Water War of Smart City!

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 “A fish only discovers its need for

water when it is no longer in it.
Our society is no different than the fish!”…  Fons Trompenaars.

Fonsus Trompenaars is a Dutch organizational theorist, management consultant, and author in the field of cross-cultural communication, known for the development of Trompenaars' model of national culture differences. Well, Fons may be management consultant but the example he gave from his quote I found most apt for the situation we are in (read as the mess of scene we are creating) as a society in Pune & subject is second dearest to heart of we the Puneakrs’ & yes its water! As Punekar loves two things, condemning traffic on road & show pride about their water supply! For once traffic is taking back seat, thanks to Metro work going all over Pune which has made every Punekar think for a while their all traffic worries are going to end soon! No comments, as time will only tell about the outcome of Metro, as its been looked as “Sanjeevani” (a mythological herb to treat the near dead patients bringing them back to normal) for the traffic named cancer but then Pune is blessed with having newer problems (read creating) when all seems going well & latest (created) problem is water.

For ages Pune is supposed to be the best city of its size in not just Maharashtra but in entire country for its water supply, on front of quality & quantity both! Punekar always took pride that they don’t need to store water where as citizens of every other city not just town or village in the State uses all possible means to store water in their homes & this is scene since last many decades. This is one of the main cause that thousands of people especially from Marathwada & Vidarbha regions has migrated to Pune as water is something which brings all segments of society on one platform. In the other regions of State, may you be a high ranked govt officer or a teacher or a business man or a landlord or a hand rickshaw puller, yet here you are poor when water is the scale of life! On this background Pune is heaven because no one is poor on the scale of water, as here wealth in the form of water keeps flowing twenty four hours a day & for all 365 days a year! All that Punekar knows about water is open the tap & water flows, so when suddenly some govt dept named Irrigation (Jal Sampada) declared that they will be curtailing the water supply to Pune (read PMC) the news made more impact than that of Atom Bomb has done to Japan for the Punekars! And last few days (its months now actually) the only headlines we are reading is statement & counter statements & counter-counter statements by every govt dept, political parties, so called leaders & obvious the NGO”s (how we can miss them in this city) about water cuts! The “tet e te” between PMC & Irrigation has been now at peak & as usual the dispute has gone to Hon CM’s chamber for the justice (this is term used by leaders only). 

Well, let’s see from the angle of a common citizen towards the water issue first, as I wonder how many actually understands who owns the key to the water supply of the city. Is it State Govt (read Chief Minister) or PMC or this Irrigation dept? Well answer is not even Irrigation dept owns any of the water as to my knowledge there is a State level authority formed by constitution which decides the use of every drop of water in the State. And before that comes a central (read national) level authority which decides which State can hold how much water for the use of that State or else as most rivers flows from North to South, the upper altitude (read Northern) State’s would have hold all the water in their respective regions leaving the rivers flowing southwards total dry! So by now you must have realized any water in any dam or river is not ownership of some city or some local body not even irrigation dept but all the water State has, is calculated already & every drop has been allotted to every user in the State may it be city or industry or farming! The irrigation dept is just like cashier in any bank i.e. it is custodian of the cash & all it can do is, give you water as per the balance in your account which is pre-decided already!  So with due respect if Punkers’ are considering all the five dams on our upstream are for Pune city only then that’s not legally true is something we must accept in first place!

Now once you have understood the water distribution at State level then coming back to the dispute between PMC & Irrigation dept of Pune, let’s know how much water has been allotted to Pune per year as then only we will realize the scene in totality. So, by this committee of water, Pune city (read PMC) is entitled for 8.35 TMC water per year. Now most readers are already enough confused as we are used to count water in liters but when its quota for a city with population of four millions (forty lac), litters is not a scale or figure which will be convenient to frequent use so it’s TMC. To make reader understand here is the math, Cusec is a measure of flow rate of water and is abbreviation for cubic feet per second (which is equivalent to a flow of 28.317 liters per second) and 11,000 cusecs flow for a day amounts to 1 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) water; thus ! 1 TMC is 28 Billion liters of water & this makes 8.35 TMC as 233.80 billion liters of water for a year. Now with 4 million (0.004 billion) population of Pune (read PMC) & 1 billion is equal to 1000 millions, so per head per day we have been allotted 160 liters of water throughout the year (233.8 bl ltr/ 0.004bl population i.e. 40 lac/365 days).  Now by this standard also Pune is way ahead as Nagpur city gets hardly 80 liters per head per day & Aurangabad even lower & let’s not speak about tire two cities like Amraoti, Ahemad-Nagar & Latur etc or else if not World war but State war will start immediately! Even the ideal scale of WHO (World Health Organization) also considers per head per day water supply as 135 liters & that’s for developed countries in Europe! Now you can imagine the luck Puneakrs’ enjoy as on other hand worlds nearly 80% population doesn’t have access to clean & potable water is the scene!

