Real Estate Post Lockdown 2 !

 

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“When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work – the most you will make is 5 dollars.” … Idowu Koyenikan.

 

Idowu Koyenikan is an “internationally acclaimed organizational consultant and author” - USA TODAY NETWORK. Idowu help individuals and organizations break through to new and higher levels through strategic planning, training and coaching. Well, though I am not much of a finance or economics person yet I am in business, that too like real estate & in our country the business faculty don’t have much respect or recognition, unless you are tagged with some political party’s close one! That’s why nobody pays much attention to such wise words of Idowu which has helped USA to become a business power across the globe with nearly six out of top ten companies are USA based & it’s not fluke or accident but strategic planning towards the business & industry which has made USA or say countries like Japan & Korea to achieve this. Well, when the business arena is in our country & the industry is real estate, less we speak about strategy & planning, is the scene which even big players in real estate accepts! Joke is, with all ups & down yet real estate is always talk of the town & may it be a town or mis segment city or a Metro, everybody (even the govt) wants to be associated with this industry though when it comes to share the problems, nobody wants to be part of it but everything (read as loss) is dumped on the builder’s head, is also a fact!

We are now in post second wave of world war (read as  pandemic) & again life seems to be coming to normal (that’s one good thing about our country), restaurants are full, tourist destinations are overbooked & flights are packed. All these are sure signs of things coming back to normal for the business barring a few (& for a few, its start of 3^rd wave) & real estate is no exception to it. And indeed, that’s best way to overcome adversity as now the biggest enemy is not some virus but the fear about future & toughest task is survival & both these factors gets best out of a human being is a basic law of human behaviour! All one has to do in present times is, stay focused & not get carried away but for real estate the challenges just don’t end with fear of future & survival but one more added factor is there & that is “Mai Baap” govt’s attitude which gets reflected in the policies related to this industry! And here again no govt even when Hon Cm was having Urban Planning dept with him dared to take bold decisions which will revive or make real estate flourish once again.

Because the basic problem with the govt is it works to please the masses & masses are always against the builders even though they accept (at least now a days) that it’s the builder which only builds the homes for the masses (read as all types of home buyers) yet the builders shouldn’t make money while doing this as they have made & are doing loads of profits is a basic assumption & making huge profits is a crime in our society! Though the very same society celebrates when Blue Chip companies makes huge profits & declares dividends or bonus in their annual financial results & stock market goes souring high with such results but not the builders. May be its because most builders are individual or family run business & people won’t like money getting accumulated to one person or the family but then such is the nature of this business that’s why there are not many corporates in real estate, right? Rather the govt should think of why there aren’t many public limited companies in real estate as well why those which were there have gone down bank corrupt (most of them), the answer is because of the nature of this business & policies related to it!

Right from getting a clear title land to uncertainty about the rules & regulation to no control on any of the prices related to raw material like land to material to labour to delays caused due to issues like fights over authority of plan sanctioning (Take example of merged villages in PMC) to development plans delays & then Unified Development Control Rules to clash of different departments of the govt making projects stopped, the list of hurdles for real estate business is endless! And such kind of business is always going to be like steering a ship in the storm where the captain can be only one, means no corporate decisions are going to work where board of directors are involved in making any big decision as every decision is of life & death in the real estate is a fact! Many will say, whatever I am talking is just justification of the way this industry is being run but then I can be wrong, what about the facts that there are not many successful Public Limited Cos’ in the real estate for decades here, even when the business was in full bloom, if anyone can enlighten me, I am ready to take my words back!

