A mind made up is half the battle won!!

I was telling somebody once that there would be very few people in this world who wouldn't love nature. All sane human beings tend to appreciate nature's beauty but it takes guts and a much inner compassion and empathy to think about what is happening to it and how can one contribute to it.

So since you have taken the first step by thinking about it, you are already on the way to contribute towards it.

Now the question is how to go about doing it. 7 years ago when I was in ur shoes, I just decided to make it as my career and be fulltime into it.

I was told that this is called the (rural) development sector and environment is actually just part of the total holistic picture that includes livelihoods of people and is also therefore related to agriculture, animal husbandry, and also enterprises related to the primary sector (read forests, crops, animals etc and their produces).

All of them are part of farming systems that interact closely.

To move up, they would need either the support of the GOVERNMENT, or the MARKETS Or the CIVIL SOCIETY. These are actually the three sphere of development for environment also.

GOVERNMENT - the forest department (forests), irrigation department (water) ,revenue department (land) just administrate these but also mismanage them as custodians.

MARKET - the demand and supply tend to only do justice to mainstream areas where technology has made things easier like green revolution areas.

CIVIL SOCIETY - bunch of motivated people who try and do work in bits n pieces to address issues in regions where both the above have failed to succeed. 8-10 % of india's populations of tribal areas are one of their areas. I also work in Udaipur, a tribal district. These erstwhile forest dwelling communities are suffering from lack of access to basic services, market and as a result have eaten into their own resources and face degraded natural resources like forests, water and loss of livelihoods.

The point I want to drive home is, if you want to contribute to environment, you will have to address these issues as well. Many grassroot NGOs including seva mandir try to follow that model.

Corby Pro Mobile Restored - Should I be proud of this wired world?

This is 12.30 at night.

It all started on just before I was about to board the train.

Day One : The Phone says Messaging cannot be initialized, that means I cant message my friends in Delhi and Jodhpur that I am sitting in a meeting and waiting for them to meet me.. The service centre people tell me that it will have to be formatted

Day Three – I try to run internet on it and doesn’t work but I take the backup for everything on the phone,

Day Four morning – I get the software,

First the mobile internet was a problem, then the mobile operating system, then the PC suite software, then the software update, then the backup upload, then the dealer. None of them could solve it :(
Dejected I searched on the internet to find 100 people facing same issues and giving up. One good samaritan had solved it and had posted it for all.
Dug up the old CDs, repaired my old desktop and reloaded all the softwares on the new laptop and solved the glitches !!!

Or did I spoil my hard-earned saturday and managed to turn off a few friends and family with this obsession with the wired world?? Is this technology here to shape or spoil one's mood?

The French Nightmare!!

The French Nightmare!!

Ye kisse kisi ko bataya mat kar – Nahin to teri Shaadi nahin hogi. (Don’t Disclose these incidents to others, else you will have problems getting your marriage fixed)

My colleague advised me thus in good faith.

Kyon? Why on earth? I asked..

“These incidences expose you as a weakling and a looser”- was his chaste remark. I did not want to be considered as a weakling and off-course it does leave a scar on an MCP’s psyche to be robbed time and again.

But to hide it is an even bigger sign of weakness coz it exposes others to the same risks that I was exposed to.

The fact that such experience happened with me at a ripe age of 29 at which people tend to become opinionated about themselves and my 6 footer frame had somehow only protected me for experiencing the same till now in my own country.

Till March 2009, My only other experience of being out of India was a four day visit to London. The whirwind trip went off quite well, other than me being bereft of my complete baggage and with only a boat neck T protecting me from London’s Grey and Grime. The Emirates were kind enough to retrieve the baggage the next day and my faith in Humanity was partly restored then!!!

It seems finally the law of averages caught up with me. If you travel twice a year you might have one or two problems once in 50 years.... But if you travel 50 times per year, u might end up having a problem or two sooner then later.

March 10^th 2009 – Woke up at a Dharamshaala in Delhi, half in fever delirious after the alarm failed to go off and only 2 hours left for flight to depart. The good-old Ambassador zipped through deserted roads to reach the airport in half an hour and the next time I woke up from my daze identically when I was about to land at Brussels. The temperature Shock (it was less than 5 degrees outside) was too much to handle even for a Himalaya returned person like me and only made matters worse with the fever that was in its 5^th day. (medications on the same day were taking their own time). I land up at a hotel that was in a business park called Berkenlaan just behind the Deloitte office. A complete representative of the mechanized west, this place was godforsaken for commuters with not-even a full fledged station to boast of and being completely outside the city meant that one had to think twice before returning to it from the city.