Now the cry is water quota has been reduced from 13 TMC to some 11 TMC; means already we were getting nearly 260 liters per head per day which has been now curtailed to 200 liters per head per day & yet that too is way ahead of what we legally deserve & morally as well scientifically also as its still above the WHO norms, now I will ask where is water cut in actual? In my college days there was a game of “fishpond”, those who are 45 plus years put behind may be remembering this & in this game funny names are given to the students as well professors & it’s been announced from stage making the mob cheer or laugh as most of these names had been derived from some peculiar characteristics of that student or teacher! I remember one boy who was son of a millionaire business man has got a fishpond, “meri wajahase mera baap bana lakhpati, par ye baat chodo ki pahale tha wo karodpati”! It means, because of my efforts my father has become a millionaire but earlier he was a billionaire, in nut shale because of the boy’s spending the father has become poorer actually even though he is a millionaire!  Well, above fishpond seems to be perfect for Pune at present as we have been so used to use water more than what we deserved that even a slight cut in that which wasn’t ours actually,  we feel it’s our loss, isn’t it? And all above figures I have taken from govt’s various official web sites only as well the conversion figures are available in any math book!

Now if its proven that Pune gets water approx some 200 plus liters per head per day then why it is so that many suburbs has a continuous problems of shortage of water supply & why just reduction in few liters in whatever is already more than adequate is making entire city feel like draught, is the question I will put forward!Because water is one of the key aspect of real estate of the city & presence of good quality assured water supply by the local body is directly related with rates of real estate as well bookings is a known fact! The first question you get while you are attending any client’s inquiry for your project is, “is there PMC water supply?”And if the answer is No, then fifty percent clients rejects that site, especially women as they are the one who has to face water shortage. As well getting water by tanker or bore well has its own problems, right from budget to quality of water through tanker & of bore well are just to name a few. No need to say that you are totally on mercy of water tanker suppliers (read lobby) & off-late this has been a menace in the suburbs, right from their monopoly regarding rates too even going to extent of threatening society residents if they try to bring in some other water tanker supplier, many things you will know if you take residents of such projects in confidence, where PMC water supply net work is not available or areas outside of PMC limit. Though even in PMC situation of water supply is grave in fringe areas which no one accepts openly is a fact! There have been announcements about 24X 7 water supply i.e. full day water will come via pipe lines of PMC but it will have a water meter & billing will be on consumption basis i.e. more the consumption more the rate of billing per liter! But as usual these were just announcements as to my knowledge even the so called Smart Suburb Baner-Balewadi also faces water supply shortage, leave apart 24x7 scheme, to such extent that the residents has gone to High Court for basic water supply! And in addition now we have to cater the need of newly acquired 28 villages as well PMRDA also demanding water from the very same dams which Punekars’ were thinking are of their sole ownership!

Actually it to fulfill need of PMRDA only the so called water use control regarding PMC’s water use has come in lime light, is the discussion among concerned authorities & it is logical! Because if this city is getting 150 lit water per head per day, but does we have any system to keep tab on controlled use of this supply is the key question & nobody is answering this main question! In first place how much is exact population of Pune, this again nobody is calculation in systematic way as if more than 50% population live in slum (read illegal construction included) then what means we have to calculate exact population & then how we arrive on the need of water supply in first place? And then the lesser we speak about the way this water is being supplied to the citizens (staying in legal & illegal homes) better it will be. Because the city which uses water on basis of billing some component in property tax, even God won’t be able to fulfill water need of such city! So the scene is some parts of the city gets abundant water i.e. nearly 400 lit per head per day & some part of the city goes dry (read on mercy of tanker lobby). And this is being done deliberately is also talks in whispers but then most of such beneficiaries are themselves the rulers of the city, so whom to complaint is the question which nobody asks! At the same time those who are getting enough water must learn to use it with respect as right from car washing to washing floors of the flats all such luxuries are making many other people’s life miserable because you are consuming their water! Indeed PMC/PCMC has come up with compulsory rain water harvesting like policies for the new projects but what’s effective use of such policies or implementation, again nobody cares so nobody knows its outcome! At the same time what about implementing existing building’s rain water harvesting, why it’s not compulsory for them the rain water harvesting systems or else hike their property tax! Because here people can spend millions of rupees for their interiors but to spend few thousand rupees for society's rain water harvesting, they just don’t feel the need because they don’t care! And if someone (read citizen) isn’t caring about his or her social responsibility then its job of the govt (read PMC) to make them aware by preaching them or else punish them financially! And this is where our govt lacks will as to increase property tax heavily for wrong use of water means direct threat to vote bank but just think if all political parties’ unite & make heavy fines for wrong water use & see that the policy getting implemented then the voter will also has to surrender as every party has been in support of such policy whomsoever they vote! But unfortunately the biggest curse to not just Pune but our entire country is taking decisions to make people happy on face than thinking of their long terms happiness & outcome is fiasco on water use/policies/ supply in Pune city! Lets understand, water quantity is fixed whatever we have got as storage capacity of dams’ is fixed & even with all dams full every person in Pune district has his or her right on this water, so all we can do is distribute the available water in even proportion to all users. And for that all focus must be on laying such system of water supply in place on priority. One more thing, though water quantity for Pune is fix (by nature as well by authorities at State & Central level) but the population is going to increase every new day, so the only way is start using water extreme judiciously from today only!

