Saturday, August 30, 2025

Illegal Buildings, Smart Villages & Trump Tatya!

 







 







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“A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether… Roy H. Williams

“We need a president with tremendous intelligence, smart, cunning, strength and stamina” … Donald Trump

Smartness is being able to survive with all odds around” … Me.


Roy Hollister Williams is a bestselling author and marketing consultant best known for his Wizard of Ads trilogy. Another name the world was knowing already but now one of the most talked about i.e. Donald Trump alias Trump Tatya, President of USA & third one is mine, Mr Nobody (not sarcasm but fact) & my words are the outcome of the situation most of us are living in! Ohk, about the heading which is weird (I know) because what's the relevance of Smart Villages, Illegal Constructions & Trump effect with each other is any Smart person will ask but then Smartness & Wiseness are two different aspects of human nature, so be it. The common connection is, all above three terms were in news on the front page for their own reasons, unfortunately making negative waves & as usual we feel helpless if we feel something about it in the first place by reading all these news. Ok, let me share why I said so as the illegal construction is news because recently when the entire State (Maharashtra) was busy in welcoming Ganpati Bappa, a building in Virar, western suburb of Aamchi Mumbai collapsed taking seventeen lives & leaving many more injured & homeless. In the second news Hon CM has announced that the govt will make some three thousand villages Smart & third is about Trump tatya tightening the noose around our country’s neck by increasing import tariff in USA on many Indian manufactured commodities & our govt countering this moves! Let me confess, I am some authority on the first subject i.e. illegal constructions as I am a builder for my earnings & I have no shame in admitting that but pride! About second news, Smart Villages, I have some say as I am a civil engg & development is part of my studies & about third topic i.e. foreign trade I am a zero but as a businessman I have some say of my own which I feel like sharing (as that’s all I can do, sarcasm)! And then I will share how all these three things are related by the same thread!

First, a fifteen year old illegal building collapsed & many of its residents died, as usual govt arrested (or booked, what difference it makes) the builder & Hon Chief Minister told the media that govt won’t tolerate illegal construction & builders doing so! Great, but if I remember, the very same govt (read as State Govt, whichsoever party may be there) has made a writ-petition in High Court to regularize millions of illegal constructions in Mumbai, Pune & Thane belt on the grounds of right of owning a home to poor, which are already living in such buildings, then why the builder of such building has been arrested, right? And if the builder is arrested then why not minister of that dept as well all related officers are moving freely as they too are equally guilty in allowing such illegal building which was standing there for nearly fifteen years & not just that, even the Juridical System also should be questioned (can’t say punish courts) as what they were doing as if they can take Suo-Moto action in many cases (treatment of Chota Mataka named tiger) on their own, why not in illegal buildings’ matter? At the same time why such illegal buildings come into existence in the first place as unless there is demand, no product can survive; so, who is responsible for failure of legal buildings affordability which makes entry to the illegal homes or say need of such homes, right?

Then let’s have a look at the announcement of Smart Villages, as on the other side Central Govt has closed-down the Smart City mission recently without giving any statistics about money spent & outcome on the said mission in the last eight or nine years! Though one thing is sure, the Smart City Mission is a failure because or else going by the present trend had there been even slightest success in any form then we would have full page advertises, social media flood of posts about these projects & celebrations but nothing of it happened & silently the Mission Smart City was winded means it’s a failure. And if we can't make Smart things successful in overflowing populated cities, how we will be making it possible in villages which are already deserted is my question? And before that have we defined what kind of Smartness we are going to provide in villages & is it needed, rather first ask what villagers need & then provide it as a classic example is millions of people joining some reservation procession & all of them are from villages, what it indicates? Well, it indicates the people in villages doesn’t need smart phones or web check-in or online 7/12 but they need roads, water, education, jobs & right support of infrastructure for survival, if we focus on that then it will be a real Smart Mission for the villages or else it will be Smart Village Mission by the Fools! As, at present not just villages but even towns are running towards Pune, Mumbai & Thane for not job but for mere survival & only those who are too unskilled or lazy or old are staying back in these villages on the mercy of the govt or family members who are working in some big city! What use of Smartness to them, is my question to the govt?

