Learning from Disaster!

Failure is simply the non-presence of success. But a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions...Orlando Bloom

How perfect the words of great Hollywood star are when we read the news papers covering the infamous Mantralay Fire. Surprisingly many of the readers of our column have messaged me that this particular topic I should take keeping in mind the safety awareness of the buildings. Though I am not a safety expert or advisor yet safety is more a common sense when it comes to the buildings is a fact! With all due respect to the event as well the people who lost their lives & sure as usual the battle will go on for months about who was at fault & what should have been done yet when it comes to disasters its again proved how poorly we are placed in terms of infrastructure or action plan. Though one thing has to be complemented that at least more than 6000 people were there & majority of them could make their way out is a fact too. But loss of property & information in form of files & data, what about them? We have seen the footage of Japan's earth quake & the fires all over it caused & the way people faced it & the footage of our rulers head quarter! What a contradiction in the behavior! When there is a basic rule of not using lifts in case of fire still people were using lifts, such a mistake & no one to take a single point control or charge of the situation? Fire hydrants were too far away from such an important building & no fire water storage tanks for building as important as Mantralay!

To me there are two types in which we can categorize Disasters, man-made or created & natural! We all are helpless in avoiding the natural ones but the man made can surly be avoided at least the spread or damage of them can! Like occurring a fire is understandable enough but the cause why it occur & how it spread to such a large extent is definitely our own lacuna or ignorance towards this aspect.

On this back ground it’s interesting to see the scenario about the current building norms each building above 15 meter height i.e. more than four floors has to have two stair cases as well there are norms for building above height of 21 meters by virtue of which its mandatory to have a system of fire hydrant i.e. down take lines with fire hose reel at each floor & a underground as well over head water tank of capacity ranging from 10,000 lit to 50,000 lit depending up on the height of the buildings. High rise buildings i.e. above 24 meters height has to have fire pumps at ground level as well on terrace floor  & with separate electric supply of which electric meter is away from the regular meter boards. This is because of in case of fire first thing is to be done is shut of the electric supply & in that case the fire pumps should remain in operation. Also now the RCC frame work of the building too has to be designed pertaining the fire factor i.e. at least for four hours it should sustain the fire on parameter heat keeping in mind the structural stability. As this much time can be sufficiant to evacuate the building at such times.
 

For Commercial or Public  buildings like IT parks & Malls where central air conditioning has been provided the fire safety norms are more stringent with fire sensors & fire alarms with a net work of water sprinklers having supply from special fire water storage tanks is mandatory. There has to be smoke detectors as well camera surveillance as it’s the first few minutes right when the fire start are most important. It’s always easier to get the fire in control at its origin as the spread is small. Once it grows naturally its spread as well the heat the fire generates makes it more & more difficult with each passing hour to get control over it. By proper monitoring of the surveillance camera & smoke detectoers the fire can be immediately located & accessed. Also buildings with long & narrow passages for communication especially like Mantralay there has to be proper ventilation outlets as well fire exits at regular interval so the smoke can be drifted away as well people don’t have to cross a long distances at the time of disaster like fire or earth quake.  Periodical training to all the persons who are in any way related to the public building is a must thing. As one should not ignore even the slightest of smoke or any such thing if observed & here the training comes in picture.

Though we are not here to criticize Mantralay fire of Govt what we need to learn from this while buying any property may it be a commercial or residential, it’s very important to understand these norms for your own safety & ask the developer what care he is taking for the same. As I have repeatedly mentioned in this column, we are too fussy even buying vegetables but when it comes to home we are just looking for rate, location & superficial amenities & not the basic things like safety which are actually far more important in long term. And it’s not just the developer who is responsible as he may provide all the safety norms but if the residents don’t keep the same in maintained condition & are ignorant about the same, then also it’s a failure in case of disaster. I have observed in many of the societies the wiring isn’t tested for years & the fire hydrants have never been operated making them get locked in case of emergency. All such machinery/systems has to be periodically maintained & tested & that’s job of the people who resides there.

Btw just a thought, had such fire happened at any factory or commercial place then the owner of the place would have immediately charge sheeted by the police & all the Govt depts. & by now  the poor owner would have been behind the bar for negligence & all such charges, so whom they will be arresting in case of Mantralay fire? It’s easy to blame the Govt but how many of us have a proper well filled fire extinguisher in our home? We spend lacs of rupees on our interior but I have rarely seen a fire extinguisher in any of the home. How many of us have given training to our staffs or considered this aspect in our private offices? Or how many of us have gone up to the over head water tank of our building where we reside & check the connections & condition of water storage of fire water tank? Fire is just one cause of a disaster; there can be flood or earth quake or terrorist attack, have we prepared our self for the same? Sadly the answer is a big No !

Here we need to understand that safety is an attitude & not just a term! It’s our own attitude which will be deciding our faith at the time of such disasters, so instead blaming who is wrong & how to get aware about the place where we live or work & ensure that we live in a safe & healthy life without making us regret later is the right way to deal with Disasters!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157628805700569/

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

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Fitness of Home! ( gharacha fitness)

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned...Maya Angelou

Well the sentiments of the African socialist get perfectly reflected from the quote about the feelings of most of us towards the four wall which we call home but how safe is this home of ours, we rarely ask this question to our own self! Many will wonder with the heading of the write-up as fitness is the term used for living creatures where as a home is made up of bricks & concrete so how the term fitness can be tagged with home?

