What's happening on 5th June, the World Environment Day?

As every environment enthusiast gears up for celebrating "World Environment Day" ie 5th June, let's take a sneak peak into Goan environment arena for eco-events happening in and around capital city.

• By the time you have read this, Nirmal and Roopa @ Earthworm must have screened the 'Monsoons- India's God of Life', a documentary film by famous wildlife filmmaker Shekhar Dattatri at the stroke of 12:00 a.m. The screening will be followed by a discussion session on the film as well as Western Ghats.
• WWF-Goa organises a talk/discussion session on the Mhadei issue and its consequences on Goa at WWF-Goa office in Goa Science Center Campus which is scheduled at 4:00 p.m. This session will be addressed by Shri. Pratapsingh Rane, Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly, Smt. Nirmala Sawant, President of Mhadei Bachao Abhiyaan and CCF, Goa Forest Department. Mind you, it's a "MUST ATTEND" event for the day and please do come in flocks to flood the gathering.
• Goa Forest Department will be inaugrating the "Save Frogs Campaign 2009" at Forest Office, Campal Range-Campal,Panjim Goa. The awareness material will be distributed on this account. This event is scheduled at 5:30 p.m.
• As far as I am concerned, watch out for my article in marathi daily "Lokmat" on Goan Wildlife Scenario.
  

So see you all tommorow! and yeah...Happy World Environment Day....Let's save the Environment.

A film I still cant forget

As Goan film enthusiasts gear up for the upcoming marathi film festival which will begin from 5th June and would stretch till 9th, I just started recollecting my days at IFFI 2008. I was very excited about it as it was my first time for this much awaited festival.
Remembering some marvellous classics that I could "experience" at this fest on the celluloids, I just cant forget one film that has inhabited my mind still after the time that has passed away after the film was over. SALWATI was its name. It was a multi-lingual movie and hence more realistic. The movie circles around a Malay girl, Salawati, the title character.
The film revolves around three characters, Salawati-a malay girl who has lost her brother in a drowning accident, a Tamil courier-man and a Chinese man who is obssessed with his work and career. Seemingly unrelated to each other, these three characters slowly reveal their connections with each other.
The movie begins with the scene that depicts the prepation of burial of the dead body of Wati's younger brother. She is heavily depressed by this tragedy since she could not save him, while being around when he was drowning and the memory of that incident flashes in her mind every now and than.
The scene shifts to the tamil courier-man who is fired by boss for coming late to the office. The third part of the film portrays the life of a Chinese work-stiff who cares more about his job than his wife and newly born son.
The later two charecters are related to Wati as they both had something to do with the drowning incident. While her brother is drowning, the Chinese guy passes by and Wati persuades him to save her brother from drowning as she herself is not water savvy. But being more concerned about reaching his office on time, he ignores Wati's demand and keeps walking without giving a second look. After him, the Tamil courier-man who is passing by the lake comes to help Wati and gets the brother out of the water and brings him to the shore but he is already dead.
Wati is then seen to follow these two people, firstly the tamil guy, the apparent reason behind her act is to return thanks to him for whatever way he has helped her. One fine day she reads on the newspaper that tamil man has met with a road accident and she goes to meet him in the hospital and gifts him an idol of Lord Ganesha. A chapter ends here!

Second chapter begins with the life of Chinese man who does overtime in the office to meet the deadlines, aiming for promotions. His boss himself tells him not to ignore his family and newly born child. One fine day, he recieves a promotion letter and he is very much happy. He finally agrees with his wife to take them for an outing in city, which they havent done much for years. Wati follows him here too, just follows. In the course of walking with his wife and son, he crosses a lane and walks ahead while Wati remains at other end staring at three of them. Suddnely, their son gets attracted to the toy seller back the street where Wati is standing and staring at them, and leaves his mother's hand and starts walking towards him. The parents are not aware about this untill they check for their son. Looking back in a despair look, they see their son walking towards roads heavily busy with the traffic and while they run to collect him back, the son is smashed by a passing car. Wati is still standing, watching this drama that has happened infront of her. She could have saved their son from this accident, but she doesn't. There ends the another chapter and the film too.
A memserising film that I would never ever forget in my life. The film tries to portray the relevance of social virtues like helping others, revenge, thankfullness etc. in the context of modern materialistics society. Though the film is highly regional relevant, somewhere it also hits global contraints of humanism in modern day lifes. A rare frame captured with the simplest manner possible, SALAWATI is a must watch movie.