March 11, 2009 – Brussels South Railways Station

I ventured out of my hotel to visit the EU’s office and after managing to exchange the programme and presentations, planned to have a close look at the Bruxelles city. The city is replete with churches and museums. Brussels as a city is quite beautiful though the tourist attractions are scattered. The very heavy ACER Laptop that I was lugging around was not helping with my Spondylosis resurfacing. But taking it back to the hotel outside the city would have meant loss of 2-3 hours as it was already 4 pm when I finished my lunch.

The Bienvue Museum, Garden of Sculptures and the Central Place (that looked rather like a temple straight out of the Angkor Vat) were enough to tire me out.

Being 7 pm in the evening, I thought it better to purchase some juices lest I go hungry the whole night. Sipping the juice and trying to get back to the railway station, A lapse of judgement of direction also meant that I walked for one hour extra further in the dreadful cold to figure out the correct railways station.

I had actually unknowingly ventured towards the dreaded South Station. I felt a strange feeling when I entered the railway station. A small crowd was gathered and an old man was lying on the floor with his face swollen. A lady was sitting on the bench some distance away. She looked really cross and the police were scampering near them indicating this to be a crime scene.

Having obtained my ticket for the day and for my paris visit to my cousin, I decided to sit and wait for the train. Unfortunately the next train was one hour and was to arrive on the top most platform and when I reached it was deserted at 8.15 pm.

With nothing to do, I decided to peer through the City Maps and Guidebooks in the waiting room complete unaware of the handful of people observing me.

At 8.45 pm I was still waiting for my train to come and 5 min before the scheduled arrival, a man approaches me with a question

“Excuse me how long will this train take to reach diegem?”

It struck me as quite strange in two regards – A person speaking fluent English in a French country and approaching an even stranger looking person like me wearing a felt hat (that was wearing to avoid the fever getting worse, Sneezing and coughing with fever in 5 degree temperature).

I move towards him to hear him properly but only to find him running away laughing. I look back and find my Laptop gone. (also gone are other personal belonging like Ipod, Modem, Memory stick etc.).

It took me 2 minutes while I frantically searched the waiting room and the one adjoining it to realize why this person laughed. Apparently they were following me and had seen me enquiring at two-three places. Was never able to see his accomplice but as soon as I came out of the waiting room again, I saw him looking at me and boarding the train standing on the opposite platform.

He swiftly moved inside it to come out of the other end and quickly disappeared. My immediate hunch was to run after him but in a new country and new settings, I felt suddenly helpless.

I ran downstairs to the place where I had seen the police people but none were to be seen.

I ran to the enquiry counter and they pointed towards a police booth. (it was closed). I returned the second time and this time was pointed towards a police station across the street. (that was closed too). I returned to the counter the third time to hear that my only chance of getting any help was at the central station. I boarded the train after purchasing another ticket only to return after half an hour with the information that all the Police Stations close at 9.oo pm.

When I confronted the enquiry person about this the reply was a terse “ I don’t know, “je ne sais pas”.

I returned to the hotel with a heavy heart and admixture of thoughts of remorse, anger, disappointment, fear of ridicule and self deprecation.

When I woke up next morning ,I couldn’t figure out if I was still dreaming. I was still in fever and the lack of sleep the whole night and the severe cold had made my head go dizzy now.

March 12 – Police Station, Brussels

I call up the office and recount the incident so that they could resend me the power-point (for which I had got the laptop issued). I reach the first police counter at this station again first up and the extremely beautiful police lady took my passport and disappeared for 15 minutes. I doubt if a girl so good looking would ever get into such a dirty business as the police in India.

Then she reappeared and gave me a very patient audience about my whole experience the day before and registered the FIR and handed a copy in duplicate.

She asked at the end - What is your designation?

Programme Coordinator, I answered.

Programmeur, She wrote.

“How many such incidences occur like this? I dejectedly asked.

At least 5-6 per day here..

“And how many in the whole city”

At least 15-20 on an average !!!

Just then a disheveled person entered the station and said, I am from America - My laptop has been stolen just now!!!

Had it been India, I would have shaken his hand. I was after all not the only Idiot in this world.

I was feeling quite better now. This past half an hour left me with a restored belief in myself.

I ring up my cousin in france and after recounting the incident ask him..

Has anything like this happened to you??

Not yet in last two years I am here. You should have been more careful!!