Ok, now coming back to journey ahead, let me tell you up-front our Hon PM has been successful on one front & that is keeping rates of the houses (in many Metros) steady which is directly can be said as the home rates has been reduced. Reasons may be any but the home rates are either stagnant or increasing in tune with other commodities which wasn’t the case some five or six years back. And this is exactly what the real estate players has to keep in mind, at the same time customers are becoming more & more demanding (anyone who deals with redevelopment ask him or her), today’s landlords are ready with all the calculations except investing the money in the project & ends up as biggest gainer in real estate. Second category is Banks or financial institutes which gets from both ends i.e., project finance (if you are lucky to get one) with double interest rate than home loans & home loans for the very same project, aggregating the rate of interest for some projects nearly 30% per annum, this is sheer logic I am sharing as I am an engineer & not a finance guy as stated earlier! Thankfully the loan sharks (investor) are out as they are the first who knows a dead fish without flesh & blood which real estate has become. This doesn’t mean there is no money in real estate, this means every day is not a Sunday anymore as earlier wherever you build & whatever you build, one used to make huge money (read as investors if not the builder) but now only if you choose wisely & build more wisely only then you can make some money. Third gainer is the govt as for them real estate was & is milking cow, so the amounts you pay to get all the sanctions (read as in the form of challans to govt only) are getting fatter while the quantum of FSI coming in market is all time high, means more supply which is directly related to reduction of rates, right? And lastly the latest gainer in real estate are the clients i.e., the flat buyers, as with more supply of homes & lesser (or no) finance avenues, the flat buyers also has learned to smell the kill & just like the way negotiations happens on readymade clothing merchant’s stall on footpath, whatever price you tell the client starts from 50% of it is the trend in the real estate! Oh yes, the increased labour & material cost is one more factor (challenge) ahead for real estate but I won’t say the vendors & contractors are gainers as they also have to share the heat which real estate is facing!

And I don’t blame any of above category as this is outcome of our (builder’s) attitude towards our own industry by which we only never have been professional in dealing issues related to us, so how we can expect other to think from our vision about the same! Though post second lockdown many changes are being seen, people have understood importance of owning a home as that’s most secured place for any human being or a family. Another aspect is, real estate obviously grows only in the towns or the cities with basic infrastructure in place like public health & social avenues & on the background of pandemic, this aspect will lead to generate more migration from villages or less developed regions to developed regions like Pune & there will be huge demand for homes, only thing is we should be able to deliver as per the demand & not as per our whims! The lockdown has hit many segments barring the service segment & it will affect budget provisions for the home for most of the families. One hint of caution for the flat/ home buyers too, in the present times do mind, not always the builder who negotiates best (read as, gives maximum discount) ends up as the best home maker as you are buying a home & not some vegetables or dry fruits, please do mind! So, the builder fraternity, get ready to cope up this challenge of delivering homes with fighting all above categories as do mind, everybody is in the race of survival here, even the govt & as Mr. Idowu quoted you must learn to make your share of what you are producing (read as building) than just cursing you bad luck or hoping for a miracle, that’s what will make you a successful builder & not just a builder!

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Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

 

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

 

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.orgTake your issues to Hon PM at link below...

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

Road Kills, Wild Life & Human named Demons!

 

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“Humanity can no longer stand by in silence while our wildlife is being used, abused and exploited. It is time we all stand together, to be the voice of the voiceless before it's too late. Extinction means forever.” …  Paul Oxton.

Paul is founder of Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation & their mission is, “The Future of Wildlife is in Our Hands’ Located in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation is a small Non-Profit Organization (registered with the Department of Social Development), doing all we can to make a big impact. We live for helping the wildlife most at risk. We love working hands-on with the animals, and we do our utmost to help every animal we possibly can.” And I have used wise words of Paul not once but many times especially when subject of sharing is wildlife & this topic is also not exception! Well, though the topic is road kills but the reason for the topic is my recent tadoba trip & as usual many (read as non-wild lifers) will say, “Oh no, again, tadoba!” Guys, can’t help it as lockdown even after new new normal has made travelling a bit difficult especially out of our State & then my friend anuj khare & myself wanted to explore new gates of tadoba forest so I decided for tadoba & a road trip from Pune to tadoba is always dear to me as I can take darshan (no right word in English) of Shree Gajanan Maharaj at Shegaon on way to tadoba!