It is here finally....

If it was not for the cracking sound of thunders outside the window, I wouldn't have even cared to wake up in the middle of the night from a yet another divine sleep that I had last night. The good news is that rains are here, giving a surprise to meteorological predictions as always.
The morning was made special by the unmistakable fragrance of the virgin soil getting wet, and to add to it was some nice hot tea.

The jungles, which had gone dry over the summer would now be springing to life back displaying all the shades of green everywhere. I just cant wait to go to rove around....with so much to see, discover, love and conserve....rain is here again....padharo mharo des!!!

Save Frog Campaign 2009

Wild Goa network is back with the "Save Frog 2009" campaign this year again, but trying to reach more audience than last year. A meeting was held on 6th May at WWF-Goa office to delegate the various responsibilities that come in the implementation of the campaign. Here are the summarised minutes of the meeting that was held mailed by Clinton Vaz.

On Wednesday, Rajiv & Talulah, Kastubh, Jason K Fernandes, Arati Das, Vijay Gaonkar, Anniruddha and Anjali, Neenad & Dattaprasad, Luis and myself made it to Nitin Sawant's office. This meeting was organized to decide further actions, plan and delegate responsibilities for the campaign to run smoothly. We've all dedicated that the following ppl are responsible for the selected jobs:
*
Jason K Fds* would make a list of contacts/ personalities that could be contacted for quotes/ sound bytes. We could als expand this list to lay persons that have a message/testimonial Getting sound bytes or a short quote from people that formerly ate frogs, but don't anymore could possibly add a realistic and human angle to the campaign. There are already quite a few examples of people in Goa that liked eating frogs but lost their appetite once they learnt that the species was threatened / against the law / meat contained pesticide residues. All that have suggestions such people, send them, with contact info to Jason (+91 9764-324-074 or jason.k.fernandes@gmail.com

*Arati Das *would compile a list of slogans, in english, konkani, marathi. Goacan and Minguelbab already came up with some in Konkani slogans, and arati's getting those translated to Marathi too. Aaron and I came up with some slogans last season, so will mail it to Arati. We can then use this slogans in bumper stickers, or t-shirts, or awareness material. As above, anybody with catchy slogans, send to Arati (+91 9822-522-119) or arati05@gmail.com
*
Dattaprasad, Neednad, Annie(ruddha), and Alisha* would be the design team, working with all design aspects of logo, bumper sticker, posters, t-shirts, etc. As for now, after much discussion, we've selected Annie's logo, just because there was a lot of effort put into it's use, it's single colour, and that everybody agreed that it was the most practical logo to use among the top three selected. By wednesday, Datta has promised to extract the froggie video by Mrs. Karapurkar, work with the sound and make it available for other use such as our matieral for school programmes, uploading onto u-tube, etc. Annie and team would also work on the logo with a konkani translation of frog to bebo. All design related queries, suggestions to go to datta@exempliarss.com +91 9922-990-240, anniesen01@yahoo.com 0823 3415449 and Alisha loolapazoola@gmail.com +91 9823-708-917
*
Rajiv & Myself* will work on a factsheet on frogs that get's translated into the poster at a later stage. All facts, figures and info can be sent to us. Rajiv at rajivdsilva@gmail.com +91 9890-141-715 and me klintvaz@gmail.com or +91 9890-936-828

*Roland & Lorna* will work on disseminating info to the Gram Panchayats, Consumer forums and the like. Will also organize grassroots awareness programmes in the cities. Margao already done, Maupsa is next. contact them at goacan@gmail.com or +91 9822-180-182

*Luis* is part of the 4 member enforcement team that works with the forest department on making sure complaints (of catching or serving frog meat) are attended to. Any rougue restaraunt list can be submitted to him. diasfluis@yahoo.com or +91 9011-051-950

In the meantime:

* Ethel Da Costa has offered to associate with the campaign if her
mirchi wesite gets 200 hits. We should work on this soon.
* Goa Forest Dept says they will help with financing the following
(500 umbrellas with the save the frog logo/message on it, 10,000
posters with our material/msg on it, and 2 billboards at prominent
locations in Margao and Panjim)
* Aaron and I found out aout the bumper stickers (2000 4inch by
8inch stickers cost Rs 3 each to make in 2 colours, 500 4x8
sickers cost Rs.4 each, and 2000 4x4 round stickers cost rs 4 each
also. Takes a week to get done at a reliable printer in Talegao.
* WWF would assist with awareness programmes (at schools too)


We plan to meet again with some work at 5.30 on Thursday, someplace in Panjim to take these matters further. Location can be decided a little later. Please do come, and everybody that can help is welcome to join up with the above ppl and assist. More hands make light work.

Thanks!

Clinton..

Here our croaks, SAVE FROGS!

MITRA organises a trek to Surla waterfalls on 16th May

MITRA, as a part of its first outbound activity for general public is organising a trek to Surla Waterfalls located in Tambdi Surla village on 16th May 2009. This activity is open for all(above 14 years).

• About Surla Falls

Surla Falls is a gorgeous waterfall situated in Tambdi Surla village and it is 2.3 kms far from the famous Shiva Temple of Tambdi Surla. The fall lies in Bhagawan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and is situated above 220 meters from sea level. It then joins river Ragada, a tributary of river Mhadei.

• About the trek

The fees for the trek are Rs.100 per head which would cover to and fro travel charges from Ponda Old Bus Stand to Tambdi Surla temple and entry fee to Bhagawan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary. It is required to walk atleast for two hours(normal speed) to reach the waterfall from the temple.

• Instructions

1) The participation should be confirmed over phone with subsequent payment of fees.
2) The trekkers are advised to wear dull coloured and loose clothes. A loose t-shirt and a trek trouser would be just fine.
3)Trekkers should carry enough water to quench their thirsts for one way atleast. Water-bottles can be filled at the waterfall once reached. The participants should carry their own tiffin box.
4) Since the walk is through the forest, it is advisable to wear shoes as a prevention measure
5)The participants should gather at Lotlikar petrol pump, near old bus stand at about 7:30 a.m. in the morning. The bus will leave to Tambdi Surla sharp at 8 a.m. Participants who need to be picked up on the way should inform in advance.

For more details and queries, please contact
Kaustubh-9764154522
Saish-9423886358
Utkarsh-9420178820

or mail to
mitra.goa09@yahoo.in
mitra.goa09@gmail.com

Celebrate Eco Friendly Holi This Year

The festival of colours is up and so are the examinations. I remember my mother not letting me to play Holi during the examination days so as the colours may affect the health and I may fall sick. I wish I could so as to avoid exams!

There has been lot discussed about the ill effects of the colours that we use for Holi for affecting health, and yes, they do! Prior to these colours hit the market, our ancestors used natural elements to prepare these colours and played a eco-friendly & health-safe Holi, which neither affected their skin nor caused giddiness or cough.

But for our generation, we had just heard of eco-friendly colours but never tried. But dont be in despair, Earthworm-Goa, a new eco store that aims to promote green consumerism in the state has brought us this opportunity to celebrate this years Holi with eco-friendly colours.

This colours are made from base of turmeric and DO NOT CONTAIN any toxic chemicals. Hence, they are safe and at the same time, non polluting in contrast to the regular colours that we use.

The Rang Dulaar Natural Holi colors are available on prior orders in packs of 250 gms and 500 gms.

1. 250 gms Pack- Contains 50 gm of each of 5 colours ie Red, Yellow, Orange, Green and Black is available for Rs.90/-

2. 500 gms pack- Contains 100 gms of each 5 colours is available for Rs. 180/-.

For further details contact

Earthworm- 08322410871/09326107079 or email at earthwormgoa@gmail.com

This post is referred to the post published by Mr.Nirmal Kulkarni, a goan ecologist on his blog, Goa Wildwatch.

The Call of Mhadei

"We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset has left us."

To experience what it means to be a wanderer, or rather a backpacker, we decided to camp in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary during the last weekend in January. The trip was planned mainly as an adventure, and wildlife had a secondary preference. The main aim of this trip was to imbibe the practices that are useful in camping amongst us so that it will help us in near future. I was reluctant to join the troup since I wanted to attend some other function in coming days. But the day before, while attending a seminar on biodiversity conservation by WWF-Goa, I was lucky enough to attend Rajendra Bhai's lecture on Mhadei, which changed my plans and I was on with rest members

.

