The Pride - Shubhashish Banerjee

The Beautiful Chapters of Mankind

2011-02-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

Today when you scroll down, find a chapter called “Human values of life”,

It use to be the most "beautiful chapters"

And today you got to read it how it has changed down the line.

Please open it from the chapter “Human values of life"

I recall the days when human followed the golden values of

longingness for love, the inquisitiveness for knowledge,

and unbearable courage for the suffering of mankind.

Let me be a tribal society; there won't be any bureaucracy then,

no corruption, and no inequality;

Let me Drink and smoke and be the innocent;

the selfless words and values, beyond the confusion.

Where everyone works for their food and cherishes of what they have for themselves most of the time.

Let big Sal leaf sweep the time back to the wild flowers, pasture springs,

woods and stone, and precarious farms.

It seems I lost the divine grace for mere materialistic race;

it was the time when we use to sweat and sweat to be human,

But today I am cramped with the awful sight of greed and the wind of evil which divide.

The Cries of pain reverberated within my sense;

Where have the values vanished?

I see out of victims tortured and children in famine

and of old people left helpless.

I urge turn the pages back and stop alleviate the evil,

Bring me the smell of muddy soil, the mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision

of the heaven be the change;

clasp, morals and ethics this is you the mankind.

Love, knowledge and care brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness manifested by glittering richness,

But it seems I cannot, you cannot, and we cannot.

And thus we all suffer with the last supper, Oh God!

Enlightened mind

2010-12-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

The blurred vision of the foggy morning I jogged by;

I was in my dreams; I was shivering with the manifestation of human success.

It was the nature bleeding, all what I see seems to be shrinking; my breath got hold of me as if the nature was me.

My dream broke. I stood still and the beauty of nature was in front of me.

My soul enlightened with joy then I felt that the reality is the dream again, man is selfish and working harder for there own destruction.

What a pity o man! Wake up; listen to the call of the nature. You are not the destiny but just the projection of mind.

Nature it is, it’s the power, it’s the beauty, it’s the energy, and it’s the divine.

O human! I beg take what u need but don’t be greedy. Stop being insane with what u call development. Be what you are be the nature.

It’s all about Defense for Existence

2010-12-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

In India, it is estimated about 50,000 people die per year due to snake bites (exact fig. not known); the death rate out of snake bite is alarming and is inevitable. In spite India being one of the world’s leading producers of snake venom antiserum, is ending up in making snakes so hostile to human. A great many primary care hospitals do not treat snake bite the reason behind the Doctors are either not confident to treat the patient or the patient is brought very late to the well-equipped casualty treatment facility area. These are not small numbers, and hence good supply of polyvalent anti snake venom should be available in all population centers. Under is the recommendation method for India as to how to go about in a situation when bitten by a snake.

Recommended Method for India

The first aid being currently recommended is based around the mnemonic:

“Do it R.I.G.H.T.”

It consists of the following:

R. = Reassure the patient. 70% of all snakebites are from non-venomous species. Only 50% of bites by venomous species actually envenomate the patient

I=Immobilize in the same way as a fractured limb. Use bandages or cloth to hold the splints, not to block the blood supply or apply pressure. Do not apply any compression in the form of tight ligatures, they don’t work and can be dangerous!

G. H. = Get to Hospital Immediately. Traditional remedies have NO PROVEN benefit in treating snakebite.

T = Tell the doctor of any systemic symptoms such as ptosis that manifest on the way to hospital.

Hope this piece of article be of some use to save human life and reduce the hostile relation of snakes with humans were we think and appreciate each others existence.

Harry Potters Owl or Its the Black Magic practices in India

2010-11-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

“Harry potter’s’ now an eco offender, making Indian obsessed with keeping owl as pets”, Does that make any sense? The remark which came from Environment Minister of India Jairam Ramesh in which he said: the films based on JK Rowling’s book on the boy wizard making the Indian middle class obsessed with keeping owl as a pet for their children leading to the decline in their population, well that’s sounds fragile and porous to me at least. Hunting of and trade in all Indian owl species is banned under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 of India well known to the people selling pet at pet shop nor there is any such demand from the general middle class people as per the pet shop owners selling pets. Hunting and trading of owl is only because of its use of owls in black magic and sorcery driven by superstition, totems and taboos. It is one of the prime drivers of the covert owl trade, same as found by TRAFFIC India through investigation into the illegal trade, trapping and utilization of owls in India. Its not the children’s demand but our orthodox cultural belief which brought owls under threat, Friday 5 November 2010 Delhi Times, The Times Of India in one of its sun sign (Capricorn) says to keep an owl beside Lord Ganesha and goddesses Lakshmi which will bring wealth to the sun sign, now this surely make the statement to pet Owl and miss guide people, In the villages some tribes thinks, the owl’s meat is good for heart and hence makes it part of their diet too. It’s all about what you believe in. Save the creature or kill it for your selfish needs, sad but this is the truth.