And third point is Trum Tatyas’ tariff bomb which seems more devastating than nuclear bomb & our leaders’ (are they really, sarcasm) reaction or comments on it. First & foremost, what Mr Trump act or speak, we have no control over it, let's admit it & frankly why he is doing it & what he should do instead that’s none of our business because he is not an Indian, to think the way we think about our country. And even if Trump is doing wrong (read as foolishness) then that’s his countrymen’s choice or right to do anything about it & not ours as we are not American citizens. Rather it's important now that what we do & how, to tackle with what Trump Tatya has done to us! It’s a war & in any war, you don’t hold the gun of the enemy or the opponent, so when he fires at you, all you can do is, decide whether to duck the bullet, or run away or take shelter or surrender or return the fire, right? Similarly, our govt may be doing or should do & our PM has already said “Buy Swadeshi,” means we must try to reduce the damage of unsold (read as unexported) goods which won’t be now send to USA & only if we buy them then the loss of our fellow countrymen will be recovered or reduced, is what my understanding? At the same time as a businessman, I understand this also a bit, because the rate at which these goods were getting sold in the USA was higher than the price these goods would have fetched here, that’s why the manufacturers were exporting these goods is simple logic!

Now my question to the Govt is, what is it actually doing to make the manufacturers promote their goods here & sell at such price that it will be affordable to both i.e. the buyers & the seller too! And answer is nothing (well I have some different terminology in mind but this is gentlemen’s platform) as where is so called One Window System for all the clearances for every business, which every govt announces & that window never opens & that’s where losses start for any business even before it starts! As may it be real estate or setting up an industry or even starting a small eating joint, look at the list of NOC’s & approvals & the grind the person has to go through to obtain these even to start something & there lies the reason why our brains are running to western world! If at all govt wants to fight with the USA then the way is to improve the system here in our own country which makes production of goods. This is the reason why millions join processions for reservation of some thousand jobs rather than trying to become entrepreneurs as they know they can fight with govt for reservation but not to get NOC’s for their small startups! Here if I put on a small banner advertising my project on my own site immediately the notice comes with a penalty of some local-body but every footpath is blocked by illegal hording of some small-time leader nobody dares to remove them & the govt expects me to make business, earn money & pay taxes! Here in real estate, jokes like compulsion of getting a non-agriculture certificate for a land where a govt sanctioned building is standing, can happen. And here in real estate only a joke can happen, where even if I dug foundation for my building it's tagged under mining excavation & I am needed to obtain NOC after paying fees for dumping it happens & when the local body has already taken deposit from me for the same! This is where all three subjects which I mentioned in the heading, are tied together & that thread is, Foolishness of Govt in understanding the needs of the common citizens & making policies accordingly! Today in our country the youngsters are afraid of becoming businessmen not because they don’t believe in their talent or ideas & lack hard-work but they are afraid of the system of their own country which kills such talent & ideas under the name of govt procedure & NOC Raj! Here, on one hand our govt doesn’t do anything about Ease of Doing Business in real estate, rather makes efforts to promote illegal homes by legalizing it & on other side expects the builders (which are building legal buildings) to sell their homes at cheaper price! Here, our govt take decades to make development plans & then cancels it in a single day for their own political reasons & expects builders to provide affordable legal homes to masses but takes no responsibility or providing basic infrastructure like water or drainage or power, & the list is longer than Hanumanji's Punchh, this is the reason, our own country’s businessmen neither can make affordable legal homes or products nor our remaining countrymen can afford to buy them! This was my reason of sharing Hon PM Sir, if you really want to take head-on Trump Tatya & his country &  if you really wish to give legal & safe homes to every citizen & make them Smart then start from the system named govt, irrespective of party or else Smart Missions will remain only in agenda, on the ground there will be only illegal buildings to stay & every brain in this country will join the queue of H1B line kneeling in-front of Trump Tatya, adios with this warning!

 

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

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

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Think Green, Think Life

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Friday, August 22, 2025

Nilgiris, not just a Movie but a Warning!

 










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“The only biodiversity we’re going to have left is Coke versus Pepsi. We’re landscaping the whole world one stupid mistake at a time.” ― Chuck Palahniuk

“I always say that the Earth is not our home, because the term "home" has the connotation of permanent ownership. Rather, it is a dormitory where we need to learn to live together by sharing with each other and caring for one another.” ― Shivanshu K. Srivastava

“Neither Superman nor Captain America is real. Real heroes who will save our planet are activists and biodiversity savers.” ― Hakan Kapucu