Well we need to understand attitude of the most people towards their home. We usually go with the aesthetics of any thing why home & when we call some thing as a good home it’s mainly the interiors, color scheme, furnishing etc. But we rarely look towards the strength or durability of home. Neither we are interested in this aspect while buying the home nor afterwards is my experience with most of the home buyers. Rarely I have faced the questions on this front of home i.e. what is the strength of concrete, which type of cement has been used & how we confirm the strength of the frame work of home. And let me remind you one need not have to be an engineer to ask these questions. Even when we buy a car or a two wheeler we ask the questions like what’s its engines cc or mileage or average & things like that but when it come to a home we turn a blind eye on our curiosity! I often wonder what happens to most of the customer when they are buying a thing like home which is supposed to serve their generations; we are least interested to things which in later years are going to contribute towards the term fitness of their own home!

As solid & durable home has to be made accordingly then only it will be giving us the least maintenance. The frame work has to be with proper strength of concrete as well properly cured & the masonry work along with door & window frames firmly fitted making a monolithic structure together. Then only it can stand fit for years. Interiors & paints are after all like a make up on a face but the skin as well the bone structure of the home has to be strong enough then only the make will look good is a fact which we ignore. Many a times we have seen cracks in even new home wall & we wonder what’s the reason? In our city most of the plaster work is done with sand which has major amount of the clay in it & it’s this clay which produce cracks after some time because of temperature difference in the surrounding. Not that these cracks are structurally dangerous but they look ugly giving unfit look to the home at the same time they do became main cause for water seepage in rainy season damaging the paint as well interior look of the home. This is just one example of unfitness of a home.

In many recent projects we must be seeing a line about Earth quake proof design, actually nothing is earth quake proof; earth quake resistant is a proper term. As per the IS code for buildings there are many parameters & the whole world has been divided in five zones of earth quake possibility. Pune city comes in zone 3 & there are some design criteria’s while designing the structure of the buildings in this zone. A design pertaining to these criteria’s is called as earth quake resistant! It’s a way of strengthening the structural elements like foundation, columns & beams & slabs which are in a way base of any building. A good structure can help in avoiding many future maintenance rather fitness issues of a home & that’s why no harm in being a bit curious at the time of construction as k few questions to your developer about the same.
Once we took possession of a home then this fitness responsibility is also ours as however best a car may be yet it requires regular servicing is what we all know & takes our car for the same periodically but again when it comes to our home? Ask a simple question to our own self when it’s last time you have done servicing of your own home? Here again many will laugh at this silly question as what’s this new fancy idea of servicing the home! It’s much simpler & less money consuming than our car!

All we have to do is understand it properly & follow. Even the new Housing Law has got the provision of building audit which means periodical checking of the home & its services. Like our own body has a complex net work of blood veins, tissues & bones a home is also made up of similar things but with different terminology. The concealed plumbing pipes of water lines as well electric cables are in a way our home's veins &the plaster from inside to outside is like tissues under the skin & the main frame of building inclusive of columns & beams are like bones. Like our body's daily wear & tear many activities are going in & around the home making all these organs weak & wear. Like we need regular medical check ups they too need some check up & preventive measures though not as regularly as a human body needs but unfortunately we neglect it.

We install AC's on the outer walls of home & puncture the wall for getting the AC pipes & cable in. While making holes for these provisions we break the wall masonry & plaster which can create cracks all along the surface of the plaster which in turn gets loosen up & either may fail down or can carry water in side in rainy season causing seepage. We have attached terraces to our rooms & we rarely clean up the pipes carrying rain water down & then they get clogged up making rain water seep in our walls from the terrace. Our electric cables we never test periodically & there might be s break up due to short circuit which may lead to a fire after some years. Many of the homes now have a pipe gas provision maintenance of which is neglected & we read the news of a gas leak or blast! We change our sanitary wear or wall tiles in the toilet & in the process we end up breaking water proofing of the base of the toilet causing leakage in flat below or we fit solar on top terrace & in process damage the water proofing of the terrace again causing leakage in top floor flat in monsoon! We enclose our balconies after getting possession with all sorts of grills & aluminum sliding windows & for that do all type of breakage & never re-plaster it properly leave apart painting. Then the common scene is making awning for the terraces, it does look good but do we pay enough attention how we fit it? So many things keep happening around by which a home has to undergo wear & tear & gets damaged in process.

Like we pay attention to our own body only when we face some illness & rarely go for routine checkups when we are fit, it’s equally important to have routine check up for the various such systems of home as well the equipments engaged in serving the same. And the solution is along with periodical checking of such services making AMC i.e. annual maintenance contract of things like Lifts, Water pumps, Generator, Solar Water Heaters, Water Purifier plants & any such item which is working round the clock to make our life comfortable. Again not many societies have adopted such good practices & try to save on in their maintenance expenses & then we read about accidents from lift failures & fires due to short circuits! There are agencies out in the market that does provide these services & when it comes to maintenance of things like Lift or Generators, it’s always advisable to go through the official service provider even if they may be a bit costlier on face.

