28th August 2010
My Life was going on as usual, waking up at 9 or 10 am everyday, going to office till the day I went for the Ecology Club Induction meet in Powai , Mumbai .I always wanted to do something related to protect our environment /Mother Earth but didn’t get a good opportunity or you can say a good platform to do it. When I reached there I felt that the ecology club members have some agendas on their mind eg. to get new recruits for helping their cause and spreading more awareness about the work they do and their future plans. The meet took place at a very nice office of ours ,some wont call it that nice if they are working there but if you work in EP or client side location , then it’s a different story altogether .
As I thought relatively small number of people came for the meet, which according to my friends is a waste of time, around 15 people came to the event .When I entered the room I saw some people discussing about how they can help in protecting their environment . but to me the discussion looked more like a G.D round for some job . The lead of the discussion , a very calm guy ,was able to maintain the rhythm of the discussion and managed to take it to some constructive ending.
As planned , after some days we all got the communication for a walk in Sanjay Gandhi National Park but the only problem with the meet is to wake up at 5.30 am in the morning to reach the park on time for the nature trail (called as Silondha Trail ) which will take us to the core areas of the National Park and this park is situated right inside the Mumbai . I think this park is one of its kind in the World which spreads over 103 sq. km
And in addition to large flora and fauna , it has a more variety of butterfly species(164) than found in whole United Kingdom(64).
On Saturday morning I got 2 calls one from my friend and other from my mother , both of them called this lazy lad to wake him up on time but even then he continues to be in his dreams . I think this is not because I want to sleep but my mind has taken over my counsiousness and he wants me to sleep but still I managed to wake up at last minute and reached the SGNP on time ,a feat in itself .
Even at 6.45 in the morning the buses are already filled up , people are dressed in their office attires , children are going to school , people waiting for their AC Volvo buses for Pune .Even if you go to any station say Dadar/Thane at 00.30 AM , even at that time you can see people are waiting for their trains and they have to miss some to hop on one of them as most of them are already filled up. These things make Mumbai , a city that never sleeps.
And that is what I like most about this city .If you roam in Delhi at this time you will definitely get robbed by some goon / charsi .
Back to Mumbai ,to my surprise everyone was late for the event except the Host who came on time with some printed papers and food for all of us, a nice gesture indeed.
Then we met a normal looking guy , I should rather say a man , aged around 30-35 according to his 10 years of experience with BNHS , PMO office posting and also has experience on Lakshadeep coral reefs. He briefed us about the trail , issues that are destroying our natural environment and the Indian laws regarding the same. He said Indian Environment laws are best in the world but the only problem is in their implementation which our so called politicians wont do it perfectly because of their vested interests .
The Silondha trail started with 13 people armed with their mobile phones or digital cameras and some have SLRs also. I regret not bringing my digital camera .Near the starting gate we saw a butterfly moth, heard Ko-ko sound of a Sun bird .
As we progressed further into the jungle we saw fresh water crabs , Spiders (2 types ) with their big cob webs and each string of it is stronger than that of steel and it is scientifically proved also and now engineers are trying to copy this to make more strong Bullet proof jackets for our soldiers.
I hoped to see some snakes esp one named Rattle snake or big tarantula but managed to see a trap door spider . I loved the creation of Trap door Spider and how he protects itself from predators and his hunting mechanism by bringing them inside the tunnel he had made in the ground and this tunnel has a cap on it like the one’s present on new ketchup bottles.
Then I saw the most amazing thing , the BANDHS we had made 2 years back ,are still retaining the water and doing great with their full strength.
For those who don’t know what is bandh and why we make it ,let me explain the concept a little bit . A bandh is made by the rocks available in the jungle ,its more like a small dam . We place big rocks at the bottom to make a good base and small ones on the top because at the top water pressure is low as compared to the bottom. They are made so that in rains all water doesn't get washed away into the drains without replenishing the ground water table.
This was followed by a lot of general discussion like how plants and humans plasma are same and how their internal process work. Nature has a good mechanism of using all his resources without wasting a single thing available to her .Even dead trees are removed by a particular kind of mushroom which breaks his hard wood.
There are some good questions asked by our guide / friend .I want all of you to find the answers without googling . Some of them are :-
Q. How trees pump water to the leaves present at their top without using any motor or pumping system running on electricity ?
Q. the rains usually last for 4 months but the water streams formed but it flow for around 10 months ?
Then he asked all of us a BIG QUESTION.
Question :- How many of you think that you came here to save EARTH ?
All of us said we all came here for this purpose , otherwise who will wake up from his slumber for a picnic but he proved all of us wrong by saying we are not saving EARTH but we are saving ourselves from an early disaster.
By producing these hot gases ,polluting the environment we are just decreasing the gap btw the HOT and Cold period. Earth can save itself but she cant save us from our destruction.
After a Jacuzzi style bath in a water stream we all went back with many questions in our minds and with a new zeal to work for the betterment of our environment.