Charles Michael Palahniuk is an American novelist. Shivanshu K. Srivastava is an accomplished writer, poet and legal professional based in Lucknow, India. Hakan Kapucu is Technoversal Leader at VC Law & Consultancy, Istanbul, Turkey. Interestingly, two of the above quote writers represent the Law fraternity also & the subject of sharing thought isn’t law making or such (thankfully) yet it has lots of social law thingy involved in it & how animals are far better on that front than the humans! And the subject of sharing merges two of my most favourite topics (no, it’s not tadoba & cricket) i.e. movies & wildlife at large! I bumped (that’s right word) on a movie named Nilgiris, though the names sounds like of some beautiful lady (that’s true actually), it’s a documentary film about Nilgiris mountain ranges which lays in southern peninsula of our country & joins eastern & western ghats! The name Nilgiris must be because of the bluish haze its most of the time covered in i.e. Blue Mountains!  Well, this is like the way they teach us geography in school to get marks but such words hardly make us realize the kind of heaven this place is & they fail to make us know the importance of Nilgiris in not just our lives but in the lives of thousands of species of every kind & many of them are found only in these mountains! At the same time geography textbook words fail to make us realize the scale of this wonderful heaven & its relation to so many things which makes the entire world's life a shade better, that’s the object of my sharing!

Well, Nilgiris as I said, is a documentary made by Indian Technicians, Photographers, Director & all such crew & first & foremost, hundred percent marks for their efforts in making a film about this hidden jewel of our country. Hidden I said because, not just the wild lifers (read as common wild lifers which has good gear of camera & thinks they know everything about wildlife) but forest dept & lastly our rulers (do they know ever any such thing, sarcasm) doesn’t know such forest exists & it’s under great threat (as usual, sarcasm) & problem is because of its remoteness & lack of tiger sightings, not many are aware about the damage its being put under! Needleless to say, the threat is none other than we the humans & reasons are Tea/ Coffee in & plantations around Nilgiris as well as tourism & so-called developments such as roads, railway lines & many more. Best part of the movie is the efforts they have put in visuals of road crossing efforts by Indian Gaurs & CCTV footage of Sloth Bear entering a vacant farm-house amidst tea estate & a Leopard hunting a domestic dog from a bungalow’s veranda. All such moments make us know the desperate efforts which these wild species are trying to keep themselves alive among the humans which are surrounding their home (and polluting too) from all directions & these animals have no means to protect themselves but to learn the rules of human beings & start living by them!

Usually when not many people go to such wildlife films in movie theatre or talkies & those who goes usually gets mesmerized by the cinephotography of such films & thanks to NatGeo or Discovery or Animal Planet, even Indian people have got lot of exposure of wildlife photography & comparison of all those things are bound to happen with Nilgiris! I will tell to all of them, please don’t expect exotic photography of tiger hunting or some underwater diving type shots or chase for life type drama in Nilgiris! Indeed, there is some wonderful footage of the drone of a tiger & its unsuccessful hunting as well as rare documentation of wild dogs’ pack lifestyle but watch Nilgiris for the day-to-day photography of nature around us & its destruction! This is where Nilgiris is different & special as it shows us wildlife living right within the humans & reasons behind it. How these wonderful biodiversity rich mountains/ hill ranges got under tea & coffee plantation due to British Raaj & how that changed the core of this habitat, which is core of the film. This one single aspect is enough to make us know the damage the British have done to our country & even when they have left us the damage is continued due to the way they have done it & we are carrying it ahead! British may have taken away Kohinoor & gold & jewellery from us but that’s one time loss, the encroachment they did on our culture & nature, we are paying the price even today for the same & Nilgiris shows this aspect in a naked crude way to us which till now nobody has shown.  As till now the Coorg, Kannur, Madikeri, Uti all these locations are considered as tourists paradise for the greenery & scenic beauty of the green hills the coffee/tea plantation resorts offer to the visitors but what price the surrounding wildlife is paying for this development that no-body has tried to show, which Nilgiris dared to do! Another aspect is the way wild animals are adopting to live with humans which not many urban people are aware of & with the help of local CCTV footage Nilgiris shows us the scene on the roads of towns here, after the sunset. The way wild animals have adopted to shrinkage of their homes due to humans is admirable & sad also, as leopard hunting domestic dog or Indian gaur trying to cross the road adjusting its vision to floodlights of moving vehicles hits us hard, if we care for these things a bit in the first place! As well, the way sloth bear family & leopards have adjusted their own living according to seasonal changes of human movements in & around tea plantations, is also very touchy & informative!

Last but not least, Nilgiris is not a mere film or documentary but it’s a message (read as warning) to the entire man-kind (especially our country) about the destination we are heading to, under the name of development which actually is destruction! In Nilgiris’ script it’s not the people, not animals, not trees but Nature (read as Biodiversity) is in the lead role, rather is the only character in the entire movie! Nature is also the main lead in our lives but it is mostly in the background & silent, until it screams! And once nature starts screaming then we must pay attention & pay the price of these screams also.

