are the worst enemy
forest can ever have & unfortunately nobody, not even nature can't
teach wild animals to survive from humans, so, that’s our responsibility only!
9. Learning is not complete unless you practice it in real life!
And then every school, even
the college you are in can teach you but the learning isn’t complete unless you
practice it in real life & forest school is also no exception to this law
of teaching. A tigress can teach her cubs everything from hunting to hiding but
if the cubs, when grown up, don't follow those teachings then even after being
a tiger they won’t survive is the truth! Same is in our life, your
teachers, books will teach you a subject but to practice it in your life is
your job, is what I told the students!
10. If you want to practice patience, visit forests & if you want to check the rewards of patience, visit forests.
The most important lesson
forest has taught me is patience for right timing, because in the forest
everything is about timing! If you want to see a tiger then it's not up to your
wish or command but up to the tiger only, whether he wants to show himself to
you & all you can do is, wait patiently! And in today's world what we lack
most is patience, as we want results without losing any time & in the
process losing peace of mind as well ready to compromise to any level defeating
the very purpose of our living!
I know it’s been a long
sharing & I appreciate your patience, is what I told to the students (and
for readers also), & I concluded the sharing by telling them how we can pay
the fee of this Forest School. Each of us can give back whatever we can to
the forests in every possible way as sky is the limit for it i.e. right from
helping people in & around forests to creating awareness & even just by
visiting forests regularly, we can repay our share to this most selfless school
in the world & we must be thankful to Nature for giving us admission here,
adios with this note!
You can watch the sharing on you tube link below & do share to make others aware...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYhM_sTLTlI&t=3s
-
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/
Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog
links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.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
Think Green, Think Life
www.sanjeevanideve.com
/ https://junglebelles.in/
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