Tadoba which is mostly known by now to all the wild life lovers (and non-lovers too) as tiger centre because very rarely the visitor returns from here without seeing the yellow black stripes such is the success story of tiger conservation here! I too wanted to click the tiger on the greens which you can get in tadoba at its best in the monsoon season & then I have never been to tadoba in the monsoons i.e., rains to experience how the landscape looks with vitamin rain! So, with all such background myself & anuj reached to tadoba’s aliganja gate which is accessible from Chimur side & close to Kolara gate of core area. Now tadoba has nearly fifteen plus gates for core & buffer though in rainy seasons only buffer gates are open for tourism, again something I don’t understand as why we can’t keep open core area also in rains only on motorable roads & tadoba core has got enough of such roads! Already we need more & more people to visit forests & places like tadoba to make life of people living around sustainable with tourism as the way wild life tourism charges are being increased by the govt (all State’s), it’s now restricted to few riches for regular visits & fun oriented people for just one visit & both categories do nothing for wild life conservation! Sad part is, the category of the society which can conserve or help in conservation of wild life can’t afford to visit repeatedly forests such as tadoba such costly affair it has become & by opening more forests & in all seasons we can reduce cost of existing gates which will be big boon for wild life conservation in totality (somebody from govt please read & think)!

At the same time if we are thinking keeping park open in monsoons affects wild life privacy (read as tigers) then in buffer tigers are breeding & are healthy & happy so the logic doesn’t apply for disturbance of privacy to the tigers & wild life by keeping forests open in rains, is what I want to put forward! Now coming to Aliganja gate, let me tell you tadoba was never much famous for beauty of the forest (with due respect to tadoba lovers) the way Kanha or Corbett has wide & rich diversity on scale of plants, flowers, birds & insects. But after visiting Aliganja gate I am sure this opinion has changed as this part of forest of tadoba one must visit just to see how rich tadoba forest can be as at one time our gypsy was surrounded by hundreds of butterflies (a rare sight than tiger actually) making me feel like acting in some Disney animation movie & that is sure sign of richest biodiversity of the forest! At the same time there is old Shiv (Mahadev) temple backdrop of a water-fall, making a pool at its bottom & the scene was right from some Hollywood movie like Indian Jones, what more one needs to forget the city life & concrete jungle as this is why one should be out in nature some time & this is what we want to protect & for that more & more people must be allowed to be here at affordable costs!

Ok, enough of tadoba & let’s come to main subject the road kills of wild animals & reason why once again I have to take this aspect of wild life is because on way back from tadoba to Nagpur via varroa road which goes through many small villages & non reserved forest & farms we saw a Civet Cat dead on the road, needless to say got hit by some speeding vehicle. Nobody was paying much attention as for a common man’s eye it looks like as domestic cat & in a country where nearly a million human lives meet their end in road accidents, who cares for a dead cat on road even if it’s a Civet Cat!  Well, the readers who are not wild lifers, let me tell you, I have been travelling to the forests for nearly twenty-five years & in all these years I have never seen a Civet Cat in live though I have seen a tiger at least five hundred times. Now you can imagine how rare this animal is, as then only you will know why I got so disturbed with the sight of the dead Civet Cat in road accident or road kill! Civet Cat is nocturnal animal i.e., it comes out of its hiding only in darkness to hunt or to feed & no wonder the lonely road with flood lights of a vehicle would have been blinding for the poor Civet & then there is no school which teaches traffic rules to any other species than humans though what difference it makes as humans with all teachings & rules themselves doesn’t follow any traffic rules for fellow humans so who bothers for other species like Civet Cat, right?

Rather this road kill which I witnessed by myself was apex of what has been told or shared to me in tadoba trip from the locals. In any trip to forest, one should keep chatting with guides, gypsy drivers, local food joint runners, resort crew as they feed you with many stories about forest which never reach to social media platform. One such story was about a tiger named Chota Mataksur which has been driven from his territory from Kolara gate side by another young male tiger (one of the zones in tadoba forest) & now this Chota Matakasur named tiger is killing many cattle from nearby village to such extent that in a single incidence this tiger has killed six cattle at a time! While returning from one safari on Moharli Chandrapur road which passes through dense forest around & on which many animals are seen, one car of local number plate zoomed past us honking all the time like it’s been participating in race. Our guide cursed & said “saala in logoki wajahase hum logoko bhugatana padata hai, raatko bahar gadi nikalane nahi dete forest wale hume gharse aur ek mahineme 1 tiger, 1 leopard aur 2 chital mare hai in Chandrapur wale gadiyoke niche”! What it mean is, its the nearby town number plate cars (read as car owners) which are real menace as its such local peoples rash driving makes forest dept apply stringent norms for the villagers around the park while they do foolow traffic norms! Actually, there are road signages all along the roads around tadoba forest to Chandrapur of drive carefully & slowly & watch out for wild animals crossing but if animals can’t read the signages we the humans turns blind eye & deaf ear to such traffic signs, making us dumbest specie (rather useless specie) on the earth. But the what we forget that it’s our dumbness which costs life for many other species, is an unfortunate fact!