Here is where city’s real estate segment should take lead & use the forums like CRDAI or MBVA to raise the voice about basic needs like water supply of the city than just focusing on FSI, TOD, Height of Building or Ease of Doing Business related policies. As one day there will be lots of FSI, TDR, Premium FSI, 100 meter height, immediate sanctioning of plans but there won’t be water for all these projects, at such time just Ease of Doing Business won’t be saving real estate is a writing on the concrete wall!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

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

Helmet Vs Punekars!

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.”... Elbert Hubbard.

Elbert Green Hubbard was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher & indeed full of American wittiness which reflects in his above quote.  But when it’s wearing a helmet Punekar seems to be very much together on exceeding limits of foolishness, is all I can say! I recalled Elbert’s quote as my journalist friend Prachi Bari asked for my opinion about helmet wearing compulsion while driving a two wheeler by Pune Police & as usual controversy it has caused! And any ways last many days I have been reading about hot discussion on making helmet wearing compulsory by the authorities (read police) & then there are news about people (NGO’s, Political figures & many such) united standing against this rule! Well, when it’s following public discipline, Punekars' certainly are not best ranked in our country, leave apart the world! Joke is, the very same Punekars’ when travelling outside of our country, are considered as most civilized & well behaved creatures, even I go to forests like Kanha or Corbet, there also the guides praise Punekars’ for their disciplined behavior; really two faced specie we are! And when it’s about following traffic rules, less we speak is better & for that with all due respect blame equally goes to Police force as fear (I am deliberately using the term fear & not just respect) for law has to be there in the mind of common man & that’s job of Police a front which they are not at the mark! And that’s why every new police chief has to take call of masses even for implementing rule (read as law) as simple as helmet wearing when in every other city like Delhi or Mumbai has been successfully implementing it, even tourist's delight Goa also has helmet wearing rule & it’s being followed! On the top of it trying to implement something as making only govt employees use helmet, keeping every respect for the intentions of the concerned authorities, I think we are losing seriousness of the subject like helmet use, with such policies!

Now let’s keep away law thing about helmet wearing, as a two wheeler rider also when nearly 90% road accidents in the city are of two wheelers & nearly equal percent of deaths occurred in these accidents are by head injury is known, yet if the citizens' in Pune thinks they don’t want to use helmets then I think they don’t really care for their own head (or they have a hollow head)! And the reasons which are given for not using helmets are, one can’t see the traffic on both sides while driving a two wheeler, the speed of the traffic is slow already so where is the question of collision, the road conditions are poor, helmet carrying is a problem, some even went to the extreme that this is in the benefit of helmet manufacturers! Wow, I loved the last logic as for saving your own head why you have to think if somebody else’s benefit as by this logic in flights & cars, one should be saying seat belts are compulsory because of seat belt manufacturers! And speaking about law abiding thing then again who can bit us as we throw garbage in our rivers right standing under the board saying keep rivers clean. Speaking about our traffic sense, we park vehicles exactly where “No Parking” signage is displayed & why blame citizens, as go to PMC main building & you will find our Hon. Elected Members (read Mananiya) take most pride in parking their white SUV’s right under the board of No Parking sending message to their Mai Baap Voters, don’t bother about such foolish laws we make the laws to break them! Then another joke in this city is “No Entry” as this signage has got no meaning because most citizens of Pune gives damn to any “No Entry” board. At any given time of the day two wheelers & four wheelers enters in No Entry from opposite side at their will is scene we all have witnessed! And on top of it, a rider coming from wrong way in No Entry gives such a nasty look to the person riding  from right end that the few law abiding citizen’s whatever respect has left for law, melts away & next time he also enters in No Entry from wrong side with pride! Then comes aspect of jumping red signals; super, splendid, awesome, I think whatever way you praise Punekars’ for this quality will not be enough to describe it because when it comes to identifying (read obeying) Red, Green & Yellow on road, I think most Punekars’ (PMT drivers & Auto Rickshaw drivers especially) are color blind by birth; or else there is no reason that nobody follows traffic signal in this city, only except unless its guarded with a traffic police! Yes one more thing is there & that is rampant drunk driving, need I say more about this aspect as at any night you can find nearly thirty percent riders drunk, courtesy city’s blooming night life! And then minor things like using dark window glasses for four wheelers or using fancy number plates like Bhai & Dada for numeric figures, well nothing more to speak I think!

