“If you think what one woman can make the difference then you are sure a fool”…
If you go through social media & groups of wild life photographers posting their wonderful wild life images, 95 out of 100 such wild life images are clicked by men & most celebrity wild life names are of male gender! Though we forget wild life is not just about clicking photographs of tigers but a lot lot more than it & to understand wild life first one needs to visit the forests or else how you are going to love them & if you don't love forests how you are going to conserve them, is something I always ask to the people! And on such background if a wife, a mom, a sister, a girl-friend, a grand-mother starts visiting forests, gets enlightened about its importance, then only she can tell (read as share) about forests & what these forests needs from us to survive, to her brother, son, husband & friends & there only is some hope for forests as well thousands of species who are endangered & on verge of being extinct by some son, father, husband or a friend ( read as men)!
And then another side is this can be the best mental as well physical break for a woman when she visits some forest far away from city life as well home's daily chores, rejuvenating herself for her infinite duties! This is why Hemangi Vartak & Aarti Karve's new venture Jungle Belles is special as its women are focused & making them aware about their duty not just towards forests but towards themselves! And when they both decided to start Jungle Belles, which will be a service to provide the platform to women to make them visit wilderness exclusively by themselves i.e. ladies special you can call; myself, as their friend as well as a wild lifer, was happy to be their little support via Sanjeevani i.e. my firm. As, here are two women who themselves come from the so-called elite (read as upper class) part of society & who could have been just happy by visiting forests by themselves & post their outings on Insta /FB & get applause from their friends. But they decided to do something more as they not just love forests but they want to convert their love for forests in a better way & actually do something for the forests & what better way than making other women gets exposure to forests by their venture! And if you want to make a woman love something then first, she should know that thing, a simple funda which most men never understand & that’s why maybe it took these two women to come up with a concept like Jungle Belles!
Well, Jungle Belles doesn’t just take women to forests as that’s just one of their activities but it brings forest to your door steps, that too in city like Pune through series of webinars where many well-known wildlife experts, who shares their work as well passion about wildlife with audience (mostly women) so that the bond between women & forests gets builds! Jungle Belles runs this year-long activity in Pune for wildlife lovers rather, more for non-lovers (of wildlife) by which a platform is being created between the various personalities in the field of wildlife & people in the city, to make both these fraternities gets exposed to each other. And this includes forest departments senior people who actually work for protecting forests like Mr. Nitin Kakodkar, IFS, PCCF (Wild), wildlife filmmakers like Nalla Mutthu & Bedi brothers, wild life photographers like Vikram Potdar & Mohan Thomas & the list will sure soon have some female names too as there are such though a few yet; in fact the Jungle Belles took off at the hands of none other than Vandana Chavan, MP of Pune who is known for her environment awareness!!This way many women & youngsters has been connected with the wildlife & of-late many girls are willing to make wildlife as their career, thanks to Jungle Belles efforts for the same! Point is, even if you get the forests to a woman’s door step yet getting that woman to her door steps is also very difficult, especially when the cause is like wild-life. Because unfortunately that’s not priority for most women & when a woman is invited for some wild life program then she comes out with every possible reason for not attending it (even it may be a holiday or week end); such as, kids have classes, its holiday & husband wants me around, I have to attend some family function, I don’t have transport arrangements, my maid hast turned up today, my in-laws are not well & the list is just un-ending! And this is why we are unable to protect forests & natural habitats as women power has not yet joined hands in this movement! This is where the path of Jungle Belles concept wise may look golden & great, but it’s rougher & tiring than any jungle path i.e. making Jungle Belles as a career, because its most difficult to make women know that the key to save the forests or nature is in their hands only! Still, Hemangi & Aarti (in support with Anuj Khare, then) dared to take this path & are on with their fight, this is what makes them special!
It’s now four plus years for Jungle Belles since they started & while Aarti has gone back to USA for her family needs, Hemangi is running the show single handedly, displaying what just one woman can make a difference to wildlife awareness! In last four years, the financial balance sheet aspect of Jungle Belles may not be great but look at the contribution it has made to wildlife, right from taking over hundreds of women to the nature & making them able to understand importance of wildlife & their "Me time" to helping people around the forests in every possible form (even in Covid times) to conducting fifty plus wildlife webinars with experts in the field (Women too) to making wildlife film to conducting presentations for school kids about tiger conservation to Women only wildlife photography contest for successive three years, list of the works Jungle Belles is doing is ever growing, & this all without any big support or any brand sponsorship , only with dedication & will of few ladies!
Today while entering in year 2024, Jungle Belles team has been working on many fronts for wildlife awareness with very little financial support as by making choice to work for only Women, it has scarified a lot on earning front because wildlife tourism is very easy (and dear) for men but as I mentioned earlier, there are thousand plus reasons for a lady for not to attend even an online webinar & Jungle Belles team being women by themselves, not only understands but respect every such reason! We know, a lady has multiple priorities & she herself is at the last position in that list yet JB team doesn’t give up & keep working to make women understand wildlife, so they can pass on that awareness to their kid & entire family, which is our only hope for the wildlife ahead! There has been support to JB in pieces & bits (except Sanjeevani Group) but unfortunately when its financial sponsorship then wildlife, that too for the women only, is never on the agenda of many corporate companies, is a bitter fact! Though there are exceptions such as Magarpatta City, which helped to create a wonderful documentary film about Wildlife of Pune & which got first prize in recent shorty film festival, then there has been Sony & Chitale Foods, who has helped a times, yet its high time where we must contribute as much we can to support Jungle Belles awareness initiatives as not because it’s about wildlife & by the women but it’s for the Women only & that’s a great daring step, as one aware women can change entire family’s mindset, which is the need of today’s world!
You can contact Jungle Belles for anything about wildlife, tours, awareness drives, webinars as well how you can contribute for wildlife conservation then please contact at ... junglebelles.pune@gmail.com /
http://junglebelles.com / 07756081922
Hemani Vartak, Jungle Belles
09923558588
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
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https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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