To add insult to injury the conference where I went was quite unsuccessful as per the organisers due to poor response from bilateral donors like the French AID, DFID (out of 50 confirmed donors, only about 10 turned up while 100 odd project participants like me were present )etc. Though my presentation and project was highly appreciated. After the conference I called up the insurance people from the hotel room :). “we r not responsible for thefts only transit losses” was the indifferent reply ......

Pumped up after meeting the police constable and armed with the crime statistics of Brussels, I saw the whole city during the next day there only in company of other tourists in a guided tour.

March 14, – Holidays Inn, Brussels

During checkout they handed me a fon bill of Euro 170 (more than the net present value of the laptop etc.) charging me at the rate of 11 euros/min. But I had no choices given the unique position of my hotel. When I told the reception lady, the reason for the phone calls, she empathized.
Even U, my god not again, well just 2 days ago one German gentleman lost his laptop, passport, money etc :) He went completely berserk and crazy.

My self-confidence was getting restored now.

March 14, - Paris Railway Station

I reach Paris to meet my cousin. He is expected to be there to receive me but is not seen anywhere. Comes after 15 min. Why man why r u late?? I ask??

My bag (that I wanted you to take to India) got stolen outside my hotel !!!

“How on earth” – I ask..

Well I was helping an Iranian guest of mine, here to attend a conference on nuclear physics into the hotel room. Since there were 3-4 pieces of luggage so while I was shifting two of them, the third one vanished from outside the door !!!

My confidence was now getting boosted like never before.

March 15, Shopping outside the “Louvre” Museum,–

We stumble into a Bulgarian lady and barely manage to escape the “gold finger ring fraud”. The lady came to us and offered a gold finger ring which she found on the road as she could not speak English. Pointing at the 18 carat embossing, she wanted us to take care of it. Only a threat to report her to the police deterred her from duping us. My brother later once called me to tell that these gypsies are always on the look out for idiotic looking tourists who can be singled out from the crowd and are a gullible lot!!

I wish, had gone to french India rather than france. There are lot of people from Pondicherry in France. I met a person at the airport, He was from Mauritius and was a French-tamilian. When I recounted my incident he said “Indians are treated as vulnerable community here by the immigrants from Belgian Congo and Algeria etc” After 10 pm at night, even the security at Airport cannot vouch for us and we have to take care of ourselves. Most of the French colonies are in very bad shape economically and the immigrants from there comprise a big chunk of unemployed youth here in France.

From all this incidents I had two major learnings till I returned to India....

Events happen when you become complacent or start taking things for granted....

Secondly Indian society is the biggest support and one must learn to value it come what may……

One more person in the flight to turkey lost his mobile after talking to me!

May be he was affected by the ill luck/ omen I was carrying around that time.....

March 18 – Delhi

I reach delhi and the workshop am attending ends unceremoniously as the funder starts bleeding from the year and collapses on the road. I go to my sister’s place to give my nerves a break..

March 19 – Delhi

Additional collector calls and I tell him my predicament… “Vivek you should have asked me before going. I also lost 300 Euros in the train in paris during my last visit!! I literally went into a depression after that”.

Now my confidence was sky high. The same collector sb had rapped a few soldiers on their knuckles for not knowing how to do proper security checks during my earlier visit to the North-East. When I came back, It was again my turn as my symbian operating system crashed for the second time this year :(

I also loose all phone numbers whom I wanted to share this story with.

April 7 – I buy my new cell, Nokia Express Music.

July 17 – Hyderabad

I am called downstairs at reception to shift room at 9.30 pm. I get a call from home at 9.45 and I move out of the hotel to listen clearly. After 15 min two youth come on a motorcycle and snatch the fon from my hands!!! I run after them and a person gives me lift to catch them. We end up loosing their track in 2 minutes. Later I read similar stories published in newspapers in Indore and Udaipur with great interest !!!!

Morale of the story—Such things though have nothing in common could have been prevented if a person knows what is to be expected at various places. Almost everybody to whom I tell these things tell me similar experiences of dishonesty that have been inflicted on them or people they know!! It is important that we don’t keep mum as a society and tell our coming generations for the kind of world that awaits them when they travel or deal with unknown cultures.

By the way my suggestions also stems from a suggestion for generating royalty out of such writings to make up for the losses ….

A Tribal's Worry ??

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100717/jsp/opinion/story_12678165.jsp

After reading this article for the first time I felt as if it is almost similar to the stand taken by Ekta Parishad and Arundhati Roy.