And the scene is not just on highways where at some place near forests for e.g. Nagpur-Pench stretch, there are crossing corridors for wild animals & causeways (under-pass) has been provided & indeed it has helped to save lives of some animals. The problem is, smaller internal District or State roads like Nagpur-Varoa- Moharli (tadoba) road which is being used by locals or tourist vehicles commuting from nearby hubs to the park. These are less travelled roads without any road signs (except at few places), the roads are narrow, not much traffic is there so whatever vehicles are using it they are mostly commercial transports or locals & both doesn’t care much about authorities or wild life & outcome is a dead Civet or a dead Jackal or a dead Porcupine & snakes, I have stopped counting in road kills (just sarcastic)!

Few things are a must if we want (if) to reduce if not stop the wild animal’s road kills & they are, first install CC TVs at regular intervals & watch them & find the vehicle speeding & fine them heavily. Second is, speed guns, hidden on the roads passing through forests or outside of forests. Third is a continuous patrolling squad with good vehicles & arms on these roads with basic medical supplies as well a mobile medical van for first-aid of injured animal as well to prevent speeding vehicles & punish them on spot. Fourth is we may not have under passes build for smaller roads but we can create Road Crossings Zones on same level of the road with different surface material as well defused lighting around it so the vehicles will know (hope so) to slow down in these zones. Last but most important an all the way round awareness campaign, especially for commercial & tourist vehicle’s drivers & owners about caring for wild life while they drive. There can be stickers on the car’s wind shields “We Care for Wild Life” to road shows on these roads with the help of local NGO’s & this will be ever going initiative.

Just remember, it’s not the rules or laws which assures a safe & peaceful life but its what we think of our laws is what makes it possible & Road Kills are no exception for this basic law of human behaviour, till then God save the wild animals from the monsters named vehicles & the demons (read as humans) which drive these monsters!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

 

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

 

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.orgTake your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Real Estate, Builders, Policies & Profits!

 

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We apply law to facts. We don't apply feelings to facts… Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009 and has served since August 8, 2009. She is the third woman to hold the position. Indeed, with such biodata, Sonia is the authority when it’s time to define the law or say making of it! And why I recalled her this quote because of one Centre-Page article about real estate in a major newspaper by one renowned architect Mr. Chandrashekhar Prabhu in Mumbai about real estate & laws (rules) related to it. And I am not surprised as only except when it’s time to get advertisements, the builders never get a centre page or such prime position in any newspaper for putting forward their issues about their business or their industry i.e., real estate, so no wonder it was by an architect!  And one more thing, whenever any such professional or personality from other industry than the real estate, speaks negative things about the real estate (which they usually do) then only its highlighted in the media & tomorrow even if Mr. Warren Buffet also speaks something good about the real estate in our country, then he also won’t get prime position in any newspaper, is what I am sure of! All this treatment to the real estate is outcome of in this country emotions & not facts run the system & in the emotions of the common man, (is there any left?) builders & real estate are bad things; this has been impregnated on the minds of the people & the media writes only what people want to read & not what is fact, is a fact!

