Ghanan Ghanan - Dance Performance

Sipna - A man made Jungle

Acknowledgement:

I wish to express a sincere thanks to Mr.s Nayana Nargolkar for allowing  us to pay a visit to Sipna farm. I am thankful to all the teachers who introduced and accompanied us to the place. Last but not the least, I am also grateful to all the sites on Internet for being an excellent source of information to enrich my knowledge on Sipna farm.

A trip to Sipna farm was organized by SNDT college of Home Scince, Pune on Tuesday, 11^th September 2018. All the girls of FYBHSc paid a visit to this farm. We all were accompanied by our Principal, Dr. Manik Dixit, Vice principal, Dr. Aparna Macche, our N.S.S  P.O, Dr. Smita Zambre, Mrs. Lalieeta Bbhagat, our Environment science teacher Mrs. Ketki  Danke and few of the other teachers.

 We all gathered at the back gate of our college at sharp 8 o’ clock. The girls according to their batches were distributed into four buses and started from our college to Sipna farm.

 We passed by Khadakwasla dam in between. There was a small board with the name Sipna written on it just a little further from there. We entered the gate and near it was a brick-red house which doubled up as Mr. Pramod Nargolkar’s home.

Mr. Pramod Nargolkar's home

Our first educational trip to Sipna

Our new friend!

22km away from Pune, there is a 21 acre man-made jungle by the name Sipna. Named after the river ‘Sipna’ in Melghat, this private sanctuary is nested in Gorhe khurd and boasts of 200 species of insects, 26 butterflies, 14 snakes, 10 animals, 98 birds and over 22,000 trees which are collected from all over the country.

Water holes for the birds and animals

Started in the early 90’s, Mr. Pramod Nargolkar who was an ardent nature lover built the entire jungle from the scratch. Nobody can buy a forest. Hence, Mr. Nargolkar did the next thing- he created one! He took special care to only choose only those saplings that suited the unique climate and soil conditions of Pune.  For Pramod Nargolkar, this was the only half his dream. He wanted to add another 25 acres to this painstakingly created forest.

Mrs. Nayana Nargolkar recounted that there were two places that were really close to Mr. Pramod’s heart- Melghat Tiger Reserve and The Andaman and Nicobar island and his love with the Nicobar island turned out to be unfortunate. Mrs. Nayana Nargolkar recalled that fateful day in 2004 when he had gone to the Nicobar island with five of his friends. She reminisces, ‘ Pramod had taken special permission to stay on turtle island. Though a rest house at a height of 80 feet on a rocky cliff was reserved for them, they decided to stay in tent on the beach. In the dreaded tsunami that struck, they all disappeared, except the guide who was found after 12 days.” Pramod was never found, all his dreams shattered.  It was then up to Nayana to take his dream further and continue to look after his forest.

 The unwritten rule at Sipna is not to take anything away from here; be it a flower or a fruit. They are all for the denizens of this sanctuary who are growing in numbers by the day. Whatever remained unconsumed by the fauna would fall down and form the manure for the trees. According to the caretaker, Mrs. Nargolkar would instruct would instruct him to never harm any living being on the site. In fact, even snakes that were caught in the nearby villages were always released inside. This really fascinated us all.

Call in before you make the trip and you will get a guided tour of the forest in which you will learn about the rare species of the trees in the forest, bird watching and get some knowledge about harvesting, composting and nature conservation.

It’s ideal for anyone who loves being surrounded by nature. Explore the luscious green forest while you watch the birds and get to learn a whole lot about nature and in case if you fall in love with the place, they are looking for volunteers (botanists, managers, birding, expert, etc) to help them keep the forest as beautiful as it is.

And the jungle trail begins!

We reached the place at about 10am, had our breakfast and had a small jungle trail along with one of the caretaker Anand of the sanctuary.  Although there were more than 150 girls present over there at a time, he gave us a lot of information about various trees and plants around. Some of them were Chandan, Ritha, Bel, Mahua, Saag, Pandhra pangara, Aapta, Bherli madh, Samudrafal, Tamhan, Motha karmal, Kavath, Rudraksh, Bibba, Kadamb, Bakul, Shivan, Bhokar, Arjun and many more.

After returning back, we had our lunch; we played some outdoor games and returned back to the college by 4:30pm.

I must say, Mrs. Nayana taught us how to preserve and be a part of nature. She is a true inspiration for all of us. We are happy to see that there are people who are striving hard for the conservation of the nature and would be happy to contribute in some or the other manner in it.

Our visit to Sipna farm was truly memorable and luckily, I got a chance to visit the place again on 2^nd October, 2018.

This time, I went along with my family who really were interested to see the man-made jungle, Sipna farm. This time, there was no noise and crowd, this time we were all alone, all quiet and calm. During our jungle trail, We got even more information about the trees, we got to see many birds like treepie, minivet, fan tail, white eye, tailor bird, pond heron, pied robin, etc. I think, the birds were probably very afraid of such a large number of ‘college girls’ that they tried not to come in front of us as far as possible! Maybe because of lot of noise…

Difference between Normal chicken and Kadaknath chicken

Organic farming

A bettle deep in the jungles

Mushrooms

An essence of beauty of nature

When we returned back, we were sitting in the place in front of the house when we observed a pair of  Mayna building their nests in a small hole in the bark of the coconut tree.  They were continuously moving here and there searching for the essential thing to build a comfortable nest for them. How beautiful thing it was as we cannot see these things in the cities full of pollution and even though there are any birds, we do not have that much time to simply sit and observe them what they are doing. How busy we are!