A fit home is equally important just like our own fitness; then only we can have the feeling of safety inside it as Maya Angelou has quoted. And for that the poor home can’t do any thing, it’s the person living in it has to go for it; that's our duty towards the four walls which we call home!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157628805700569/

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

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Parking a Car!

If you have a little extra parking, I am on the side of getting rid of it in favor of having some more greenery...Michael King

Well considering the situation in city & our Indian sentiments for the car not many will be on the side of the international architect! As for us car is something of most valued possession. There is a good joke about the car that " If a man is opening door of a car for his wife then either the wife is new or the car!" Leave apart the joke part but it speaks about the sentimental possessive value we have for our car. Most of the men especially Indian men if asked what their dream of a good living is, will include a good looking wife, a nice home & then a car of his own, that's the dream! Earlier till 90's it was a status symbol to have a car of your own but come Maruti & even the common so called middle class person also was able to think of car of his own. In real terms its' entry of Maruti which changed the car scenario of our country. Till then to have a car was considered as only for milliner’s as they only has a space to park it was also a fact. And another most important but never considered aspect was then the distances weren't too much to travel & it’s more status base than need base to own a car.

After 90's the face of urban India started to change significantly fast pace & with entry of many multinational car makers in the market, having a car was no more just the status symbol for riches but it become a part of our daily necessity. The Towns became City's & City's changed to Metro's, making the distances to cover for our daily routines from few meters to many kilometers. There may be still many Punekars who had never crossed river Mutha for years as including schools to subji mandai to cinema halls to their work places all were in radius of 1/2 kilometers which was easily in reach on feet or at most with cycle! Also the homes were wadas as apartments were yet to become part of city's sky lines & bungalows were few. So there was no question of either need of car to move around or having a place to park it. Car was always an every body's favorite dream but yet people could do without having it!

As the cities started increasing in size so does the distances started getting increased & now if we consider the average citizen's required to travel in a city like Pune then it's nearly 20-30 km per day. This traveling includes going to office & then carrying children to school & going to shopping etc. Now the family size has been reduced to two plus two maximum so if on week end a family wants to go out going together by car has become the simplest & easiest way. This is outcome of failure of the city civic body to provide a proper system or infrastructure available for transportation within the city. I had been to cities like Singapore with my family & for 80% of the time I was comfortably using public transport over there which includes Metro as well Buses. Only for 20% of the time I have to use taxi. And all this without missing any of my timings to reach the destinations we were going. This I can’t even try in my own city & here is where our today's topic comes in lime light i.e. is parking! Here I recall my most favorite quote from the movie    Spider Man; “With great powers come along great responsibilities"! Similarly if car is power to an individual to reach at his destination as well to show of his status symbol then the parking of that car is the responsibility he has to carry along!

Here is where major crux comes in picture i.e. whose responsibility is to create a space for car parking? Recently there was a news which surprisingly went un-noticed by many; it was an order or directive issued by Hon. Home Minister of the State for taking actions about residential society's resident's car parking outside of their society on road! Well that means all the residents who owns a car have to park the car within their building premise which is logically correct but then why one has to buy a car is the question I will ask in first place! And what about number of Govt establishments whose visitors as well staff vehicles are parked all along out side of their premise! Even the PMPML i.e. our public transport system’s buses are parked all night & day along the roads blocking most part of the road, who is going to take action about them? Gone are the days where most buildings were with ground floor residence & no parking place was designed or required by the architects or even by building by-laws as with due respect to our planners short sightedness till early 90's car wasn't considered as part of the building & still 60% buildings don't have adequate car parks in the city as they were build in pre-car dependence era. The new by-laws demands to have car parking for even a single bed room flat i.e. 1 bhk & even 2 car parks for 3 bhk flat along with two wheeler parking  & the developers are building the projects accordingly! As a developer is in business & he will deliver what customer demands unfortunately with out thinking about the side effects of the demand. But have we thought at what cost the demand for parking is being fulfilled? With our need as well greed for status we are consuming most of the land around & below the complex for creating spaces for cars! Now we have multilevel car parking which in cases go two to three floors below the ground. In this process we damage the ground water flows & damage the biodiversity of many species like snakes to ants which were happily living below the earth’s surface for years! Many will laugh for such a silly thought but this is just one aspect of damage getting done because of creating more & more space for cars. Numbers of trees got cut to give away the space for drive ways to make the car reach in their parking lots at the same time lesser & lesser spaces are being made for the new trees in the same process is also a fact. We have laws for cars as well laws for trees but even a small kid can tell who wins the war at end!

Then there is a big debate going about a verdict of court that whether developer can sale the car parking? Issue isn't who can sale what, issue is every one needs place of his own to park a car is a fact & people are ready to pay ransom for their love towards their pride possession. In Mumbai the car parking costs goes over nearly Rs.10 lacs per parking at some places such is the demand for car park. Ask any person going for buying a home / flat & tell him that he wont be allotted a car park with the home & see his reaction & you will get your answer about selling of a car park! People can’t imagine a home without a car park of their own is a fact & it’s this factor which is more dangerous for the entire society than just having rights of selling the car park. Again it's not just car parks but two wheeler car parking is equally important as their numbers are also alarmingly high. Now a days in a average home there are two cars & three to two, two wheelers & cycles too for the school goers. How we are going to meet these demands is the real challenge & then we say homes are getting costlier! Because in the race of creating more car parking places we are increasing construction cost also by building more space for the parking. And at the end have we thought who is bearing cost of this construction? In the process our whole life style is being car or private vehicle oriented & the public/civic bodies conveniently dodge their responsibility by making stringent norms for car parking & thinks their job is done! It’s not the car parking but the need for the car requires to be taken care is what we are forgetting!

