Oxymoron

There is a ‘concept’ discussed like anything nowadays… Sustainable Development! I am not calling it a theory, not even a hypothesis but a ‘concept’ for a reason and I have all the evidence to prove it, believe me! First of all the idea of Sustainability needs to be defined, discussed and understood before bragging anything in its name. ‘Development’ is such an intrinsically complex concept that there could be as many definitions and perceptions of it as the population on the planet; each one sees it in his/her context. Above all, no politician on face of earth could exist who doesn’t claim to bring the development. The safest, surest, tried and tested bait for winning vote-banks has been ‘promising development’ since the dawn of politics. Even the ‘nobles’ in the era of feudalism provided development in form of protection and the use of land to the peasants for offering him/her homage, labor and a share of their produce.

While development has many faces and obvious repercussions in one form or other, it is imperative to understand that it is impossible for any development to take place without any exploitation of some resource, natural, human or man-made, to some extent for, energy is the basic necessity of any development and no energy could be ‘green energy’ in its truest sense unless it is propagated so for political intentions or the ‘green’ is referred to the color of the currency. There is no point in cutting down a tree that is providing shelter to its nurturer; making a cabin out of that tree-wood and offer it to the person who was enjoying the foliage of the tree, for a price that he is neither supposed to pay nor could afford. If this is termed as development, I will reiterate what I have said time and again – there are 2 basic questions that need to be answered first – ‘Is it worth it?’ and ‘At the cost of what?’

Coming back to the sustainability, a wrong notion has been preached for years together that it is about maintaining the sustainability of the planet while going on with the development as envisioned by the ‘nobles’ to ‘world leaders’ to ‘big brothers’ [not to mention their driving force – the buck brother]. First of all, it is not about the sustainability of the planet but the human species. Planet is good old and almighty to take care of itself, it’s the human species that is on the verge of extinction – either by natural phenomenon like running out of all the life-essential natural resources or by man-made mass-destruction to gain the control of whatever is left and sustain a little longer than others.

So it would be better for the all-evolved super species standing tall on the top of the food-chain to learn the facts, do the math and start respecting the nature that is omnipresent, incorruptible and follows the circular principle of GOD – Generate, Organize and Destroy and NOT the linear path of GDP that is always depicted as a pointed arrow traveling upwards by defying even the fundamental law of gravity! No matter how creative, innovative and intelligent human brain could be, it would never evolve to a point where it could architect the planet as per its needs, particularly with the finite resources required to cater to the infinite wants of human mind.

In simple words, Sustainable Development is as childish as wanting to have your cake and eat it too. Just like digging a well to reach the mountain top. Not Possible! So what is the solution? Should we stop all the development projects and get back to the hunters and gatherers phase from where it all started? What difference would be there in Humans and other species if we could not put all our abilities of sensing, thinking, reasoning and inventing? Won’t it be the stupidest thing to abandon all the scientific inventions, technological advancements and digital transformations that have made the human life simpler, safer, enriched and enjoyable? [Have they?] Well, at the moment I do not have any ‘Manual of Eco-friendly Living’ or ‘Chronicles of Eco-man’ for reference but I am planning to write one and you can look forward to it. Meanwhile, how about going through ‘Wrong Theory’ by Girish Abhyankar, the man who had made it little easier for all those who think alike.

Way to go…

Eureka...!

‘If you steal from one author its plagiarism; if you steal from many its research.’ said Wilson Mizner, reportedly…! Even if Researcher’s could leave the humor in this (over?) statement out of the context (a tough job, though!) for a while, it definitely sets a tone for a discussion that could take the very concept of ‘Research’ to another level, I believe. If any enthusiast decides to take up a research on the process of Research itself, he or she would encounter many established terminologies in the Research glossary right from ‘Baseline’ to ‘White paper’ that will try to teach the curious mind something called ‘Research Methodology’, another thing that scares the infants apart from Mathematics, I guess!