But the trouble started from the Day 1 itself. Since I reached late on the Bus Stand, others had to miss one bus and to add on that, all the subsequent buses were canceled due the political gathering at sanquelim.. After those four hours of continuous wait and deliberations whether to go or not to go, or to change the destination, we finally boarded the Ponda-Mollem-belgaum bus and got down at Mollem and caught a bus to Valpoi from Mollem.

Getting down at Khadaki, we walked till Bhironda river bank. This was the first base site for our camp. The sun was already waving a farewell to the water of Mhadei and we were fortunate to see and capture this show. We dumped our belongings in one pothole so as to prevent them from dogs. Next move was to take a swim in the adjoining river and we felt fresh after that.

It was perfectly dark now and we lit our surroundings by the three torches that we had with ourselves. We sat and talked about our problems, future, conservation etc. Saish, Aniket and Me recited some poems of our own. I lied on Utkarsh's laps watching the sky lit with millions of stars, finding the arrangement patterns within them.

It was the time for dinner now, and they had Maggi noodles. Since, I did not like maggi, I managed myself on Bread-Jam and Cakes. Preparing the maggi was an ultimate experience and we all enjoyed it.

We sat to plan the next day. Our next destination was to reach Karanzol, a remote village in Sattari and from there walk till “Pishtyachi Kond.” Saish and me knew the route since we had been there before. Sharp at 6:30, a bus leaves to Karanzol from Khadaki and we decided to catch the same. I think we slept than under the open sky counting the stars overhead.

The next morning was not too far, and while waking up I found my sleeping bag was fully wet because of the dew drops that descended upon us. When Saish, me and Utkarsh woke up, we found Rohan and Aniket already busy preparing the tea. Even we joined them and had a nice cup of hot tea with little less sugar, but the sweetness of our spirit added to it was making it worth drinking hundred times.

It was 6:15 when we left Bhironda, and we had no hopes of catching with the bus. Still, an elderly lady on the way told that the bus comes at 7 o'clock. We hurried but atlast we came to know that the bus comes at 6:30 only and we missed it. There were no more buses going to Karanzol that day.

We tried stopping one bus of Zantye Cashew factory which takes the employees to the factory. Th driver agreed to take us but said he can drop us upto Karamali, a village 8 km before Karanzol. We got into the bus and got down at Karamali, from where we walked till Karanzol. There was no need to go to the village since the route to “Pishtyachi Kond” starts well before the Karanzol village but sometimes I cant resist my nostalgic attacks. Over my past visits to this village, I have developed a sense of affection towards this village. Saish preferred resting under a Jackfruit tree while I headed others to show around the village. I met Govind Kerkar, a resident of Karanzol and forest guard at Bhironda Soil Conservation Dept. who had accompanied us to Pishtyachi Kond last time.

We came back to Saish and after resting for sometime, started our journey towards Pishtyachi Kond. Since the time we woke up, we were walking and walking and just walking. We stopped by the way and hid our luggage ambush so as to reduce the burden to carry. After reaching deeper into the forest, we could hear the sound of water flowing adjacent by us. We badly needed water for drinking. We decided to stop here itself for lunch. Than came the three hours of splashing water sports that we all played and were back fresh for the lunch. The recipe did not change from last night and it was same, cake for me and noodles for others. Since it was late now, we canceled the plan to walk till Pishtyachi Kond since we would be reaching the village by night. We marched back calling it off for yet another memorable trip and a promise to visit again to Pishtyachi Kond next time.

At night, we slept at a temple in Karanzol after having our food in a local restaurant. Approximately, we walked about 45 odd kms that day and had no plans to continue the camp on the third day. We boarded the bus that leaves from Karanzol early morning and then were back to Ponda.

This trip to Mhadei was refreshing, but also thought provoking. The proposed dam project will surely be harmful to this place and not only Sattari, whole Goa will lose its elegance and glory. The water of Mhadei is calling out to its each son out there amongst us to protect her veil from being submerged under political wishes of neighboring states.