Now tell me which of the reason given by the so called activists is going to save them from getting a head injury with such behavior pattern while we ride a two wheeler in this city! As however slow you might be riding a two wheeler of yours but if someone comes from wrong way from opposite side & collides with you or you are standing at a red signal & some rickshaw or PMT bus (color blind) comes from behind & hits you or a drunk driver just loses his control on vehicle he is driving & rams on you, in all these cases who will be falling down from the two wheeler & end up crashing your head on pavement or footpath along; unfortunately “you only”, is the answer! And at that time even if you remember all the reasons of traffic was at slow speed, you were following all rules, road was free of pot holes, nothing is going to save you from leaving this very world not just city as the only realization will remain in those last moments will be you weren’t wearing a helmet! As just last year a message in the form of letter written by some elderly father has gone viral on social media about awareness regarding helmet wearing  after his daughter died by falling down from a scooter she was riding. And she was not even driving or in motion, she was standing at signal, somehow lost her balance & she fall down & her head got bumped on the edge of footpath & she died eventually, leaving behind two kids, husband & an elderly father who is busy in writing letters to other fools, urging them to wear helmets! Indeed as I said earlier with due respect police has to play their role right & tight as if citizens are not respecting law (read traffic rules) then something is very wrong in policing on road is a bitter truth. And for that we need to strengthen traffic branch as with forty million vehicles on road with ignorant foolish riders on them, we need a lot many traffic police than the present figure of some twelve hundred plus, at least till they make these riders fear the traffic rules!

I think Punekars just love to oppose everything as that has become their identity in a way or else why this simple thing of wearing helmet would have become a question of city's survival like issue! What’s unfortunate is the citizens who joins hands against helmet use ignore conveniently (read foolishly) the root cause of need of helmet in first place & that is nearly thirty millions two wheelers on road because of mess of public transport system govt (read PMC, PCMC, PMPML & Police) has made! As there is no space left on road now to accumulate more vehicles resulting immense increase in vehicles collisions (well our traffic sense too is a reason) but instead accommodating our own safety by use of helmet & joining hands for demanding better public transport we always choose easy way i.e. oppose helmet! On any day open any news paper & you will only read some brother has lost his sister on the eve of Rakhipornima or some parents has lost their only son on his very birth day & all because of two wheeler accident & needless to say due to head injury!  Now go & ask that brother who has lost his only sister or the parents who has lost their college going son about helmet using law, all they will tell with tearful eyes only if their loved one would have used the helmet!

Though one more side to this resistance to helmet use is common man is so frustrated with law & order which he thinks only exists to harass him. As all the time he (read common man) can see so called celebrities (read moneyed or people in power) getting away with bigger offences, while he has to face things like helmet use compulsion & that’s why the retaliation comes in him! Somewhere a message must go to the masses that every law is for every citizen & that is possible only by action by the law enforcement authorities & not by mere words from whomsoever mouth they come!

I think apart from applying police force what we need is long term solutions for road safety & just the way the Diwali now is much fire crackers free, which has been possible only by combine awareness effort of schools, media & govt, it’s high time a ongoing campaign about awareness regarding not just helmet use but traffic rules & its importance in schools & colleges. As indeed it’s a long term solution but no future can be secured by short term solutions is a fact. Take help of associations like CREDAI to make their flat holders aware by whatap message, letters whatever way you can reach out to every individual making him or her realize life is precious & one small thing like wearing helmet of following signals can save some life! Display helmet as well road safety posters in every office, clinic, bank, malls & let every citizen of this city know that road safety starts from him or her only!  Simultaneously we need to think about age old traffic related laws & punishments for breaking them; as if I shoot someone at point blank range just for fun & as I have a gun, I get hanged for that as its crime under section 302 i.e. murder, same way if I drive a two or four wheeler in a wrong direction in no entry or jump red signal & becomes a cause for death of someone, then I must not get away with mere three years jail that too is bail able! The society which doesn’t respects law becomes a history is a history in itself & hard time Punekar learn the history! At the same time all those who are today demanding not to implement helmet use rule please come on road & urge govt for better public transport so as less use of two wheelers which will directly result in less number of accidents! Well, I myself have ride a two wheeler without helmet (& survived till now) & I don’t deny the problems of carrying helmet & driving a two wheeler with helmet on, but by now I have understood one thing, "problems exists only if I myself exists in first place”! Do I need to explain importance of your own safety or use of helmet in more words to the so called enlighten citizens of this city, which takes pride in consider itself as Smart City! 

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

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

Stan Lee, The Immortal!

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“Just because you have superpowers, that doesn’t mean your love life would be perfect. I don’t think, superpowers’ automatically means there won’t be any personality problems, family problems or even money problems. I just tried to write characters who are human beings who also have superpowers.”… Stan Lee.