We had our lunch and then left for Pune by 2 o’ clock in the afternoon. Sipna farm both the time gave me two different experiences and lessons too. If given an opportunity, we will look forward to visit the place again.

If you are really interested in visiting the place, then you can visit their page on Facebook named ‘Sipna – a manmade jungle’ or you can call on 9370670478 for  more details.

Thank you!

Shuddhi de Buddhi de

 

Golden jubilee program, September 2018. SNDT college of home science, Pune celebrating 50 years of the home science department. Special thanks to my classmate Riya Mehta for the video

Nothing but just a Red Dot

 DISCLAIMER

This blog is all related to women health and hygiene and it specifically highlights the points related to the environmental issues which are caused by sanitary waste. So, it is a kind request to the readers to read the blog only if they are interested in saving the nature or who feel this problem to be serious enough. The topic deals with the reality and hence if anybody’s feelings are hurt, I sincerely apologize to them and thank you all for reading the write-up. If you like the write up, please do your bit to share it to people who would be interested.

A little about ‘waste’ disposal

It was 3^rd August when we had a program arranged by NSS (National Service Scheme) in our college. We were all seated in our college Audio Visual Room when we were alerted about the arrival of our chief guest Ms. Karishma  Chavan, SWaCH's Outreach Assistant.

 She along with a few members of the foudation and the member of Board of Director of SWaCH, Mrs. Shobha Bansode, entered the room and was welcomed with great enthusiasm. Then she started explaining certain things which surely opened our eyes and which created awareness. Hence, I thought of sharing a few of her thoughts.

(From extreme right) Outreach asisstant, Ms. Karishma Chavan, a member of SWaCH,  Board of  Director of SWaCH, Mrs. Shobha Bansode, NSS P.O., Dr. Smita Zambre ma'am, Mrs. Lalieetaa Bhagat ma'am

 Friends, let’s begin with some very simple questions, who is responsible for the garbage? Do you segregate your waste? In how many categories can the garbage be segregated?

People know that the garbage can be segregated into two categories- wet waste and dry waste, that’s it. But is that so? No, garbage is segregated into four main categories i.e. wet waste, dry waste, E-waste and sanitary waste. Now what all is included into these categories and can we dispose it? Let’s see.

Wet garbage is the garbage which includes all the kitchen waste, dry leaves, garden waste, hair, nails, etc. and it can be used in composting and we can create fertilizer out of it. The dry waste is the one which contains all the dry things like paper, plastic bags, plastic bottles, thermocol, metals, cardboard, etc. This can also be reused in some or the other way. Then we have electronic waste which include all the gadgets and equipments and their parts like remote, computers, television, mobile phones, etc. which we give to Bhangarvalas who ultimately give them to the people who take the parts off, renew them and again sell them into the market. So all this garbage can be reused and recycled but what about the sanitary waste which includes sanitary napkins and diapers? We neither can recycle them nor can we dispose it properly. Friends, do you know that one sanitary napkin requires more than hundred years to get decomposed?

These sanitary napkins and diapers are made up of cotton, plastic granules, gel, synthetic material and various harmful chemicals which help in getting the desired odor. These may sometimes even cause irritation to your skin. Even it is said that a girl or a woman should not use a sanitary napkin for more than 4-5 hours as various bacteria are generated on the napkin like E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, HIV and pathogens which cause hepatitis and tetanus and these bacteria grow more in number when it is disposed. Same is the case with the used up diapers

Friends, we forget about is this diaper/ napkin when it is put into the dustbin but these bacteria spread very fast into the air and may cause many health related problems which is dangerous not only for women or children but also for the whole family. Some girls/women even do not dispose it in an appropriate way.

Sanitary waste

Finding a solution

So, isn’t it not our responsibility to find out a solution for it? Do you know, during the age from 14-45 years (period of having menses and menopause), a woman uses more than 15,000 sanitary napkins? And there are so many girls and women which belong to this range all over the world, so just think, how much sanitary waste is created every month! Well, as we all know, this is a problem which we cannot actually get rid of because it is natural but we can surely think of a proper way of disposal.

Do you know that people are not ready for marrying the youngsters in Uruli Kanchan ( a place having a huge garbage depot on outskirts of Pune city) as general perception is that these people may have some kind of contagious diseases? People burn the garbage created and think that they have got rid of the garbage, but what about the toxic gases that are coming out of it?

So then what people ask is that then what is the solution for this problem? Well, it’s really simple but before that I would like to tell you about SWaCH foundation.

Segregate your waste!