Well, if I have just made a bold, nonconformist statement and opened a debate that could get real noisy, believe me, I did it on intention… no regrets! Now, why I say this and do I need to criticize the method and process of ‘Research’ set by our intelligent ancestors (Read: Scholars), could be another topic of discussion, I would just use the principle of relativity and apply it to the premise of this discussion to keep it concise, short and, most importantly, on track! After all, ‘Space and Time both are relative’ determined The Great Einstein, didn’t he? This same Legendary Einstein also said that, ‘I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.’, if I remember it right.

There is ever-evolving data omnipresent in the universe that could be sensed by the conscious mind. If extracted and analyzed with some preset patterns and processed for usability, it becomes the Information. [Fuzzy logic – This process of transforming data into information has gained tremendous popularity in recent years and collectively termed as ‘Computing’ that became the largest industry of the millennium while leading to ‘Big Data’ and ‘IoT’, the new-age giants; whether they are the blessings or boons, is beyond the perception of the human intellect at this point, however!] When the information is further analyzed, scrutinized, distinguished and authorized for archival in a structured way for future use with a vision, it becomes the knowledge. This process of collecting data, extract information from it and develop new knowledge is generally termed as ‘study’ and it becomes ‘research’ only when it is done with a specific ‘objective’ that is supposed to offer a ‘solution’ to some ‘situation’.

Discovery is something that happens to the researcher while he or she is at the Research trying to figure out what is the scenario and what could be the probable solution. In that sense, ‘Discovery’ is more natural and close to the inherent process of learning in which the human brain is conditioned naturally while ‘Research’ is more deliberate and imposed. This doesn’t make the research any inferior or the discovery superior as both of them are ‘applied’ in one way or other and not ‘inspired’ as I expect the process of search within. The pure knowledge could be developed only with unattached experimental exploration and not with the calculative scientific readings alone. It should not be a surprise then that the major knowledge gained by the humanity, which could be termed as collective wisdom, is more of cultural and philosophical nature than scientific and rational type.

Wait a minute… where is this leading? Ah, to the conclusion that I am eager to draw from the theory I have developed on purpose to support my discovery! Let me take you back to our beloved Einstein and his expression about talent. If we try to simplify (not ‘amplify’; let us leave it to the politicians as they would be jobless without it!) his expression, it simply means that to access new type of data, convert it into useful information and develop a knowledge-base out of it basically requires curiosity… plain, simple, innocent and passionate curiosity without any attachment or even any objective – just for the joy of exploring something, by keeping an account of what you encounter en route.

Not until the humans understand it better that no Research or Discovery is good enough that is initiated without pure curiosity, the Grey Matter will hardly influence the White Paper that is the ultimate outcome of any Research for that matter…! When subject becomes the experience and methodology is replaced by realization, there, in that eureka moments, miracles happens and epiphanies are witnessed. 

Way to go…!

Intolerant…?

When she was born, they celebrated her birth claiming to be the avant-garde making no difference in a boy and a girl, ‘both deserve same love, respect and merry childhood’; they said… she said nothing!

She was sent to the English school with boys so that she should not feel inferior or left behind in the rush of development riding on the New Age Learning to make most of her potential… she said nothing!

She was expected to learn from her mother all the daily chores as ultimately she has to start, develop and manage a family by showing all the culture and ritual as it might come… she said nothing!

Once she passed all school exams with flying colors won almost all competitions she participated in, it was decided to send her for higher education to make her an Independent Woman… she said nothing!

She finished her higher education and returned with all her Masters and Post graduate degrees, it was decided for her to take a lucrative job because entrepreneurship is not for women… she said nothing!

While she was adjusting to the fat-pay job with lots of responsibilities, commitments and even a few compromises, they thought it was high time that she should get married… she said nothing!

The most eligible bachelor matching her profile and social status was hunted down as she deserved nothing but the best and the knot was tied by balancing both the sides… she said nothing!

It was hardly few months she was trying to set into the new atmosphere and understand the dynamics of new relations expecting a lot from her, she was persuaded to start a family… she said nothing!

Not ready to compromise his career in lieu of parenthood, he said that it would be entirely her responsibility to bear a child, preferably male, and raise it without bothering him… she said nothing!

It was not convenient for his parents to take care of her in those days of pregnancy as they were inexperienced; she was taken to her mother’s house for better nutrition… she said nothing!