“If you’re writing about a character, if he’s a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don’t think he’ll be as interesting to the reader.”… Stan Lee.

“Stan Lee died”, just three words I could read when I opened news paper on Children’s Day i.e. on 14t Nov 18; what a way to start Children’s Day, I thought to myself! Well, last few days we have been reading how great he was & quotes as well obituaries from celebrities to his millions of fans from every class of society & age group; indeed some names get more publicity when they have left us than they deserved when they were very much alive! Indeed Stan do got publicity rather fame, name & everything yet his characters were more known than him & I think he too liked the life that way, that’s his greatness! For those who are ignorant about Stan Lee, he was creator of Marvel World (comics isn’t term you can define Marvel is what I feel). Well even if there are few who are ignorant about Marvel (I really pity such souls, but then in country where there are still people who thinks Hon Indira Gandhi is Prime Minister of our country, anything is possible), for them Marvel started with comic books whit characters of Super Heroes & later entered in movies by name Marvel Studios & has produced some of biggest hits of the century & all the characters were written (read created) by none other than Stan Lee! By the way biggest hit means speaking of Rs 100 crore leagues for the Bollywood fans, well Black Panther released in April 2018 made $68,80,09,489.00, now multiply it by Rs 74 & keep counting, I tried but failed! And such nearly twenty movies are there under the belt of Marvel Studios & all of them based on characters created by Stan Lee, now you must have had some idea about him!

But then I won’t ever dare (read make mistake) of measuring greatness of Stan by the box office figures, indeed they are important but more important is what he has given to world than mere  entertainment  along with financial success & on that scale he is the best competitor for Walt Disney. Our world take any field always loves competition & when it’s between geniuses then no better fun to watch rather experience it & for that USA has been a biggest & best stage for the competition. May it be in between Chris Evert & Martina Navratilova on the tennis or between Muhammad Ali & Joe Frazier in boxing arena or between Steve Jobs & Bill Gates in computers or between Wall Mart & Amazon in satisfying customers shopping needs But one biggest & most neglected such competition USA or the world has witnessed is in entertainment & it’s by me is in between Disney & Marvel means Walt Disney & Stan Lee! Best part is by all these competitions apart from money it has generated the outcome which I feel is it benefitted entire world to become a better place, it not only entertained masses but made their life easier. Look at computers & smart phones today or online shopping ease as well deals the malls are offering & comfort & any game’s high standard of performance making the spectators spell bound by the players performance & on the top of all come movies i.e. entertainment industry of which comics was the base! This last aspect of entertainment is very much important as this is the medium which makes you forget you problems, worries, and tensions whatever you tag your life, for three hours & takes you in a different world. A world where anything is possible, here you fly in sky without wings, you jump from hundredth floor of the building without getting a scratch, you can change your shape as well face, you can pass through concrete walls, you can move mountains just by looking at them, in simple words you are a Super Hero for those three hours!

And for decades Walt Disney ruled this entertainment competition by Disney’s fairy tales where all stories ends with “and they lived happily ever after”, with love in heart! Yes, Disney fairy tales are still enjoyed by millions (me too) but as you grow up somewhere that innocence you lock within when you realize the harsh realities (read cruelties) of grown up life is a fact. And here is where Stan scored over Disney off late & then as the civilization entered in 2000 century where technology started replacing sentiments like affection & love & kindness, so does changed the needs of the entertainment. People still loved fairy tales but with more human touch more realistic Super Heroes & Super Heroines, which are in a way representing modern days Prince & Princes! And in this today’s world fairy tales rarely has happy endings but even the Prince & Princes has to survive emotional break downs caused by survival issues & strained relations! Greatness of Stan was, he perfectly changed gears as just look at his above two quotes about his characters & you will realize his Super Heroes are very much humans with every draw back a normal human mind (read character) has & Stan likes these characters that way only. He says, “Unless you give vulnerability to the character they won’t become interesting”, sound familiar, isn’t it? What is Hindu or any religion’s mythology (read philosophy) after all; unless there is end to one life how there can be a new life & yet his villains craves for immortality while his Super Hero’s thrives to stop the bad guys becoming immortal!

The list is unending, starting from Spider Man who is a average orphan boy next door, always worried for his day to day survival in the real world as well bad love life & battling bad guys on other side. The Iron Man is millionaire in normal world i.e. Tony Stark, a flamboyant character, yet very much human with bitterness about the surrounding flowing through his nasty tongue due to the frustration about disparity in the world!  The might Hulk who is Dr Banner, the Physicist in normal is trying hard to get rid of the green beast in him, The Wolverine, immortal mutant also want to dies & perish like normal man when other envy him for his super powers which heals any wound on his body but what about the wounds Logan (When not Voulvarine) is carrying on his mind & has sleepless nights because of the damaged memories of past & living on, while every his dear one dies due to mortality! The list of all the characters is endless & not even the Demy God, Thor has escaped by the human touch of Stan as while fighting the wars across the galaxies Thor has to carry the burden of family loss & a brother who has turned evil & face frustration in love as he loves a mortal human being! Stan created fifty plus characters, each one with some unique gift & curse too; gift of super power in some form which makes them different from common man & gift of curse which in most characters runs from their childhood, either loss of parents or love or memory itself! In nut shale every Super Hero Stan created is very much unhappy, depressed a times & fights his or her own battle within, very vulnerable just like you & me does, yet a Super Hero!