On second reading I wonder what is it that is more unacceptable to the tribal populations and champions of their causes- Urbanisation or Resource Withdrawl or Lack of Governance and participation during Resource withdrawl or Ultimately lack of the benefits of their own resources trickling down to them.

Or is it that they despise the state for being a poor service provider for basic services??

Probably the reason might be more tilted towards deep-rooted fears about insecurity of their ecological systems rather than the economic exploitation. Probably somebody from the IRMA teams should try and independant EIAs to compare these.

What about the Loan Part?

In fact for the sake of brevity, I skipped the part on salary bit. Just because one is working in a "different" kind of organisation, one doesn't need to be penalised for that. So if you are working for an NGO or a Cooperative doesn't mean that you have to starve.

Off course since the intended goal here is to transfer as much benefit or funds to the actual needy, the salaries cannot be comparable.

My batchmate in amul chocolate handles the same profile as that somebody would do in cadbury so he may be paid a bit less but not something which is not commensurate with the value that he adds there.

So the value that you add to your job profile should be the determining criteria rather than the kind of organisation.

Making or Exercising a Career Choice!!!

Dear All

I find Sunil's point really interesting and it has prompted the somnolent horses in my brains to wrestle!!

Sentiments apart I have tried to make a case study out of these rural institutions viz

IRMA,TISS, IIFM,XISS as development insitutes in india

IRMA, MANAGE, IIMA, Agri-biz, XIMB etc as agri-business institutes in india

ISS, Hague, IDS sussex etc, various other international development courses elsewhere

(am clubbing IRMA in both brackets to prevent any bickering at this point of the analysis)

Look at their alumnii, the kind of organisation they created or worked with and their mandate.

They were all trying to correct some ERRATA in the prevalent society as some sections, mostly those with information assymetry (agrarian and tribal populations) are getting left out. We end up calling them rural as they are seen as distinct from well informed urbane populations that is more used to the traditional forms of organisations (as mentioned in brackets)

Markets are no final solutions (Companies) - lets think of alternatives like cooperatives, micro-enterprises, etc.

Service Sector like Banking etc are ineffective for the bottom of the pyramid - lets think of alternate delivery mechanism like SHGs, MFIs etc.

The State has miserably failed to reach the marginalised (bureaucracy) - Lets try and correct the capabilities and create models of excellence through small but flexible initiatives through Non-Govt Orgs.

THE PROBLEM NOW - The TRADITIONAL forms of organisation known to the society tend to be structured, hierarchical and tend to pay well and hence are hugely attractive to a middle class person who only had enough money to finish the studies but not enough to start his own business or enterprise.

(seperate delivery mechanism).

THE NEW ENTRANT - is confronted towards choice of an ORGANISATIONAL FORM. I have interacted with hundreds of students from IRMA, IIFM, TISS and other International Development students and even IRMA's recent batches and each time, this was the single biggest confusion that confronts them - What organisational formshould I choose?

IRMA's course content caters to cooperatives, collective action oriented NGOs on one hand and even financial management, agri-business jobs presently but the training segments quickly build up capabilites to work in the alternative organisational forms.

The CAREER OPTIONS available allure him to the traditional forms of organisations which are secure but at the same time do not differentiate from other B-Schools.

So what is the critical determining factor - Your OWN PERSONALITY - Choices to either enter or resist the traditional organisational forms depend upon one's family/financial background, parental pressure, geographical preferences, age, marital status etc etc.

What more can these Institutes do to CHANGE/MODIFY such choice making process -

Help the student identify his or her own interest areas and remove his information assymmetry about the Rural Sector that awaits b clearly identifying options available in terms of organisational forms and clearly spell out sectoral choices available. (like enterprise development, microfinance, NRM etc.) and may be even ways of doing it - through research, implementation, funding, activism, commerical transactions etc. which characterise the alternate organisational forms and which the general public at large is complete unaware of !!!

I hope this case analysis doesn't get a big F from the esteemed Alumniii.

Cheerz

Vivek

PRM 23

Are Tribal Societies Better Off If Left Alone??

I went through the full essay of Arundhati Roy and this refreshed my own memories of the year 2007. Based on my limited stay and dialogues with various people there I would like to share the following with you.

· Most of the allegations of the tribal people being subject to repeated injustices are true but at the same time that is not because of the fault of the state functionaries directly but more of reluctance on part of these very communities to make them accountable. The cure to dysfunctional school or forest department is not to massacre forest officials or teachers or lay mines around the village so that no outsiders can come in. This is like throwing the baby with the bath tub!! This has only resulted in the access to basic services from becoming bad to worse or further still development becoming regressive for them, making them go from abject to absolute poverty.