She gave birth to a beautiful fairy and felt completely content for the very first time in her life and when she heard the murmur ‘It’s OK! Even a girl is acceptable as First Child…’ she said ‘ENOUGH!’

And they, all of them, in a chorus, at the pitch of their voices whispered… ‘Intolerant!’

https://medium.com/future-crunch/11-reasons-why-2015-was-a-great-year-for-humanity-70db584db748#.gk5tu3ufj

Who is SHE?

Your Sister, My Daughter, Our Mother India or… 

Humanity…!?!

Hanumanthappa...!

On Saturday, Apr 9, 2011 I sent following mail to about 1000 readers under my 'Daily-Mail' by 'Amook Bhartiya' experiment that I ran successfully for about 4 years. Today, after almost 5 years, I thought of sharing it here on my blog with reference to the disquieting incidence that involved Hanumanthappa...!

Dear All,

Good Morning!

We are witnessing a great deal of movement about Anna Hazare’s fast-unto-death and groups and mobs of overnight-patriotic people coming forth to support him. No, I am not being sarcastic or ironic here; I was just wondering do we need more Annas or more Hanumanthappas. Oh, you must not know about Hanumanthappa, do you? Well, I am sure all of you must know Sudha Murthy, at least? Read on…

One bright June morning three years ago, I was reading my Kannada newspaper as usual. It was the day the SSLC results had been published. While columns of roll numbers filled the inside pages, the list of rank holders with their photographs took up almost the entire front page.

Of all the photographs in that morning's newspaper, one boy's photo caught my attention. I could not take my eyes off him. He was frail and pale, but there was an endearing sparkle in his eyes. I wanted to know more about him. I read that his name was Hanumanthappa and that he had secured the 8th rank. That was all the information I could gather. With growing interest I learned that he was a coolie's son. He was unable to study further, he said in the interview, because he lived in a village and his father earned only Rs 40 a day.

Hanumanthappa's postal address was provided in the interview. Without wasting much time, I took a postcard and wrote a letter to him. "We are happy about your academic performance. Do you want to study further? We would like to sponsor you. This means we will pay your fees for any course of study you wish to take up - wherever it may be."

Two days later, he wrote to us in his beautiful handwriting that he would require approximately Rs 300 per month. He had planned to take a room on rent and share it with his friend. The two boys planned to cook for themselves in order to keep their expenses down. I sent him Rs. 1,800 to cover his expenses for six months. He acknowledged my draft without any delay and expressed his gratitude.

Time passed. One day, I suddenly remembered that I had to pay Hanumanthappa for the next six months. I sent him another draft for Rs 1,800. This too was duly acknowledged but I was surprised to find some currency notes in the envelope along with his letter.

"Madam," he had written, "It is kind of you to have sent me money for the next six months. But I was not in Bellary for the last two months. One month, our college had holidays and during the next month, there was a strike. So I stayed at home for those two months. My expenditure during these months was less than Rs 300 per month. Therefore, I am sending you the Rs 300 that I have not used for the last two months. Kindly accept this amount."

Unbelievable but true! Experience has taught me that honesty is not the mark of any particular class nor is it related to education or wealth. It cannot be taught at any university. In most people, it springs naturally from the heart. 

Sudha Murthy

WISE AND OTHERWISE

A Salute to Life

Well, Sudhaji's remark says it all and I am thankful to Sudhaji for introducing us to Hanumanthappa and I feel grateful to Arnab for showing the unpatriotic's their place and proclaiming it on National Television of the largest democracy of the world that 'We are proud of Hanumanthappa and we are ashamed of you...!' Disgracing such parasites might just do the trick that hatred or confrontation cannot, I believe!

A Salute to Life, indeed... Way to go!

PMS...!