 Nilgiris also touches on an aspect of ever-increasing human population about which every ruler & every political party is silent & has turned a blind eye but nature hasn’t done that! One day or other if we don’t learn to accommodate the wildlife in our growth then one thing is sure & that is not development but disaster, I think that’s the warning Nilgiris has given us! And yes, thanks to Mr.Nandan Nilekani & his family as they have funded this project & wildlife even awareness needs lots of money & not many rich people’s pockets are open for this cause which Mr.Nilekani did, so sincere thanks to him! And thanks to the forest depts of respective States also for supporting the project! Speaking about the movie review, all I will say, everybody must watch “Nilgiris”, & adopt just one aspect of living after watching it & that is, learn to coexist with wildlife, if you want to live in a world which has butterflies, birds, flowers, grass, trees, streams & yes tigers too; adios with this note!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

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

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Thursday, August 14, 2025

Art of Right Workamanship !


















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“Resources are hired to give results, not reasons.”

“A good swordsman is more important than a good sword.”
 Amit Kalantri

Amit Kalantri is a professional magician and mentalist, known for his unique and sophisticated shows that involve audience participation and subtle humour. He also teaches magic and other intelligent arts through his organization, "Beautiful Minds". More importantly from Wikipedia only I came to know that he also is from Akola, a town near to my hometown in Vidarbha! Rarely have I used two quotes of the same writer for one sharing but that shows Amit’s command on the subject i.e. humans & their attitude not just towards work at hand but at life at large! Now, if you are 9 you must be) wondering where I am venturing this time from my favourite topics such as Tadoba & of-late Cricket, then thanks to my friend who by her conversation pinched me hard & made me realize I am an engineer & a businessman (read as builder) too & there are issues, topics which needed to look after. Fun of the human mind is, with repeated frustration or negativity about any particular topic or subject, your subconscious mind makes you avoid that subject how much so ever important it may be for your work or business, such is the power of our mind! And I am sure you must be still wondering where this mind is going, then it’s about workmanship in real estate & it’s not just site or construction related workmanship but on every front of this industry, from marketing, to maintenance to even admin/ HR also! It all started with some repairing work in the home of my friend’s maid where we helped to replace/ repair tiles of her home by sending labourers/ masons from one of our sites.  Indeed, it was a great help to the poor lady & they did complete the work but with lots of follow-up & eventually when the work completed my friend called me to convey thanks yet she said there had been few issues. The cleaning work after tiling work completed hasn’t been done properly (read as not done at all) & those people broke frame for fixing TV on one of the walls while removing it for wall tiles fixing & her maid needed to take half day leave to get that job done as she was a single parent person with no helping hand at home! And my friend asked me, indeed it was a big help to the maid yet can’t your people complete the work in the right way & why they leave behind such residual things which hardly needs any additional efforts, especially when main job they have done, but such small lacunas leave bitter taste in the end? This question awakened the hidden (read as I have hidden) subject in my work which is real estate & it is fineness in the job & understanding right workmanship! Frankly, more than traffic, water, garbage, or urban planning the major frustration I get is, from this subject i.e. workmanship at present in real estate & that is why I was avoiding to write, even to discuss about it & now you will understand the prologue gyan.com about that subconscious mind thingy!

Though I sent again the workers & the issue at that maid’s home got sorted but it remained in my mind as of-late whenever there is gathering of my age group people in the industry or say site related personnel who are on other side of age of forty-five, the only common topic is “apane time aisa nahi tha” (work was different at our times). And trust me, our time doesn’t mean some thirty forty years back, it’s just some ten / fifteen odd years & there is a sea change in the entire working system (I call it as attitude)! And I am not the only person who feels so, but every that person who loves or care for his or her work, may it be site or office or documentation or billing or sales or maintenance, any damn thing, he will feel the difference while dealing with the people around when it’s about finishing the job or work at hand. I am not saying we were from another planet or superior, rather today genre is more smart, effective, fast & practical but they use all their skills only when they think there is something of their interest in any work, then only they are effective or else they care a hang about the work, is a statement I am making in my full senses! And I am not intending to insult today’s genre nor doubt their motifs or skills, it’s just something is missing in defining the workmanship or how to complete a work at hand, is my subject of sharing!