Only increasing parking norms for new developments is not going to solve the issue, it’s just passing the buck! If we are thinking just about the cars then this is bound to be the outcome. Think about entire planning of the city & why people needs to travel all across the city for smallest of the job? Decentralization is a word used too cheaply in our society. It has happened in private segment like most of the generation old outlets of shops have opened their branches in the suburbs but on many Govt fronts people have to run always to the head quarter of a Govt establishment is a fact. Even the zonal offices staff of public bodies or Govt offices has to do that leave apart the common man. Online documentation of many things like 7/12 extract of electric bills or even property tax like things if we make it possible in 100% then much of the traveling will be reduced. Banning parking in front of society roads isn't the solution but making services available to the people at their work places or resident is which in end will reduce the need of buying a car which at end will help in reducing need for the parking places. As when you allow a person to buy  a car by charging all the taxes then you only have to give him  a place to park the same car & not only at his residence but at all those places where he needs to go by the car may be out of helplessness! As no one like to park his car on road & neither likes to pay hefty charges for parking per hour as it’s a big pinch to the pocket in all ready tough survival with cost of fuel increasing each day!

Here not only the planning authority or the civic bodies but every citizen's role is equally important in curtailing the number of car parks. We have become so selfish that we have forgotten things like car pool or to plan our schedule a bit neatly & try to use public transport at least one day a week! But I can't blame common man totally as looking the way our rulers are dealing with the public transport issue, God save all the things especially as the quote says the greenery from parking is what I feel!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157628805700569/

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

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Petrol, Metro & Homes!

If you think of cars you will end up making roads. If you think of human, you will end up making buildings. But if you think of nature then you will end up making a world livable for all... Lee Corbusier.

After reading the title many a will wonder what’s relevance in all above three things? It may seem like name of the art movies like "Surajka satava Ghoda" or "Albert Pintoko Ghussa Ku Aata Hai?" types but see the recent news about petrol hike & public transport especially the Metro. Well the first two are co related but what about home? What this has to do with real estate or home & their prices? There lies the crux of the question. For that we have to understand real estate or let’s call housing industry from different angle. In our city we have many people/ citizen are engaged in brain storming via various group activities & its does help to the Public bodies as well even departments like traffic police to do their job in better way. Many groups are in touch with each other via internet as well non Face book. On one such net group recently some one floated a question at me; what percentage of Traffic load do you think will be carried by Pune Metro when it is completed? As Metro is the latest in thing on our city related issue. My answer was ....Unless we don’t make a proper network supporting to Metro inclusive of PMT i.e. our Public road transport, rickshaws to reach there, this won’t solve the problem. As distances in Pune are short in compare to Mumbai/Delhi so more people will still tend to use private vehicle if the metro isn’t backed to end to end connectivity regarding destinations of travel. Another is execution time as till then what, so people will buy the vehicles & when I have a vehicle then I will naturally tend to use it for my daily basis for my convenience. That’s mentality of the city. Such types of hot discussions are going on all forums may it be social or political.