A week ago, on last Friday, I expressed a concern on Pune city LocalCircle about the SPV to be set up for implementation of Smart City Project and warned the Punekars that it would be us who will eventually pay the price of it and yesterday’s Pune newspapers proclaimed there would be a hike of 12% in Water Tax under the ‘ambitious round-the-clock water supply’ project! This revolutionary ‘joint’ decision was taken after ‘brainstorming’ the options of hiking water tax by 50% for the non-metered users and by 25% for metered users. Now, I am neither a water expert nor a technocrat to decide who should use how much water, who would provide it and what the provider should charge for the ‘service’ offered? However my common sense suggests that whatever needs to be ‘charged’ should be ‘measured’ as it would give a realistic account of how much we have, how to consume it and why it should be charged? If this was not the case, hotels wouldn’t have menu cards, petrol pumps wouldn’t have meters or any consumable wouldn’t have price tags ever, isn’t it?

In the present scenario while humans are already using 1.3 earth and all its natural resources are being consumed exorbitantly making them scarce one by one, I am no fool to say that water should be provided to a soon-to-be-smart city for free but would it be illogical or unreasonable to expect to be charged for what you consume and not what your postal address reads? Why can’t we have metered water connections just like electricity, CNG, telephone, internet, TV cable etc.? Won’t it be rational to let the consumer decide what, why and how it consumes any utility as long as it is made to pay for the consumption? If a wealthy person decides to take shower 3 times a day, wash all his/her cars daily, water his/her garden profusely and also give bath to all his pets and no ethical, moral or ecological counseling could convince him/her to rethink the routine, why not make him/her pay for it, at least? Even the wealthiest of a person would be forced to rethink any of his/her indulgence once a rupee-measurable cost of the luxury is arrived in form of a monthly bill! The revenue generated from such billing could be used to subsidize the taxes for those who really and genuinely cannot afford to pay them but would need the basic facilities like water, all the same.

But being the SMART administrators that we are, we have come up with a new revenue generation model which is nothing but old wine in, not even new but, rebottled bottle – compulsion of wearing helmets which is monetarily punishable otherwise. To support this re-charged decision some statistics is being presented about the deaths of helmet-less riders in road accidents. Those facts and figures might be right but at the same time it would have been logical to present the figures of deaths of all other victims of road accidents including pedestrians and law-abiding citizens just because of sheer indiscipline of the vehicle drivers including but not limited to two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers and buses. If the traffic controllers believe that making the two-wheeler drivers wear helmet would bring in the discipline in the entire city traffic, they are either day-dreaming or are being threatened by some nightmare. In the core city area where it is extremely difficult even to walk or cross the roads at times, what good a helmet could do to the rider who is busy in shifting gears and maintaining balance except tucking his/her mobile under the helmet and have a ‘safe’ mobile talk while driving?

Moreover, if the people elected representatives are really and sincerely concerned about the health and safety of its people, why don’t they think of some measures like TDS – tax deduction at sources? Why the manufactures are not instructed to include helmet in the list of ‘compulsory accessory’ (another oxymoron!)? Why two-wheeler dealers are not compelled to provide a helmet with every purchased vehicle? Why RTO cannot make it mandatory to produce the proof of having a helmet at the time of registration of the vehicle or validating the driving license? Why it always comes down to street level as disciplinary action and never conceptualized at policy level as social behavior development? There is no ban on making Gutkha but you cannot sell it… where would we take the civilization with such hypocrisy bundled in politically (ill)motivated intentions?

Even an illiterate, uneducated and lifetime villager, farmer has the least conventional wisdom of checking the roots and nourishment of a plant that bears a rotten fruit. He never blames it on the fruit or curses the surrounding branches and leaves of the plant for having produced a rotten fruit. He immediately reaches the roots to check the infection and apply pesticides to kill the germs and bugs that are bugging the healthy growth of the plant. Unless and until we check the sources and deploy PMS (Preventive Measures at the Sources) there would be no use of any ‘development’, including river-front, for a larger good in long run.

Although this hypothesis is universal and applicable to any human civilization in any niche of the only livable planet; being a Punekar I have taken the references from the recent developments in the over-smart city and would love to hear Punekars reacting on it as well. Meanwhile, there is an idea being discussed around at my place to buy a Helmet as Birthday gift for my daughter, how about that…?

Stay tuned, Be Aware and Take Care! (Protected) Way to go…

SPV...!