In 2005 a pilot program implemented by Kagas Kach  Patra Kashtakari Panchayat in collaboration with the Department of Adult Education, SNDT Women's University enabled 1500 waste pickers to become service providers for the door to door collection of waste from households in Pune city. This considerably improved their conditions of work and upgraded their livelihoods effectively bridging the gap between households and the municipal waste collection service. The pilot was operational since 2006 and SWaCH was formed in 2007.

In 2008 the PMC signed a five-year Agreement with SWaCH and renewed it in 2016 to decentralize door-to- door collection services for households, shops, offices and small commercial establishments. The members of the cooperative work in pairs and are in charge of door-to- door waste collection for 200-250 households. Waste pickers receive segregated waste (separated wet or organic waste and dry waste such as plastics, glass, paper, etc.} from house-holds /commercial establishments. They further segregate the recyclables to be sold in the re-cycling market; non-recyclable waste is dropped off at feeder points.

Currently, SWaCH saves PMC's more than 70 crore rupees every year just by using traditional mechanism of waste collection and segregation i.e pushcarts which are not causing any kind of pollution.Out of all the pushcarts which are used for door to door collection of the waste, about 1,500of them are painted with the message of proper segregation and handling of sanitary waste i.e ' Wrap it in paper and mark it with Red Dot' 

SWaCH saved about 4  lakhs of trees in 2017 just by putting papers which have been collected during door to door collection of waste.

For creating the awareness of this campaign, they also conduct Red Dot Campaign awareness in schools, colleges, even on community level, through rallies, sessions for non- government organisation, small groups of women, incorporate comapnies, etc.

SWaCH has been authorized by the PMC to collect and channel e-waste (Authorization letter) according to the rules laid down by the government for dealing with hazardous waste (e-waste flier). Seemingly harmless batteries, mobile phones, chargers, etc. actually pose a grave danger to the environment and people when improperly disposed.

Initially, the members of this group did face some major problems. They had no identity of their own when they started with their work. They just used to have a jute bag with them and they simply used to sit and segregate the garbage but people from the societies nearby thought something else. They thought them to be thieves and they complained about it to the police. Then after a lot of trouble, finally the ladies of this foundation decided to complain about it to PMC and then finally, they got their identity cards and the coat of their own.

Now, one more problem which they are facing is one which on hearing made us all feel ashamed of. That is nothing but the disposal of the sanitary waste. What we do is that we throw the sanitary napkins in dry garbage but during segregation process, the ladies are unaware of the sanitary napkin or diaper which is  wrapped into the paper. Of course, how would she know about it? Do you know, to prepare one sheet of paper, it required many trees to be chopped down. So, to save those trees, what these ladies do is that they just unwrap the paper so that it can be utilized somewhere or the other place but after unwrapping it, what do they find? Sanitary napkins, diapers!

Girls, just think, if anyone asks you to open up and show your own used up sanitary napkin, will you do that? What will you feel? ‘Are you crazy? Why shall I show that to you?’ these will be the words which will come up from you but then what about those ladies who do that every day? Aren’t they prone to various kinds of diseases? Aren’t they anybody’s mother, sister, wife, daughter? Then what people say,’ yes it’s their job’ but just imagine, if you dress up nicely and go to your office and you are about to sit on your chair for work and you realize that there’s some garbage spread on your chair and all over your desk. What will you feel? Insulting, right?

This again became a nuisance for those ladies. They then complained first about it to the companies who produce all the sanitary products but that didn’t help. Then they even requested the shopkeepers who sell these products to sell a small pouch with the pack so that it will be easier for them to recognize it and won’t open it but what the shopkeepers said is that they will be at loss then and if sold individually, ladies won’t buy them. Subsequently, the ladies of SWaCH then gathered all the used up sanitary waste and kept it in the doors of the companies and asked them what to do of this. This act made them realized the seriousness of the problem but till now, no proper solution has been thought of.

Let's Red Dot

Wrap it, mark it

Hence, to stop those ladies to open up the wrapped sanitary waste, what we can do is just wrap the sanitary waste in a news paper, seal it up with a tape and just put up a big red dot (which is visible enough) so that the women won’t open it and directly put it into the allotted bin for disposing it. For making the dot, you can use a red sketch pen, a red pen, red pencil and if not this then you can simply use kumkum or put up a big bindi on it. Simple, isn’t it?

Taking an inspiration from her words, all the FYBSc students of our college were taken to a slum area near our college, the next day, to tell the importance of it to all the common women living there. There were certain problems that the people living there were facing like improper drainage system, no toilets in their home, etc. Fortunately, after the analysis, what we came to know is that most of the women use cloth for those five days which was a good thing for their health. We interacted with those ladies and shared the problems that the garbage segregators are facing and yes, we got a positive reply from them. I do hope our efforts of educating the women would pay dividends in the long run. My wee bit to bring about a social change, which is the need of the hour.

Girls on mission

Myself on the extreme right

Taking the feedback

A woman in Kelewadi

My friend and myself (center)

 So please people, remember, if there’s a problem, there has to be a solution. This problem too, has one; only your desire to change must be greater than your desire to be the same. Please support red dot campaign! This will help avoid endangering innocent lives who do an unthankful, yet essential job of waste segregation.

We segregate wet and dry garbage, we support red dot campaign!