Ok, let’s keep aside my emotions & let’s see what Mr. Prabhu has written about builders. It’s about TDR & policies regarding redevelopment of the Chawls (Chali) which actually are vertical slums of Mumbai & how the new polices has been drafted by the govt which actually are by the builders & things like that. Going further he has given some statistics about development of a model proposal & displayed how a developer will end up earning crores of rupees through these rules & how the chawl owners will left with nothing & while doing that he has considered some sale rate of flats in the locality as well construction costs as well money he has to pay to the govt to obtain the TDR & all such details. I do respect Mr. Prabhu as he indeed is a studied man as well a technical person & why just Mr. Prabhu but I respect every professional as well other industrialists who write or speaks about real estate & concludes that builders make huge profits, so no need to show them any mercy leave apart making rules as per what the builders needs for doing their business!  Ok, indeed builders does make money but then so does a hotelier, an automobile industry, Mr Mukesh Ambani & Mr Adani also makes money, so do Mr Azim Premji & Mr Sirus Poonawala, Mr Ratan Tata, Bill Gates & Zuckerberg, Larry Page & many more names also make money & for that purpose they are in the business, right? Now consider the case which made Mr. Architect to conclude that builders make huge money & they influence the system to make such rules which helps them to make such a huge profit. Because in the very week there was news which said nearly some lakh of crore worth rupees projects in real estate all over the country are stalled & many of them may be never ever get completed! Surprisingly, if there was huge money with profit in real estate then no such project would have been required to get stalled i.e., halted or abandoned, right?

Keeping due respect for Mr. Prabhu’s statistics & knowledge yet there are few issues which I will like to highlight, especially about the system i.e., govt making rules as per builders’ guidance or say for the builder’s benefits…

1.With all the sale rate & profits mentioned in the example, tell me, who guarantees the sale of the flats, as in the present market nobody is sure of. So, what if the flats in the said projects don't get sold?

2.What about un-accounted situations hampering projects such as lockdown which was the scene for nearly more than a year in Pune & Mumbai, who will bear the losses for such a period?

3.In all these calculations regarding profitability of the said project one thing is missing & that is, at present most of the clients are preferring to go for ready possession or nearing possession flats, so entire expenditure the developer has to pay from his pocket, for paying govt charges, even it’s a redevelopment project & no land cost is involved, so what about interest on these investments?

4. And more importantly from where the developer is going to get money as if the builder lobby has so much of power that they decide the policies, then why all the financial institute especially public sector banks have kept real estate as non-priority (good way of saying No) segment when its project finance! On the top of it do you know a fact, neither the builder’s employee nor the builder themselves get any personal finance for their home loans; while the very same Banks are happy to give home loans to the flat buyers at the builders at rate less than half of what they charge to the builder for the project finance in case some lucky builder gets the finance in the first place! Will like to know your comments about these finance policies which clearly shows who controls the policies of the govt for the real estate!

5. Look at the UDCR & the kind of FSI it is generating, which fool (read as builders) will make such policy when by virtue of it the entire market is going to be overflooded with FSI i.e., in nutshell more & more supply of homes, which at many places surpasses the demand of the homes itself! There was money in real estate because of the gap between demand & supply of the homes & now when supply is unlimited, no need to be a financial wizard to predict about the reduced profit margins as well increased risks, what about this aspect of the real estate, can Mr. Prabhu comment on it?

6. And then if the builders have got capacity to make the policies regarding real estate, then why are hundreds of our demands still hanging unanswered such as Metro TDR or Uneven Fire Premiums or Road Development Charges to be paid for giving our own plot for roads & many such!

7.And if Mr. Prabhu still believes we the builders, make the policies then have a look at these facts in Pune (as my work jurisdiction is in Pune), all the sanctioning authorities (PMC, PCMC, PMRDA) sanctions the plans but refuses to take any responsibility about providing civic infrastructure such as roads, water & drainage to the citizens but put that responsibility on the builders while they charge for every single sq. ft., they sanction to provide the infrastructure! And on top of it RERA authorities blames builders for cheating the clients in such cases, do you still believe the builders make the policies here!

8.And the very same authorities don’t come under scanner or are responsible to any adverse order passed by tribunal like RERA or authorities such as Aviation (Defense) or Environment Committee & many others. Rather even the big boss of real estate i.e., Urban Development Dept. also shrugs its shoulders saying that is another depts' quarry or order & the builder should deal with it on his own, case wise! Had the builders made policies, wouldn’t we have streamlined all these flaws on priority?