A lower middle-class family struggling to make both ends meet has only hope of their descendants receiving good education, securing a decent job/profession and doing well, eventually. All the compromises the family makes, the loans it borrows from time to time and bargaining it is forced to do at every single transaction while living frugally is in anticipation of the fruits it will bear when the next generation will settle and rise to a higher step in the social status – middle class, to the least, if not higher middle class! Imagine what happens to the parents who struggled all the way to make their children well-to-do and those same children suffocating their parents as they grow old. Would there be any limit to the pain, grief and agony the poor souls would be put through? No tragedy known to man can match this sorrow. However, if we follow the filmy plots, there always would be somebody who (not from the close family, preferably) would enter the scene and prove its loyalty by taking care of the distressed ones.

Now consider human species around 500 to 250 years ago. In the wake of early industrialization and new trades and markets emerging all around, particularly in Europe, put the Growth and Development of Man on fast track. Discovery of new energy sources fuelled the engine of development and offered it enormous power to conceive, create and consume. It was quite obvious that new revolutionary products were required to satisfy the almost insatiable needs of all-consuming modern machine-age man. Of all the innovative products of modern age, the one that tops the list is Rubber in any form including Plastic. Man discovered rubber, employed all extreme measures to extract, process and market rubber for it was the most flexible and supposedly immortal material known to man with high level of plasticity that allowed it to be molded in any shape and form as required. Rubber was the first child of this modern man that went on to produce tyres (wheels) and containers of all sizes and shapes!

A glance through statistics about Plastic Consumption reveals the dreadful facts as –

• Up to 20 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans each year. Plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, but never goes away. Seals, dolphins, turtles and orca eat plastic – mistaking it for real food. Toxins stick to plastics; plastics are eaten by fish and then enter the food chain. These toxins, like PCBs, have been linked to reproductive failure in polar bears.
• Plastic is durable and lightweight, but it's these properties that allow it to persist in the environment for hundreds to thousands of years. Plastics are among the most persistent synthetic materials in existence and are now a significant and extensive marine pollutant. 

Source: http://www.mcsuk.org/plasticchallenge/

These are the ‘earnings’ of the First Good Son of the Modern Man!

The second kid born to the modern man was Concrete, another revolutionary discovery that changed the course of infrastructure development history. Again, its adaptability found place in modern man’s heart as now his imagination had no boundaries and its property of ‘being rock-hard once settled’ fascinated the man as strong permanence always had been one of the major basic instinct of man right from Stone Age! With the ability to take any form and presumed endurance against all forces, concrete made it to be the first choice of man for any and every construction, including roads – the means of transportation. The complete concretization of every possible square inch of surface of earth is affecting the seepage of water that maintains/increases ground water level, not just adversely but dangerously. On the other hand, concreting requires enormous quantity of water – the basic essential natural resource required for any ecosystem to breathe – that is being scarce already and could not be produced.

Secondly, of the various ingredients used to produce a given quantity of concrete, the cement is the most energetically expensive. Even complex and efficient kilns require 3.3 to 3.6 gigajoules of energy to produce a ton of clinker and then grind it into cement. Many kilns can be fueled with difficult-to-dispose-of wastes; the most common being used tires. The extremely high temperatures and long periods of time at those temperatures allow cement kilns to burn even difficult-to-use fuels completely. Another essential ingredient of concrete is aggregate (sand-and-gravel) obtained by river mining. Excessive in-stream sand-and-gravel mining causes the degradation of rivers by lowering stream bottom, which may lead to bank erosion. In spite of these scientific statistics, there is a hustle of making concrete roads without any impact assessment, all around right from a small village to a metro. Even the rivers are ‘developed’ by massively concreting their banks and bridges and culverts.

Such are the ‘by-products’ of the Best Son of the Man!

It's high time the world learns Triple R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) instead of Tripe C (Conceive, Create, Consume). If all these facts and figures are swept under the carpet of ‘Political Will’ and developing ‘Smart Cities’, it’s high time the Republic of the Nation should wake up to its rights and responsibilities and question the intent and content of all such proposals. The first basic question could be ‘Why do we need Concrete Roads that are enemy of water and even proved to be perilous to the tyres of the vehicles, when we can have tar roads of good quality with long life and which can even use-up some plastic in the making?’   