Then we have witnessed a sudden hike in Petrol prices & we suffered a Bhanrat Bandh also for the same. As well we experienced the rush to feel up the tank before the petrol price actually reached a new high & news about how petrol pump owners kept their pumps closed on the rate hike eve to earn maximum profit on the existing stock! The rate hike was nearly 10% strait which is now marginally reduced like nursing the wound. Imagine with any other commodity if such would have been the sudden rate hike? Though the after effects of this hike has yet to be felt truly. This is just beginning.
The by product of use of private vehicles is accidents! Now we are so used to this byproduct of traffic that we have stopped marooning over the same. Each day we open the news paper & see number of deaths all over the city in various incidents ,some who are sensitive enough they discuss amongst themselves & others just turn the page & go to sports news or share news. We are all ready on top of street deaths in State may be country & with over 20 million vehicles on roads & the number increasing each day & road carrying capacity being the same what can be other outcome? Each day nearly 70% of the people have to travel by their own private vehicles mostly two wheelers to different destinations risking their life to the accidents & we are not yet even considering the threat of pollution on the road from the emission of tons of gasses from the firing of these vehicles!
Each day when a house wife’s sees off her husband to his office or her son going to college by their two wheeler, till they come back she is worried of their safe return! Now many will say what’s new in all this & what it have to do with real estate of our home hunt? Well as the great architect quoted what we thinking for will decide where we will head in future. Till now our city like any prospering city is preferred by the people for living because it gives them a secure feeling & safe as well healthy environment to live. A city should not offer to the citizen just earnings but it should take care of the healthy & safe living also & this is something we are neglecting more & more with each passing day. When we say home prices are going high & out of budget of most then we must understand its not just one commodity on which home prices are depending. Any thing costly is in compare of the other commodities. Down the memory lane when I have just started my carrier in real estate at that time i.e. start of 90's the Prabhat road home prices were 1200/sft & its supposed to be the costliest bid then also! But Petrol was Rs7/litter. And now after nearly 20 years check up the graph, both have increased nearly ten times so why blame only home prices? This I am asking as a common man & not as a builder & as economic critics.
A home will look much cheaper which is a primary & basic need if we can keep other expenses in control & petrol is major factor for the sole reason that we have a poorest public transport system in compare to cities of our size. Result is maximum of the citizen’s time gets spend (I will say wasted) in communicating from one place to another & by spending heavily on filling their vehicles tanks & at the same time exposing themselves to risk of accident! This makes your financial budget go hey wire & leaving people less money to spend on your home buying. As to save on the distance in traveling to the destinations like work, market , children's school more & more people tend to have a home in the locality where all these things are available near by ,thus shifting the rate balance of a particular area. And then those who couldn’t afford home here have to move away in the zones where no infrastructure is available & many choose the option of illegal settlements. And we say homes are getting unaffordable in the city!
The Metro corridor has been proposed more FSI i.e. floor space index all along the track thus creating more homes which will help in lowering the prices of homes. One more factor is by introduction of Metro a longer stretch of city will be covered in smaller time at cheaper transportation cost. This again will make people to move out of the existing city limits & opting for places out of suburbs. As you can live outside of extreme end of the city where homes are available at much cheaper rates & come to Metro terminal by your vehicle, park it there & come in the city by Metro. Increased petrol values is in a way boon for the Metro as for a common man its impossible  to meet the financial ends with traveling by private vehicle getting so expensive. One thing is equally true that right now Metro or any other public transport system is not even finalized on paper, so it will take another five years minimum to come in operation is a fact. In these five years again the numbers of private vehicles is going up but while selecting the home one can look for the metro or such route & then choose the home accordingly.
An ideal city will provide equally developed infrastructure well spread in all parts of the city & which will help in citizen to curtail their travel distance as well time thus indirectly saving in costs of fuel. At the same time things like Metro will make them available the means of transportation to their destination at affordable price as well assuring a safe mean to travel. Imagine you have an option by virtue of which you can be at your destination in minimum time & without exposing yourself to risk of accident or pollution & that too in very much cost effective way! Feels like living in dream! But that’s what we are missing here as no one is giving attention to this angle of all these issues collectively which on face looks irrelevant! Here developers too should get united & if some major development is going on in a particular suburb then they can think of starting a separate bus route by paying for the same to the local public transport body. Because like " Pahale anda ya pahale murgi?" as there are no passengers there is no bus route & as there is no bus route there are no passengers, is the situation in most of the city suburbs.
Agreed like Petrol price hike the Metro isn’t going to happen in one day but if we plan & start the supporting infrastructure right now, then only we can expect proper contribution of Metro in making homes affordable in this city. Or else instead of solving traffic problem we will have one more problem how to make Metro profitable?
Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157628805700569/

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

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

A School called Forest!

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. ...Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's May, peak of Central India's summer & probably the best time to visit forests here, if you are ready to bare the heat & wants to see the animals! As trees are surely not at their best but the water is scarce at these times, may it be for man or animals & most of them are on constant search of the same! And here is where lays your best chance to see the maximum of wild life!
Many a times I have faced this question from my friends, what’s there in Jungles that I visit them so often & yet don’t get bore? I too have asked this to myself many a times & the answer lies within the forest only! As the quote says it teaches so many things provided you go there & with open mind. In my recent trip to Kanha, Pench & Nagzira, though just one round at later two, here are few of the experiences & each of them was like attending separate class of life!
Class one.
There is a story behind every shot in forest!
While moving through the meadows of Kanha saw a blue jay circling over a dry tree & just out of curiosity what its doing on a dry tree we stopped the gipsy & as soon she felt our presence she flied away. Got more curious & aimed my lenses to the tree & saw the reason, she has her newborn in the nest made in a hole of that dry tree. Ignoring the alarm calls in distance & guides urge for chance of tiger sight I decided to wait to get the feeding snap as to see the blue jay with its blue display wings on is something far more interesting! But the protective mother was not ready to guide us to her newborn's location as she was unknown to the fact that we already knew the location of the nest, so she kept waiting on a near by tree for us to move away from there. The wait game started & after 30 minutes with all dilse sorry for the disturbance we caused in her feeding, the caring mother in her won over the security factor & she flew towards the waiting new born to feed & I got my shot!
*The jungle taught me to wait & be patient till the right moment comes!
Class 2
Forest is full of Surprises!
Here is one more, in Pench we were waiting on other side of a dry back water ground & there were alarm calls of chitals on other side. Each animal even the birds makes a peculiar sound when they see Tiger or any predator, which is called as alarm call & that’s the best way to locate the hunter as or else you cant see any thing by just your eyes so dense & camouflaging is the color of Tiger! As there wasn’t anything to do but wait to see the Tiger unless he comes in open I was just focusing my camera on a stork standing near a dike & just when I was clicking it suddenly the tiger leaped up in the frame from the dike! I & the stork were both equally surprised with this sudden appearance of the King of the forest!
*The jungle taught me to be ready for the surprises in the life which sometimes may be sweet & some times sour as there was equal possibility that instead the Tiger coming in frame the stork itself could have flown away before I click leaving the empty canvas of back water in the frame!