This is where Stan scored on every his competitor as people find his Super Heroes’ more human, more real, more familiar as they too have to face similar problems like common man! Remember why in 70’s the great Amitabh Bachhan could rise to Super Stardom as it was time of unrest & a very common, average looking tall guy (due respect to Bachhan for his great acting skills) who is angry with world around can beat the bad goons just by his   bare hands & kicks, was so so much appealing to the masses that they crowded the theaters again & again to watch him on screen! Well the real success behind this was of writers Salim Javed actually who created this angry young man out of masses! These too are times of unrest as indeed now most of us don’t have to worry about food or clothing or survival, rather many of us carries tag of success in the form our fat salary package, posh car, gadgets, dinners at happening joints, a perfect family to post its snap on Insta/ FB yet how many of us are truly happy & at peace with what life has offered us? And Stan perfectly understood the mind set of this post 2000 genre which is frustrated but doesn’t know with whom & why they are frustrated & he keeps on flooding the characters’ through his comics, which became larger than life on screen with digital revolution in the  cine industry!

I personally got introduced to Stan Lee much late i.e. in late 80’s via Spider Man series on Door Darshan i.e. DD, Sunday 11 am! But then in small town like Khamgaon, Marvel was unheard of so only when I moved to Pune for my engg, I became familiar with Captain America, X –Men & Stan’s characters. Yet I wasn’t grown up to understand that philosophy (read frustration or unrest) these characters displayed, it’s actually Stan’s which I eventually learnt. And then I with every new movie from Marvel the respect & affection for Stan grew up which I am sure will go on. As one of the comment in media about Stan’s departure was, “along with Stan some part of my childhood died”! Well, with due respect for the love of said fan; he hasn’t understood the Stan as how can Stan will let it happen! Stan’s creations, troubled however they may be within, one thing was very common among them all & that is, understanding of the responsibility they carry towards the world & their belief on goodness; and these two things will never die! Speaking for me, Stan Lee gave me the best gift I would have ever received, which is actually just one sentence, “with great powers comes along great responsibilities”!  And a realization that we all have some power in some form which most of us fails to understand resulting in failure of our understanding of the responsibility it brings! Thanks a ton “Stanley Martin Lieber”, for portraying the best & real Super Hero under the name “Stan Lee” & creating Super Heroes & giving them courage to accept & respect the common man within! And yes nothing died in me while you departed but a feeling of gratefulness relived for your gift of hope to me as well to the entire world that anybody can be Super Hero!

-- 

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

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

Kanha For Ever!

- 

 “Forests should not be walked on, they should be walked under and through.” … Courtney M. Privett.

"It was October last week, a typical Kanha start of winter morning & we were in mukki meadows (large grass land), the morning mist hanging on the grass land was melting by entry of rising sun in the sky. Visitors often complain about less tiger sighting at Kanha in this season but I feel forest is at its best in Kanha in late October. The air is cool & a wonderful green screen of Sal welcomes you, the huge spread of grass displays a multicolored canvas for the drama which is on all the time & you have to just park your gypsy on a road along the grass land & become part of the drama unfolding in front of your eyes! It was one such morning & were chasing an alarm call(what else?) which died off after sometimes & suddenly our eyes were on some movement in grass land ahead so we moved forward & a pack of wild dogs was relaxing in morning sun in the grass along the two small adjoining lakes at center of the grass land. Many people (read most) don’t understand importance of wild dogs & ignore their sighting but let me tell you something, there are nearly hundred plus tigers in Kanha but if I am right wild dogs are even lesser than this figure; now you can realize the importance of wild dogs in forest & rarity of their sighting! Well, first we saw just three/ four of them but as we came in full view it was biggest pack I have seen in recent with nearly twenty wild dogs in it. All of them were relaxing which actually they weren’t because that was the strategy to keep their prey unalarmed. On the far side of meadows where the Sal tree wall stood, a large pack of spotted deer' was grazing unaware of wild dogs but wild dogs were very much aware about them. There was discussion going on in the pack about the attack formation & slowly in calculated move one by one wild dogs started moving towards the deer pack surrounding them & suddenly in last leap they all sprang from three sides driving the deer herd towards the center of the grass land! There was silent stampede as no alarm call was made by the deer, just they started running wildly in all directions. And soon the canvas of the meadows was active like cinema screen with nearly hundred deer’ & twenty wild dogs running all around; it was race of life vs. death as deer’ were running for life & wild dogs running to kill, which in a way life for them actually! I have seen such scenes only on National Geography or Animal Planet channels but today I was experiencing it live & no camera was enough to cover this drama! Wild dogs were trying to separate one of the deer’ from the herd & kill it by trying to tire it which is their normal tactics. But even with full fledged effort that was deer's lucky day & wild dogs had to end their attack without success except a small fawn which wasn’t enough for eighteen of them. And then the wild dogs realized that there was a barsingha in one of the small lake, a treat so near! Immediately putting the spotted deer’ failed mission behind the pack started planning a new move & covered the small lake from all sides. The poor barsingha already sensed its death by looking at approaching pack & moved towards deeper waters instead running out of lake & watching it I could feel the wild dogs smiling between them by barsingha’s move because the barsingha has sealed its death by going deep in water as wild dogs are natural swimmers & in water the heavy barsingha has restrictions on its movements. Needless to say the outcome was it turned out as happy day finely for the wild dogs pack but not so, for the poor barsingha! Entire drama lasted for some thirty minutes leaving behind a dead barsingha caracas, feasting wild dogs & mesmerized faces of few human beings with cameras!! One more Kanha tour has started for me…"