One of the invaluably fundamental guiding principle on which I am trying to build edifice of my life has been ‘Find the Purpose, Means will follow…!’ It simply means that, as for me, Purpose is paramount and not the means. Unless and until every Public Proposal or Undertaking doesn’t find an extremely selfless, absolutely profound and impartially humane Purpose, the 'means' would be converted to 'margins' and wasted, no matter ‘for what’, ‘by whom’ or ‘how much’…? ‘The end justifies the means’ idiom doesn’t make sense for a project of larger good and without any Socially and broadly Acceptable Purpose, not the ‘Special Purpose’, it should not even be considered! However, the only way to make it happen is by PPP – Prolific Public Participation combined with SPV – Smart People’s Vision! And it only could be that loyal 'unattached' hero that becomes the solace in the films!

Philosophically, these 2 modern age inventions being extremely dear to the human species is quite obvious for their 'convenience' - an intrinsic trait found in 'civilized' man. Human today is flexible and ready to mould in any shape, size and form faster than plastic for instant gratification and personal advantage. The same human adopts the characteristics of Concrete - adaptive in formation state and rigid once shaped - when it comes to his sacred beliefs, particularly religious!

Stay tuned, take care and Be Aware! (SMART) Way to go…

Republic Day!

I had this opportunity to attend the Republic Day Function and hoist the flag at Podar International School, Kalyan (Mumbai) on behalf of Milind Kshirsagar - the founder of Shivaji Trail, Pune. It was an exciting, enriching, enlightening and exhilarating experience all at the same time! The efforts of both, students and their teachers, went into the preparation of all the performances like dances, songs, speeches, skit and gymnastic not only overwhelmed me with their commitment but also made me little worried for the professional approach of making it a flawlessly successful event! All such events of National Importance could do with little less conditioning and a lot more empathizing, I thought!

Anyway, overall it was a great show and I was little concerned whether my Republic Day speech as the Chief Guest would be received well or would it spoil the tempo developed by the enthusiastic young performers? But it was great to learn that all the students loved what I shared and the teachers, staff and guest thought it was a good patriotic speech. The Principal Ma'am went on to praise it as very inspirational and relevant speech and she would like to include it in school's newsletter. Many others were also seemed interested in my speech and hence I thought of publishing it as it is, here...

Respected Principal Ma’am and all the teachers devoted to nation building, esteemed attendees and guests of the event and my dear students – future of my Incredible India, Good Morning!

At the outset, I would like to thank Priya Ma’am for inviting me for this function and providing an opportunity to interact with leaders of tomorrow on the most auspicious day any democratic country would cherish and celebrate – Republic Day of Nation! And why do we need to celebrate it? It’s not just because we celebrate our birthdays but we should celebrate the events of national importance to learn to respect our past. In Winston Churchill’s words – “A nation that forgets its past has no future!”

On 26 January, India was declared Purna Swaraj by the Indian National Congress in 1930 that’s why 26 January was chosen to bring Indian Constitution into force. After 20 years, in 1950 on the same day, the Constitution of India came into force. After its enforcement the Union of India officially became contemporary Republic of India and replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as fundamental governing document. Republic means the supreme power of the people living in the country and only public has rights to elect their representatives as political leader to lead the country in right direction.

So, India is a Republic country where public elects its leaders as a President, Prime Minister and other constitutional positions. In the conclusion of his Making of India's Constitution, Justice Khanna writes - "If the Indian constitution is our heritage bequeathed to us by our founding fathers, no less are we, the people of India, the trustees and custodians of the values which pulsate within its provisions! A constitution is not a parchment of paper; it is a way of life and has to be lived up to. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and in the final analysis; its only keepers are the people."

It’s been 66 years we are celebrating this Republic Day! By now we must be very well acquainted with the basic objectives of the constitution which are Rights and Responsibilities. With the outburst of media and rocketing speed of communication made us well aware of our rights but what about the responsibilities? Are we doing justice to this other side of the coin?