Class 3

Surprise is the word in forest!
As a routine I Was waiting to see the tiger as usual with the alarm calls from chital & monkeys & suddenly near the gipsy in which we were waiting there was a fallen dry tree which got alive with some moment, first I thought its regular flame back wood pecker but wow they were pair of gray pigmy woodpecker with male displaying orange cap! These are very rare not because of just les in numbers but because they are very small ,hardly 6 inches in size & perfectly blending colors with the tree bark.

*Once again forest has surprised me with the unexpected & taught me a lesson that while chasing big targets never miss the opportunity to enjoy smaller joys! They are far more important!

Class 4
We were following pug marks of a male tiger in Kanha & suddenly saw its glimpse in the bushes as he left the road & entered in a dry nallah along. There was a crossing to the nallah so we speed up & decided to wait at the crossing in the hope of we can have a good shot there but he wasn’t interested & left the nallah & started walking from opposite bank of the nallah from the bushes. Again we knew this track also was leading to a road which runs directly across to his path so we went ahead & kept waiting where the jungle path meets the road. There was alarm call at the opening of the jungle path from which the tiger was walking; few were of monkey on right hand side where we had been waiting & one from peacock on left hand side of our gipsy. Relying on surety of monkey call we decided to move right & kept looking where the monkeys were calling & in the mean time tiger crossed from where the peacock was calling & all we could see is just back side of him while crossing the road!
*The jungle has taught me one more lesson that even surest of our sources can fail & never ignore any information how ever irrelevant it may look on face!

So many such classes are on when you are in forest & attend them with open mind. It’s like going to a free school where no teacher will force anything on you yet you have to remember that you are there to learn & the process is ever going. Here right from the monkey to the trees all are your teachers & you have to watch them with open eyes & ears as they can’t speak in your language but yet they speak with you in so many ways & teach you to see your own life in different perception. The best thing forest teaches you is, to have patience till the right moment. As in forest nothing happens just for the sake of it. Every thing every act of animal or plant has a purpose & timing. How important is this knowledge as in our daily life also it’s the impatience which is the cause of all our troubles. We get impatient when we don’t get our morning news paper in time & even when any big job isn’t being done in time by the staff or collogues! It has become tendency of our modern times, being impatient for every thing & which is root of all the uneasiness rather I will call it as unhappiness which is growing around in the society. And here is where visiting forests makes the difference as it’s only here you learn to enjoy waiting & be patient! What you bring along from the forest is this patience & joy of waiting which you can use in your daily routine to combat with your uneasiness generated from day to day problems around.
Another aspect is most of us are continuously busy in chasing some targets in present times & all the time we can think nothing other but the target we are chasing. Like I experienced in chasing Tiger in forest, nothing wrong in aiming big but we should not lose interest or ignore the smaller joys of life coming in our way while we are running after our target. What every course like Art of Living tries to teach us is the same which forest actually displays in front of us & in a beautiful way! Not just the tiger but every small animal, insect, flower, tree & bird can give you the equal amount of joy in watching them move & just flow with the nature. All one has to do is feel it & learn from it how to be in tune with nature.

May be here lies the answer of why I go to forest again & again as for me its like new experience every day  just like I used to go the school to learn something new & get exited with the knowledge! And best part is this school has no end to any course & one can keep visiting it ever & the teachers wont say enough of teaching! So go ahead & enjoy the fun of learning with forests!

--
Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157628805700569/

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

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Taking Possession of Home!

A relationship requires lot of commitment & work…Greta Sacchi.

When ever I see any of building getting completed & people saying they have got the possession & soon the will be shifting to their new home, I remember this quote of the thinker lady! Recently we handed over one of our project with small ceremony which included get together of all the flat holders along with the people associated with making of the project. As a builder I have been witnessing possession giving since last many years & yet the joy on the faces of the people not only the flat holders but so many who are involved does amazes me rather thrills me is correct word. Many a times I have heard people giving names to the profession which I am in i.e. builder & because it’s considered as just a money making & without emotion factor involved in it. Rather if we see the head lines in news about builders or real estate industry then one will think its most non creative non-sentimental profession, creating dry & dead concrete jungle! It’s not true rather for me it’s the most creative profession in world & this I am not saying because I am builder but the way I see the people & the building when its get ready!

Imagine a piece of land empty & with no human life over it & once we start working on it in few years you create home for so many on it & the place lives up after possession, hustle of people living there, kids playing in the open spaces around the buildings, the trees blossoming which you have planted & elderly people socializing in the places created for the cause, so many activities happening around once the place gets occupied. Even the building which looks dusty & gray in cement clad surrounding gets painted & covered like a newly wed bride & gets ready for the guests coming over! Who says there isn’t any creating in all this! Going a step ahead in a way its like work of a God! Here many will say I have gone crazy comparing our self with God but isn’t it like crating a complete new world out of nothing? I am not saying this in respect of powers like God but the job of making a home on a baron land & give its possession to the owner is like what God does with the world, is what I meant!