Well by now you must have been understood the sharing is about Kanha & some things are like “Déjà woo” & for me Kanha is one such. The quote I used is of Courtney M. Privett who is the author of The Malora Octet, Huron, and The Bacra Chronicles. She spent her childhood in rural northeastern Michigan and graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) in 2005 with a degree in ceramic engineering. In addition to being a writer, she is an accidental artist, a classical percussionist, a former analytical chemist, and a vivid dreamer, & who better than a dreamer can think of such words of understanding the forests! Actually in the quote of Courtney lays my frequent forest trip’s reason as once you understand the forests then it’s like visiting your own home, how many time you go there you like it more, that is true definition of the home & which I live in forests. And when the forest is Sal trees & vast meadows (grass lands) of Knaha then the affection is like addiction, though it said any addiction is hazardous to the health but I am sure addiction of forest, (read nature) is exception to this rule!Actually I had been to Kanha just five months back yet it seems like age long such is affection to visit the greens of Kanha. And when the Innova started racing out of Nagpur city & on road to Kanha, my mind has already reached there & my lungs can feel the fresh air with green fragrance it brings along!

One noticeable thing, good for Kanha visitors though not so good for die hard nature lovers is, the road widening work is on full speed especially between Nagpur & Seoni. Issue is this is Nation Highway & it passes through most of the forest which is in a way corridor also for many animals. Thousands of trees have been cut for this road widening & the sight was sickening yet our Hon Central Minister for roads has promised the new trees will be planted in proportion of ten trees per one cut tree, we all know how effective our engineering depts are when its planting new trees! I only wish the Hon Minister should give a keen eye for plantation as well survival of the trees, the very same way he is taking efforts to complete the road widening! When its matter of development (read infrastructure) Vs environment, most of the time development has won & most people will say what’s wrong with it? If the travel time is reduced, its saves crores of rupees in the form of fuel as well man hours, is not in a way saving? Indeed it is saving  but what about the loss in the form of cut trees as well knowing the way our drivers drive their cars & trucks on such type of wide & smooth roads, the danger of road kill of animals too increase ten times is a fact we can’t ignore! I think along with the planting of new trees equally important is leaving underpasses’ for the animals to cross the road as well have strong barricades on both sides of the road for entire stretch it goes from the woods! And here is where the wild life lovers should put their foot down united than just protesting for Avni’s death. I am not happy for killing (I personally take it as death) of Avni tigress but it’s the encroachment of we the humans on habitats of wild life is what made Avni man eater & this is the main cause we should fight for, which we are not doing in first place! But surely reduction of travel time from Nagpur to Kanha will be a boon for wild lifers is other side of the coin. As the hotel as well tourism dependant trades are not doing well in Knaha because no tourist will go to Kanha without having a safari permit & even if we say all 100 vehicles full yet it makes room (hotel accommodation) need of hardly some 300 odd rooms where as Kanha to my knowledge has some 2000 rooms accommodation in of all sorts or resorts t6o home stay! Outcome is many properties (read hotels) have been closed down or available for sale at Kanha but no buyer is the scene! Fault lies with hotel owners also as they can make many things possible with coordination of forest dept. For e.g. nature walk or nature trail which can easily keep tourist occupied for a day if not jungle safari & then you can always take them for a ride in nearing forest outside of the park as well visit to some villages to make the visitors know about the people around these forests & then most of the tourists are happy with two or three safaris! Forest dept also should take lead in such activities as this the only way to promote tourism which in the end will be helping local people to get some decent living as well making visitors aware of real nature & not just tiger! On the background of roads in MP sorry to say roads in Maharashtra are in pathetic stage as now I am visiting MP for nearly last ten years & earlier when the car used to hit bumpy road we used to say “we have entered in MP!”. But now its reverse as soon the car starts rolling on smooth road we say, “seems we have entered in MP”.  Also the sign boards as when we were on way to Kursapar i.e. Pench Maharashtra after Kanha, there wasn’t s single sign board of indicating the exit for Khursapar gate & relying on Google made us end up at a nearly dead end which only we had an SUV so could get us through to the gate! How we will be promoting tourism in our State if we neglect such basic things, I doubt our concerned ministers or sr. govt officers ever bother to travel as common tourists & look for such lacunas in the systems which are big distress for the common Man!