There is a lot of discussion and debate going on about a Smart City all around as there would be 100 Smart cities to be developed in India. All of you must have heard about it and some of you might have prepared projects on this concept as well, if I can guess it right. But what is a Smart City or for a moment let’s forget about the City, what is being Smart? Because it is not just the infrastructure or high-tech facilities and gadgets that make any place smart, it’s the people making, using and controlling those smart tools that make it smart. Obviously the user must be smarter than the tool. Just having a Smart Phone doesn’t make you smart, you should be smarter to use it to its potential, isn’t it?

So what is being Smart? Is it about looks? Well, may be a little bit as your appearance is the first impression and you never get a second chance to make a first impression! So let us say we would give 10% to the way you dress, look, walk and talk, what about the other 90%? There are 3 attributes each having a 30% contribution in making any person smart and those are – Asking Questions, Taking Actions and Assuming the Responsibility of the result!

Asking questions is important for you won’t reach anywhere if you don’t enquire about the path. The greatest legendary scientist of all times Albert Einstein used to say – “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious…!”

Secondly, there is no point in knowing everything but not acting or reacting on anything. The library, and nowadays ‘Google’, has all the knowledge and information in the world but it cannot do anything about it, can it? So the other 30% of acting on what you believe is equally important.

And last but not the least is Assuming Responsibility of the result of your action. If you fail in any exam/contest, it is not because the question paper or the competition was tough but it was because you have not prepared good enough.

Since I only have encouraged you just now to ask questions, you might ask ‘Isn’t it too early for us to think of Responsibilities put on us by the constitution?’ To which I have only one thing to say – patriotism has no constraint of gender, cast, religion or age! A newborn doesn’t take years, months or days to recognize and love its mother. Similarly there is no criteria for start loving your motherland and act accordingly. About 370 years ago in 1645, there was a boy of 16 years of age who took oath of Swaraj by cutting his finger and dropping the blood on the Shivling of the Raireshwar Temple. This gallant boy who went on to become the Great Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj haunting the Moguls in their nightmares and chasing them out of his motherland, had absolutely nothing to fight with the mammoth army of Moguls except his undefeated fortitude and his soldiers (मावळे) having unwavering faith in him.

The only other strength he had to counter the atrocious army of moguls was his FORTS! Shivaji discovered, built and nurtured over 350 forts of various types and a variety of strengths in his small life span of just 53 years. These forts were so dear to him that he regarded them as his children and had all the possible measures in place for excellent upkeep of them. All these forts were central to his empire and their remains are among the foremost sources of information about his rule. He not only relied on the Forts for the protection of Maratha Empire but designed, developed and nurtured them as the mainstay of his rejim to lead a secured life. Foreign Historians like Grant Duff and Douglas have studied, appreciated and regarded forts of Maharashtra as ‘not less than an invention that was the most classic example of an organized effort’. The French missionary Father Fryer witnessed the fortifications of GINGEE, Madras, built by Shivaji after its conquest, and appreciated Shivaji’s technical know-how and knowledge. However glorious and enchanting this history of 400 years stands, the present status of these forts is pathetic and deteriorating so fast that we have a reasonable fear that once the Wealth of the State and Jewels in the Crown of our state, these forts would remain for namesake with the abandoned relics.

To improve the situation and introduce some conservation measures, Milind Kshirsagar, a sports teacher at Loyola School, Pune started ‘Shivaji Trail’ with a mission of ‘Save Forts Save Heritage!’ The first precondition of any Fort Restoration effort is to know the fort thoroughly and this would be possible only when we visit the fort and document it in first place. We at Shivaji Trail are committed to both these activities for about 19 years now and in 16 Trails, we have taken about 1,000 students from different schools of Pune to 157 Different Forts of Maharashtra. We look forward to many more schools of Maharashtra to join us in this expedition of visiting, understanding and preserving our forts, that is our culture and our heritage! 

With an open appeal to all of you to join this initiative that provides opportunity to develop your physical, mental and spiritual strengths and make you a patriotic responsible citizen as expected by the Constitution of India, I look forward to meet you on one of the forts that we are having Durg Pooja on soon. I wish you all the best for leading a responsible life and hope you will live up to the expectations of Constitution that we have conferred upon ourselves on 26th January 1950.

Be Aware, Take Care and Way to go… Jai Hind!