Unfortunately many never understand the charm or thrill in the whole process & the possession rarely takes place as a ceremony.  Usually the customer is invited at builder’s office & after confirmation of payment clearance keys are handed over, that’s it! A home is the only product where the buyers has to go to the product to take its ownership & the product don’t come along with you but you have to go to the product & stay with it! Even if you are buying a ship or a jet you get it delivered at your home after you purchase it but not home.  So many thing happens when you arrange a possession ceremony, actually it’s a get together of all those who are associated with the home. Making of a home is a process ongoing for 2-3 years & many agencies are involved. Right from the surveying team who measures the plot to the architect who plans the building over there & then hundreds of various agencies who are associated with building process by one way or other. And remember the one who are working in these agencies are human only & like me most get attached with this building while working on it. For all such persons handing over of what they have spent a year or two is surely a moment of emotion. As for all these months we are used to visiting the building when it’s in making & suddenly the day of handing over to its owner comes & we realize that our role is done, from next day we won’t be coming here ageing for no reason. Rather we will have to answer security at places why we are visiting the building which we only have built! It’s like job in an orphanage, for few days or months you are taking care of a child with whom you get attached & suddenly one day you know it’s being adopted now & you won’t be seeing the child again ever! Many wont agree with this concept or view of mine but believe me I have seen even workers at site getting attached to it & that’s more probable as many of them lives there during the construction & for them its their home for some period of the life.

Nothing better soothing than to watch the building you are working on getting towards finishing & been ready for possession, it’s like watching a child grow as each day there is some progress. I have made a practice to photograph the site every stage & make an album of the same & hand it over to the every flat holder at time of possession as these are the best memories of your own home making. Rather all those who can make it should visit their building periodically & do such effort of photographing as with digital camera it’s much simpler now. So many things are related to the possession of a home like making pooja or planting trees which will grow as we stay there & watch them grow along. Small thing does make big difference in presentation. Now days even a two wheeler keys are given with a small pooja & ceremony at automobile show room & the staff their smiling & clicking snap with the customers. Why can’t building industry follow such good traditions from other industries? There are few builders following the tradition but the number is very less is a fact.

Actually when we build a home for some one it’s a service rather one of the best noble service as most of the people buy this home once in life time. And then it’s not just a commodity product but in our country home has highest sentimental value too & keeping this in mind we should deliver the same. Possession isn’t just legal clearances of the document or fulfillment of all dues but at the same time a home should be delivered in real finish form. With all works completed & every agency moved out completing its job as well the formalities like occupancy/completion certificate obtained by the developer. It’s a responsibility of possession taker also to make a check list of his own & see that all the points have been duly taken care so as to avoid any future clash with the developer. Especially the civil works within the flat as well in common areas like painting, plumbing & cleaning etc. We can always add on by providing things like information of all flat holders in a form of small directory & giving it to every occupant of the building so as they can be in touch with each other. Arranging a small function, get together is proper word is the apex of all the service. It’s a joy to watch them come like coming for a marriage & take the possession of their & the pride in their eyes, it always gives me the feeling of satisfaction & fulfillment of mine & my teams commitment towards the relation which has been developed with our customers over the years of their home making! After all what is a relation? It’s trust & warmth between the developer & the customer which has to be experienced mutually & what better occasion than handing over that bridge or the cause of the relation i.e. the Home!

--
Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157628805700569/

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

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

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Darker Side of Real Estate!

Making easy money is the worst temptation a man can have...James Hadley Chase.

Chase was undoubtedly the best crime story writer of all times & his specialty was that in every of his story however the clever plan may be, yet the crime gets detected at end & in some way or other the criminal gets punishment! When asked that why the end is always like this where the plot of any crime ends in failure, however clever it may be planned, the master story teller said “I didn’t wanted to glorify the crime & wanted to send the message that what ever you plan, at the end a criminal never succeeds!” Well unfortunately in current days logic of Chase isn’t working at least not in real estate!

This is one side of the real industry which most of the people in it have experienced in some way or other but which never comes in day light. The city is growing & many have benefited from this growth & money does attracts all sorts of tendencies is a truth from ages. And so it has proved again with real estate. In last few years not only the prime lands in the city center but even in suburbs land rates have soured & the real estate industry turnover is touching new highs with every year. And along with land there are brokers or agents, then various material supplies like sand, bricks, metal & undertaking petty contracts. With all this many avenues have been opened up to earn money for many people around & no harm in it till some one wants to play foul & want to make fast money. And let me be frank not all uses the conventional path of earning money which is “work hard & sincerely”! One has to be very careful now days while dealing in real estate as with whom you are getting associated is important!