Though I left behind all these thoughts as soon the gypsy entered in to the forest! So many times I have visited Kanha yet every time I enter through the gate my heart beats faster as what lies ahead, this time! It’s like Harry Potter Movies while he get on the train to Hogwarts (sorry for those who are not fans of Harry Potter, it’s his school name) via a magical railway platform, access to which is via  a brick column, you just go through it & bang, you are in a magical world! Same is the feel when you cross the gate of Kanha Park, a whole new green world welcomes you where every color of green is displayed & even the air you inhale is also green! Here in this world you forget about problems of outer world, there is no week day or weekends, deadlines to follow, calls to made, nobody asks for work schedules; yet here in forest nothing is slow or fast but everything moves at its speed & in its own way! All one has to do is become part of these greens & just feel the flow of nature & this is why one should visit forests as here you don’t know what drama will unfold in front of you in next moment. Often while moving through those Sal or the grass lands sometimes you feel nothing is happening & what a boring ride this has been but then you haven’t understood the forest is what I will say! As I have shared earlier every time forest has given me something new whenever I have visited it & not necessary that the new means something I haven’t seen earlier! Confused? Well, same thing I learn to see newly after all it’s our vision which makes the difference & vision can be new at every moment not just day or week or month, how I would have understood it had I not visited forests!

Here the grass dances differently on the tune of wind every day, even in mornings & evenings too & the animals as well birds moving on this canvas make the dance more interesting. On one morning while the sun was yet to paint the sky full red, on very first turn after entering in forest we heard a weird sound (call), the guide said sir this is jackal calling, means “tiger kahi najdik hai”! In so many years of forests yet I have never heard a jackal giving alarm call, the sound was very sharp & loud, especially on the silent morning it echoed all around. And on the road a tiger emerged, while we were getting our cameras ready even the tiger seemed to be irritated with that sound & turned back, started walking away from us. That road was of Kisli zone while we had permit of Kanha zone so all we can do is watch helplessly tiger walking away from zone but then I have experienced the jackal call, which was my gain! Had it been earlier me I would have kept cursing my luck as well the zone system which deprived me the tiger sighting from closer range but now I feel happy even though I has just a glimpse of the tiger. As now I have understood to become part of the greens & live every moment around & I think this is what forest teaches us, off course if we are ready to learn!

On the earlier day while waiting for tiger by hearing a sambhar deer alarm call we were on a bridge & suddenly a male tiger emerged out of grass along the banks of the nallah , gave me a look & walked in the thickset on other side of the bank!My camera wasn’t ready so all I could do is click its back, indeed I knew one should be ever ready in forest but then does that mean just to capture the tiger in camera? No, it means be ever ready to capture every such moment in the camera of your eyes images of which gets ever stored in the hard disk of mind, is what I have learn now! This is the reason I go back to the forests again & again & again as each time I learn to live in new way! And this is why we must conserve the places like Kanha like our personal heritage & not just that try to cultivate them around ourselves when we get back to our concrete jungle i.e. in city we live in! As indeed that piece of green may be just a small patch of greens or a big neem tree which may not give me tiger sighting but whenever I look at it, there might be a bird chirping on that neem tree or a lizard waiting for a kill on its branch or just the changing color of the leafs waving on the tune of wind blowing, that will make me part of it & my day has made even in concrete jungle. This new vision is what Kanha has gifted me this time (oh yes, how I can forget the samosa the Kanha center serves) & I will be never enough thankful to the God for this wonderful priceless gift of green vision!  

On one morning at the Khatiya gate there were number of school kids who has come to see the tiger & the gate atmosphere was abuzz with their chatting, a sound as sweet & energetic like that of birds chirping. Looking at those kid’s exited faces, I realized my face was not different than theirs, as at once I have forgotten nearly fifty years I have put behind & was as happy & exited as those kids, that’s what Kanha does to you; well do you have any other idea of ageing, better than this? Adios with this note, till I visit forests again!

Check the total drama at link below...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157675456257298

One more thing, at Kanha the delightful sight was, seeing most of the guides wearing “Think Green” sweaters which we gave them as our little support to the people who are in way forest protectors & I think each of us who visits Kanha like places & go back with some take away, owes something to the forests, that's why shared here!

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.in/

Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)

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