9.Where is “Ease of Doing Business” & ‘One Window Clearance” type processes for the real estate about which everybody speaks but nobody does anything? Nearly hundred plus NOC’s are needed to acquire to complete even a small project of 10,00 sq. ft land area & that too from every known dept of the govt & yet when it’s time to lay electric cables which is MSEDCL’s (MSEB) job & a builder has to do it as MSEDCL has no money the other depts’ i.e., PMC & Police, considers it as private work & charges the builder four times for the same! Had the builder made policies, do you think we would have been allowed to force such unjust laws on ourselves!

10. Lastly, (I mean somewhere I have to stop) when any site accident happens or a real estaters’ business goes in loss then the police arrests the builder (yes, sir it can happen to us also); tell me name of any other industry where the owner or the board of directors is imprisoned for the loss of the company! Rather recently, I read the news about CMD of one very big mobile network company honorably getting retired from his post while the company with the equity of Rs 25,000 crore has loan of Rs 1, 50,000 crore & he realized it’s impossible to run the company & publicly even asking for support of the Central Govt to save the company, imagine what the system would have done with the builder for such act if such huge loss would have been to a real estate company!

Sir, I understand this doesn’t mean all the developer are good & the entire real estate is honest business but then it’s not as dark as the system (media) see or paint it, is also equally true! This is one business where competition is never fair & you can’t compare even two adjoining projects as the parameters differ on many fronts! High time for the builders to face the facts & changed times & streamline their work practices as anybody can be a builder just like a Kirana Shop (Grocery store) but the buyers are the same. You will be served “Unlimited Thali” (Food plate) but how much you can eat as per your body’s need, this you only have to decide, is the scene in the real estate! There is no harm in making money rather for that purpose a person enters in to any business or profession (even you also in your profession), point is all the builders are not bad & many of us wants to do business for a moderate profit & by following good practices & fact is the system or the govt doesn’t listens to one bit to make a policy to support the good builder, is what I wanted to tell to the world! So, Mr. Prabhu, thanks for your Centre Page write-up about the builders making policies of real estate, as at least it gave us the builders, an opportunity to reassess our own industry once again!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

 

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

 

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

 

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

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below…

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

History Re-Written, Olympic 21!

 

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The difference between a star player and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of skill, but rather a lack of will… Vince Lombardi

It's such understanding of sports (actually of life) that has made Vince Lombardi one of the best coaches in the history of American Football & that’s why when the subject is Olympic, I chose his above words as opening comment. By now, we all have been full of Olympic dosage, thanks to Neerajs’, Bajarangs’, Dahiyas’, Rani Rampals’, Chanus’, Sindhus’ & many such names who not only participated in the Baap of all the Festivals of Sports named Olympic as indeed it’s something which we (I meant 130 plus crore Indians) haven’t witnessed or say forgotten to be witnessed in recent past! A country which has got freedom some 74 years back with a record of just one individual gold medal of sport that too in game like shooting which not many can afford to play in first place, though that doesn’t take away credit of Abhinav Bindra, such country getting nearly 8 medals & seven out of those are in individual capacity, this is something we haven’t witnessed for sure! And in the team game also, after forty years in our national game i.e., Hockey (well, it’s not cricket) we won the bronze medal & missed the bus of silver or gold by one match. It was exciting. At the same time in five to six more categories we missed medals by flicker such as women’s hockey, boxing, wrestling, golf & few others or the medal’s kitty bag would have been heavier for sure! But that’s fine as every Indian sportsman’s & woman’s (I am deliberately not saying every Indian, will explain that part later) bag of pride is sure heavy though not full with what has been achieved by the Indian players which has participated in this Olympic!

Many will say (as usual), what’s big deal, look at medal tally of China & USA & Japan or even countries like Indonesia or Qatar or Jamaica & with population of 130 crore where we stand & I don’t blame such voices rather that’s why this time a new history has been wrote at Olympics, is what I will say! Because with the kind of history we have in every other game other than the legendary cricket I wonder how many so-called critic’s voices will ask their son or daughter to take any other sport than cricket as their career, in the first place! And there lies the specialness of these eight plus odd medals, as today when I opened a news-paper, I witnessed something which I haven’t seen in my fifty plus years of living in this country & that is team India is playing cricket in England & is in leading position in the first test match but on the sports page of all news-papers that news is printed in a small single column, at bottom of the page while news of athletics, golf, hockey & wrestling are in bold & covering the entire page, shadowing the cricket news of Indian Cricket Team! Have any of us could have believed this can happen ever in our country as that was the history, we have been living through for all the 74 years after freedom & today that history has been wiped & a new one has been written & that is indeed a specialest moment for entire sports world of this country for which every sportsman & woman is happy & proud of!