· Most of the kuccha areas in bastar are laid with mines today meaning that external agencies would think 10 times before entering them. This literally means that one is trying to segregate onself from the outside world. This is one of the few places where there are no train links. On asking many of the villagers say, we don’t want trains as our bastar is so full of minerals. So the popular perception that has got saddled in their psyche is that of only resource export and no import in terms of goods, services or even information. This kind of a self imposed seclusion has only exacerbated the problems of education, learning and progress that human civilizations usually benefit from in terms of exchange.

· If we go by the idea that logic that tribal, non-consumerist way of life doesn’t need to change as per other civilizations but then the livelihoods practiced by them like hunting (Bastar doesn’t have any wild life left now), encroachments on forest lands (most of the naxalite regions are also where most of the reserve forest areas have been chopped off to facilitate rice cultivation cannot be called sustainable either. Naxalites do not want regulation by the state but have they been able to improve or play the role of facilitators themselves for livelihoods? Arundhati roy’s articles has mentions of a feeling of emptiness at least 2-3 places where the alternate government of naxals miserably fails to provide that much needed support that degenerating livelihoods desperately need. Wiping off an existing government or state is very easy as we see in Afghanistan, Iraq etc but creating a stable and responsible agency from scratch is a very tedious task. I am only worried that this violent approach to self-governance is only a hole that these people are digging them in. The only escape route for them is mutual killing. (Tribal killing tribal, tribal killing non-tribal etc etc.)

Finally I would like to make a point that no community can claim to be self-sufficient enough to live in isolation for long and still claim to be a civilization. The only kind of viable choices are in the choice of governance system rather than having or not having a government. A governance system based on complete violence can only spell doom and anarchy and therefore violence and dispensing of justice should be better left to the state or people’s representatives rather than the youth that naxals have tended to leave to. The misguided incident of yesterday only goes to prove that.

CELEBRATING LIFE – THE JURASSIC WAY

It was 12.30 am at night when the evil thought stuck me to take my well-wishers for a ride. Ever since have entered into the world of social networking three years ago, I used to avoid giving unnecessary pains to people and so change my birthdates from 1^st to 12^th and then back to 1^st to avoid double wishes.

But sometimes one needs a bit of fun. The attention seeker in me came to the fore and says lets get a double party for having taken birth in this world. So the prank was designed and in order to hide the reality, the best way was to be not-reachable.

Being Not –Reachable is a pleasure. It makes one realize the pleasure of the deafening silence that nature gives one when one is deafened by too much communication. Mobiles, Internet makes you wired and on your toes, sometimes forgetting to LIVE the moment. Being with Nature also has a benefit. It can make you appreciate LIFE – Plant Life, Animal Life, Rustic Way of Life, The So Called Ignoramus yet Blissful Way of Life!

AP Rings me to hurry up at 9.00 am. When I reach office, people burst into laughter lookin at a combo of bathroom slipper and Field Chappal adorning my two feet. This is what this mobile does to you. Turning one into a witless mind, forgetting to LIVE the moment.

Jhadol 50 km from Udaipur used to be a no-man’s land at one point of time. People old enough to recount silver jubilee stories tell me that in the 80s, the only way to go beyond it was on camel back and it used to take 2 days to cover a journey of 40 km to Som, my field work village.

5 years ago, when I was living here, we were coming to Udaipur on weekends to say hello, mom I am ALIVE !! At 12 PM, I was continuing the prank 50 km from Udaipur on the way through the QWERTY KEYBOARD on the new Samsung Corby pro through the EDGE Technology and through the newly installed broadband at the block office.

Now even this place Som considered to be remote even by today’s standards 90 km away from Udaipur town is abuzz with mobile rings on the hill tops!

The meeting of the Forest Protection Committee/NTFP Cooperative made me realize that the Information Asymmetry has dried up and so has the market for Camel Rides. The leaders are surely capable of taking urbane bumpkins for a Ride.

The 4 Hour Long Meeting ended with decisions regarding distribution of benefits and propositions for taking up extension of the forest protection initiatives through a new proposed Site.

A Bulb lights up – Aha – Chance to Extend the Not-Reachability and Enjoy the Last Rays of Sun over the Hilltop.

Ever Since Morning the Monotonous Bread and Butter Breakfast hardly broke the Boredom of the food. Huge Kachorees taken in the Noon weren’t too heavy to last the Full Force of HUNGRY Discussions centering around Mahua Flowers and their marketing dynamics.