And the problem may be with us (my genre) as we failed to pass on the baton of right workmanship to the next genre, the way it’s been passed to us but that doesn’t change the fact & problems it’s been creating at work places. May it be having a thorough check at site for cleaning the waste material after the day’s work ends or may it be switching lights at site on when it's darkness or it may be filing properly all the concerned drawings or even it can be getting some document inwarded or returning call of anybody, the list of leaving the work at hand incomplete or say not taking it to right destination is bigger than Hanumanjiki Punchh (plz google)! This is where the attitude towards workmanship comes into play as most of the people (read as staff or working team) don't understand (or don’t bother) what outcome is expected from the respective individual from the task given to them! Workmanship is about giving the result the way some job has been told or given to you & for that most important is understanding of that job, which is the weakest link of today’s genre! And I am not saying this just because I am the boss of some company or sit on the other side of the table named employment but because I too have worked as an employee for a long time & have seen the way people used to work. There always will be people who just work for the sake of working or for salary but there were people who used to work not just because they get paid for that work but for something more & that something more is missing today from most peoples’ working, is my subject of sharing!

Interestingly when my frustration levels were running high because of the subject in mind, I came across one wonderful article about Bossism, which writes about the wrong way of boss, means wrong workmanship of a boss & I do value that aspect of workmanship also. Because a lot matters in your earlier days, who was your boss & how he trained (read as treated) you as those teachings (read as scars) remains for long time but then it's your choice as why are you working in any place in the first place, as that’s what going to define your future! This is era of gains & that to fast, nobody is ready to wait & this creates big problem in learning process of your work as there is no fast forward in workmanship learning, so first learn patience, this I will  tell to the bosses (boss in me too) as well to the employees as if you acquire skills that will be helpful to you in any job you will be doing, so learn the right workmanship for your own sake & in the process it will benefit to your company also, is simple logic! But for that give time & concentrate on the minute details of the job, whatever it may be. Right from returning a call to arranging your table to maintaining a work diary, the smallest things matter a lot if you want to become a perfectionist in workmanship! Another major problem of many people is laziness or reluctance to write as on one side our memory is remaining unused (thanks to google & smart phones) & on other side we don’t take on habit of writing down things & causing errors, mistakes & forgetting tasks & outcome is stress, for your own self & for your boss too! And do mind this is applicable to the boss also as today you may be working under somebody but tomorrow somebody will be working for you & if you don’t have cultivated the right habits for yourself how you can expect your juniors will adopt them, right?

Last but the most important, learn to become the owner of any job given to you or undertaken by you, as unless you do that you will never master the Art of Right Workmanship! And this statement I am not making just for sounding my words great nor are they cut-pasted from some Management Gurus’ book neither written with the help of Chat GPT (today’s buzzword), but that’s what I always feel for my work! What I mean taking ownership is, don’t think about in what capacity you are working & for whom or how much you are getting paid for the job, just think that this is your job & you are the boss of it & then you will start seeing the things about that job which no B’ School can teach you! Will give a small example of my own set up, many a times when my team member (staff, I don’t like to call them) get some quotation or workorder for finalization to me, may it be electric bill or some tile contractors rate or insurance renewal of a car & many such, I just ask them one simple question, check it first thinking it’s your own expense & then come to me! Means, if its electric bill then you will check every unit & rate of the same has it been your home electricity bill, do the same for whichever electricity bill you are checking. If it's a car insurance renewal, then check the terms & conditions & premium amount as keenly as you would have checked for insurance renewal of your own two-wheeler. And, think that you are fixing tiles for your own home & now decide the rate of the contractor, this is what I call taking ownership as after this if you make a mistake then that’s ok as you have given your best & then the mistakes will make you better as now, you own those mistakes too! And this attitude is applicable for every aspect of the work which unfortunately is missing for the employees & the employers too which is the major problem of today’s working! And the only solution for this problem of mastering workmanship is patience, training & lead by self-example & if you are a boss then you only will have to take the lead, this I tell to myself every morning when I look in the mirror! Will share a wonderful story, which I have come across in the Zen Speaks book & it wonderfully explains the advantages of Owning the Job attitude, again what to or whether to take from the story, your choice, adios with this note…

An old carpenter was about to retire. He told his boss of his plans to quit carpentry and house building and live a quieter life with his family. Of course, he would miss the monthly payment, but he needed the pension. The owner of the company felt the loss of one of his best employees and asked him to build one last house as a special favour. The carpenter consented, but over time it was easy to see that his thoughts and heart were not on the job. He did not commit himself to the service and used inferior-quality labour and raw materials. It was an unfortunate way for him to conclude his career. When the carpenter finished his work, the builder came to inspect the house and handed the carpenter the door key. “This is my gift to you,” he explained. What a shock! How embarrassing! If he had known he was building his own house, he would have done it completely differently, he wouldn’t have been so relaxed. Now he would have to live in a house made anyway….

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

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/