Now, why I said Indian sportsmen & women & not every Indian as keeping due respect we are hypocrites when it comes to appreciating or celebrating anything as most of us take part in such celebration to encash that success & not because we really feel anything for that cause! As, how many people even knew what a Javelin throwing game is & how many knew whether such a game even played in the Olympics! I bait if out of 130 crore citizens even 1 crore knows such sport exists & now suddenly everybody is pumped up & posting Neeraj’s snap, though it’s a good thing that all 130 crores are doing it but don’t let this celebration restrict to just postings on social media & counting likes but convert it in to making path for many more Neerajs’ who has got capacity to earn many such medals but don’t have the launching pad for executing that capacity, is what I meant!

And on this background, I must congratulate Haryana State’s CM as well their entire State govt for supporting the sports as whole because its not just luck or accident that maximum numbers of the players in the Olympic squad of our country hails from this State. Haryana has achieved this feat not because its one of the richest as well prospering States of our country, but because the Haryana govt has dedicatedly supported the sports faculty as whole & for years such success you don’t get in overnight! Right from giving promotions & jobs (read as immediate & without red-tapizum) to the players doing well in National & International tournaments to providing best of the facilities to the players & yes spending to appoint world class level coaches, everything they are doing & these players representing our country is outcome of such efforts by Haryana State. At the same time, we must congratulate as well as appreciate the families of all these players who supported them with a great sacrifice as making a career in any such sport is a very tough decision. Imagine no money to start with & extreme efforts required to train for maintaining skill as well physical fitness to compete with world class players & all this for few minutes of performance once in four year & the career is hardly up to age of thirty while most other jobs offer you safety of income till you become sixty years old, how many of us will dare to opt to become an athlete, tell me!  And then if you fail then nobody will even remember your name of face is again a cruel fact yet all these parents & families dared to sent their kids for training in games which they themselves have never ever played or knew the future & once again Harayanvis’ stood tall among these parents with many families from the State daring to allow their kids to take this sports path of career to get the glory than the conventionally safest path of being a doctor, banking, govt services or of IIM/ IIT !

And on such a background high time for our so called Most Developed, Smart, Rich, Cultural, IT (& what) State to introspect (whom I am fooling but myself) why there are not many (rather nil) names from our State in Olympic squad or in any such sport! Yes, there was one Veer Dhaval Khade in swimming & one woman, I presume Ms. Jadhav from Sawarkheda, in running, a few years back but rest is darkness on the sports front in our State is a fact! The only reason of poor presence of our State in sports is our State Govt’s approach towards sports as well our so-called Maharashtrian mentality which is happy in taking safe path of careers for their kids than daring to throw them in sports competition & yes, our rich businessmen who ride posh sports cars for themselves but hardly open their wallets for sports (except cricket) or sportsmen! And the same scene (read as attitude) is about environment front or off-track fields like wild life conservation, just social media postings, no actual contributions! Now ahead many business houses from Mumbai will suddenly wake-up & declare crores of rupees for the winners of medals as well as sign them as their product’s brand ambassador but this should have been done while these players were training, right? The best part of this Olympic is, not just the country but entire world appreciated the way Indian players fought (read as played) every game, they all might not have won the medals but they have shown that they are capable of winning every medal & Indian players can give great fight, it was the attitude which was missing & we have got it right this time!

So dear Maharashtra govt & Marathi public, “Chalo, Der Aaye Par Durust Aaye” (that never late for doing a good thing), guys wake up, a history is being written with what our players have achieved in this Olympic & choice is ours whether we want to part of the team which is writing this history or get forgotten as a history; till then “Chak De India”…

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Sanjay Deshpande Sanjeevani Dev.

 

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