Walking up the Hill, fresh green flowers full of syrup were drying on thatched roofs. Despite admonitions that they might give a slight giddiness, We wanted to not let go of the LIVING JUICES, this tree might as well be called India’s National Flower for the nutrient value that it gives to the tribals.

From Flowers are borne the fruits but Just like Mahua flowers are the best amongst the eatables, Mangos are the best amongst the fruits at this point of the year. Those plucked on the way to the Site were perhaps tastiest for their very nature as Stolen Fruits. (off-course offered as courtesy this time)

The Mango Juices Purchased on the way back could never match the Bitter-sour flavor and fun that these afforded.

Another bout of HUNGER and birthday party followed in Jhadol with Badam Shakes and Hand Shakes with the accompanying friends before the Tiresome day ended.

Happy to Have Lived and Relished Nature, I entered my bathroom to Wash the Tired Feet before I attend to the 20 odd missed calls from the MISSED CALL ALERTS and 30 odd Short Messages. I also had to finally bring the curtain-raiser on the prank !!

I looked up to see a battle torn face but next to the face was a TAIL WAGGING.

In the mirror I saw a tail, turning back I found that It was coming out of the Gyser socket and was waving at me as if from a sinking Ship.

Ere I realize that this was a lizard trying to get into the old wooden switchboard. To my disgust, I tried to shoo it away or out of it. The lizard wont budge from its place. To my horrors it was stuck in the small 2 cm gap between the switch board and the water pipe.

Had it been some other day, I would have left it like it is. I find these lizards slimy and disgusting creatures. My Mom and Sister show all signs of revulsion when they look at this hideous creature. I dislike them for their ugly ways of devouring insects. They also tend to resemble their hideous ancestors of the Jurrasic park.

But this day is meant to celebrate LIFE. I need to get it out. Further I was very much intrigued at how it managed to get struck in there and that too so firmly that no amount of nudging or pushing was able to move it backward or forward. I tried a bathroom cleaner, an old toothbrush to fish it out but the tail kept wagging, the tiny claws kept struggling. The biggest fear was of severing the tail. Most of the lizards tend to let this tail go in an attempt to save their LIVES but that is a very disgusting sight to look at.

So I now brought a pair of Hairclips to fish it out but I only managed to damage its soft skin. I was now only short of pulling it out from my bare hands but the fear of being bitten or of physically damaging the slender creature stopped me from doing that. Its belly was shining red with the effort of pushing itself too far.

But my tiredness after having travelled 200 km in an old marshal with a hag like driver had only vanished at this new obsession.

I now was trying to open the wooden board to allow the lizard to come out. It seemed to have resigned to a starved death. Since I usually do not help myself with repairs, there were no tools available. I tried spoons, knives, scissors for 15 minutes before finally deciding to take the risk and ask the extremely kharoos landlady to lend me a screwdriver.

Finally the board is opened with creaking sounds. To my utter surprise the lizard moves further inside. How ungrateful of it. I sneak a peek at it but find it hiding inside. Now I have to get it out lest it brings short circuit to my gyser with its body. I have heard animal bodies are quite good conductors of electricity.

I open the board and white flaks of wall paint fall down while the LIZARD runs for its life.

But are these paint chips and flaks??

These are actually eggs of the lizard and had dried up long while ago I realize the whole story – This mother lizard was actually trying to reach its eggs and since it had overgrown, was no longer able to reach them. Its intention were not to get out but to get in. The switchboard was full of a dozen such eggs, some broken and some yet to be attended to. In a last desperate attempt it had struck itself and was trying to reach to the YET TO BE STARTED NEW LIVES. SOME LIVES HAD NOT TAKEN BIRTH !! SOME WERE ABOUT TO!!

Haunting Memories of the story of the leopard from SELU’s Pastureland came to me. 2 villagers had complained of being attacked by a leopard. 9 villagers had united to go and look at the cave and teach the leopard a lesson. While they approached the cave, the leopard took a U-turn and attacked them from behind. Not one but everyone was single-handedly taught a lesson with injuries to face, ears, limbs etc. Later forest department staff discovered 3 cubs inside the cave !! The female Leopard had exposed itself to dangers in order to safeguard them…..

This Lizard too was following the feline example!! I realized, every bit of life form has its own intrinsic value for, it has its own “deep ecology”, it needs to be conserved and celebrated!!

I HAD A SOUND SLEEP, I HAD CELEBRATED LIFE TODAY!!