The things stars right from selecting proper land through reliable sources. We all have read enough incidences of land grabbing & mainly in suburbs these things have been more. Some ten years back many of the farmers in suburbs which are now newly acquired part of PMC/PCMC sold their land by way of private plotting & the buyers were mainly service class middle income group who were seeking for fulfillment of there dream of own bungalow which is getting more & more difficult with every day. But in this process they haven’t followed the proper procedure of documentation like demarcation certificate, sanctioned lay outs neither they did any thing to protect the land physically by compound wall. Nobody confirmed the proper road or access rights to such plots as the land was not of much value then. By the present time the city has been extended to such plots & suddenly everybody could see the money involved in & then started the dark race to grab the butter of such land. People started taking advantages of lacunas in documentation & flaws in on site condition. Mostly the people who have bought such piece of land were not united neither having any support or knowledge of legal system nor the money to avail security services. Result was when they went to site they found some body else’s boards on their plot & though 7/12 was on their name there wasn’t any documentation which will show that where that piece of land actually is i.e. demarcation certificate. Few who have demarcation were told that the entry road wasn’t part of the agreement & now they don’t have the road to go their plot! Many understood the faith of their plot & surrendered & sold to the party who was occupying the plot at thrown away rate. Few who went for legal system as they weren’t having enough documentation even the system couldn’t help them & have to give up soon. A very few & lucky one could succeed in regaining what they have bought & unfortunate part is the story still continues! Many a still enter in to agreements without checking the proper title/ ownership evidence nor spend money to secure the piece of land they have bought. A best policy I will advise is to buy only fenced property & unless there is drivable road to the very plot site you are buying don’t touch the deal how ever lucrative it may sound. As its not only the common men have been duped even the reputed developers have been cheated in this practice.

Another very much common thing is selling same piece of land to many purchasers. Here many of the lands around the city were open land & family ownership, to study the title obtaining every members sign of the family as per the HUF i.e. Hindu Undivided Family act is of immense importance. Its not just the sign of person on whose name the 7/12 is there is necessary but his/her's entire family trees is equally important, even the minors as later they could claim & they have claimed in many cases making the deal go in to toss a few years later. In such cases the whole investment has gone into drain. As I mentioned this all started when people started realizing the money involved & it’s said that essence of money is very strong & gathers all sort of crowd, which is happening right now around! Unfortunate part is the govt system even after knowing doesn’t change or take any step to stop this. In Madhya Pradesh which is a backward state in comparison to us, they have a system of revenue department giving NOC prior to any deal & they publish a notice in news paper calling for any claims about the land deal. In a way govt itself is assuring the purchaser about the land title as well the possession! So simple & effective though a bit time consuming yet it takes care of many future irregularities which may happen.

Why can’t we have all the pieces of land marked on site also as per the govt land record at least those which are in residential zone as per the development plan or regional plan? Make all the lands marked on plan publish such maps on web site. To my knowledge the govt is in such process but the effect is yet to be seen. Presently the biggest lacuna is matching 7/12 record & demarcation record & its this discrepancy of which ill tendencies takes the advantage of. Another is marking the roads & reservations on site, at least the roads which have been part of DP & RP. This simplest thing will help many people who are not aware of zoning & get duped by buying piece of land which only later they realize is the part of future road or any such reservation. It will also clear the disputes on many lands which presently have no entry or have been deliberately land locked by the people who are not giving their piece of land in road just to take advantage of their position! All roads should be marked on all vacant lands & made at earliest on site; it is the simplest answer to many access issues or land lock problems.

Need of the time is there has to be a separate cell for such types of crimes if we at all call them as crime. The land matters are a dicey subject & even police are not much aware of the acts & documentation. The entire crux is the slow process of changing name on title documents. Unless & until the whole things don’t go online & change of ownership directly not gets reflected on ownership documents these things won’t stop. The legal system is also equally responsible as civil/land matters keep dragging for years & possession is still a key issue, so naturally the one with muscle power holds strong!

Best part is not to get carried away by the deal how ever lucrative it may look & be a more conservative when buying any piece of land as its better late then landing in trouble later! What I will advise here to any person seeking to buy a piece of land or having already is to get the property fenced with name board displayed at site mentioning name as well dimensions & contact numbers. Similarly get the demarcation certificate as well zoning done & keep watchman at site if possible. If it’s a group of small plot holders then jointly do that to share the expense. One may find this as expensive but in actual it’s an investment! Use senior experienced advocate for documentation & don’t try to find out any short cuts in what he has advised. People even try to save on public notice by not advertising in paper like Sakal which have more circulation instead going for smaller news paper just to follow the formality of notice. Such type of practices will only make your own land vulnerable!

Another increasingly concerned thing is about not exact mafia style but about monopoly practices in certain areas like sand supply or water supply or executing some particular works at site. It was a common thing in Mumbai but in Pune it’s started slowly. Here too not many developers will not speak openly but encroachment of so called local leaders & there interference in site matters is there. And they do press or force for giving material orders or works like excavation to their "karyakkartas" & at no negotiation, basis needless to say!

Here too need is not to get surrendered & take help of the authorities immediately as once you bend your knees you remain that way only! Some where extravagant exhibition of wealth by the people associated with this industry is also reason behind this i.e. criminal element is being attracted towards the industry by seeing this display of wealth with fancy cars & jewelry & lavish offices & they think there is lot of money & fast one here! Which isn’t actually false yet it is hard earned money for many with the kind of competition out there & the hurdles in construction & the torturous process involved in it. As the master story teller said money is going to bring all kinds of attentions yet it's up to us how to stand amongst all!

--
Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/

Social Side of Sanjeevani !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/sets/72157628805700569/

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

http://www.punecorporation.org/GRS/Complaint/LaunchComplaintCitizen.aspx

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com