My Experience in "Land of Thousand Gardens" Hazaribag (Jharkhand)

2010-10-31T03:26:00.000-07:00

The term Hazribagh's etymological significance is 'A City of Thousand Gardens'. Occupying an area of 6147 sq. km and located at 23.98° N 85.35° E, Hazaribag is 2019 ft high above sea level in the Chotanagpur Plateau. Hazaribag, with its panoramic rhapsodies, congenial salubrious climate abounds in lush verdant flora. The eminent tourist spots include Hazaribag Wildlife Sanctuary, Hazaribag Lake and Canary Hills. In very early times the district was covered with inaccessible forests to which non- Aryan tribes who refused to surrender to the steadily advancing Aryans, retired at different times. The entire territory of Chhotanagpur, known as Jharkhand (meaning forest territory) was presumably beyond the pale of district Hindu influence in ancient India. Though out the Turko-Afghan period (up to 1526), the area remained virtually free from external influence. It was only with the accession of Akbar to the throne of Delhi in 1556, that Muslim influence penetrated Jharkhand, then known to the Mughals as Kokrah. And then the saga of exploitation started, even though, no significant development took place but on the name of development the area was divided after 1991 census. The district of Hazaribag has been divided into three separate districts viz. Hazaribag, Chatra and Koderma. The two sub-divisions namely Chatra and Koderma were upgraded to the status of independent districts.

Hazaribag

People here forgot the importance of forest and started cutting trees for there own needs and grievances loosing out the forest cover, even today government challenges to have forest but only on the base of green forest cover. The coal mines and the recent fire in the coal mice created a havoc. Recent study says because of the coal mine and fire burning in there generating a gas cover which is spreading over the atmosphere creating environmental changes in terms of climate of Hazaribag. The road side trees are being cut to broaden the Highway, dense forest if cut to fix rail lines. Once a hill stations now could only be cherished in our memories as no one is bothered to bring its glory back, Canary Hill is a popular spot for nature lovers. There is a guest house and a watch tower on the top of the hills. Canary hill got its name from the Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher , Culicicapa ceylonensis, a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. This is an insectivorous species which breeds in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia. Many populations are resident, but Himalayan birds migrate short distances to lower altitudes. The Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher breeds in hill forests and other wooded areas. It nests on a rock ledge or in a tree trunk and lays three or four eggs. The Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher is 13cm long. It is an upright long-tailed flycatcher. The adult has a grey head and breast, green upper parts, and bright yellow under parts. These birds are caught and are imprisoned into a wired cage in order to increase the aesthetic view of their home. During my stay in Hazaribag I have seen how the striped hyenas stay in the foot hills got disrupted due to city expansion which lead to hyena human encounters but till date no official complaint has been registered of any damage to human life, but yes the wild group hunt the cattle around which may lead to a serious issue. Recently a proposal has been submitted for setting up a tiger and deer safari at the place, a good news but if we cant maintain what we had how can we maintain the things to come. Just an open ended thought, the scene is same every were just give it a thought.

Grey-headed Canary-flycatchers after which Canary Hill got its Name

Types Hyenas in the foot hills of Canary Hill

The Rising Threat to Fresh Water Turtles

2010-10-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

The focus in the recent past has been on sea turtles. The hard-shell and soft-shell freshwater turtles from Indian Coast are a much neglected group. Except for taxonomic studies and a few stray observations on their life history practically nothing is known of our freshwater turtles. The sign boards displayed by the Forest Departments prohibiting sale of turtles and turtle products mentions the protection of most of marine species only. There is a significant need for a critical appraisal of the population structure and habitat of different species of freshwater turtles to keep watch whether any species needing protection have been left out and need authority to zero in.

An alarm fact, More than 40 percent of the planet’s freshwater turtle species are threatened with extinction, making them among the most threatened groups of animals on the planet of which most of us don’t know. Their decline is a distinctive indicator to understand the magnitude of the freshwater turtles which is getting damaged in a manner that could have terrible consequences for people and turtles alike. Sea turtles were of course the most focused reptiles in recent past. Empathy is that the hard-shell and soft-shell freshwater turtles from Indian Coast are the most neglected group as few taxonomic studies and a few stray observations on their life history has been made which gives us a practical impression that we known nothing of our freshwater turtles.

The scenario get worst when having threatened by criminal trade and a local taste, the critically endangered crawling reptiles species (turtles) classified as moving towards death. Bihar and Jharkhand just to name two have emerged as a new threat to the state with a blood stained path of death for these defenseless creatures. Things become better with more of the Figures as it reveal precisely how smuggling through Bihar and Jharkhand with no awareness and concern for aquatic ecosystem is snatching away the lifeline of turtles. The two states have recovered almost 10,000 turtles of various hues from smugglers in the last 5 years.

With no surprise the two states have emerged as safe transit routes for smuggling of freshwater turtles, which reaches out West Bengal. The assumed aphrodisiac properties in the meat of the terrapin or the fresh-water tortoise raised a big demand in the area. Myths like, consumption of tortoise meat ensures a longer life, as the reptile has a long lifespan over 100 years. The quacks also crush its carapace; mix it with water to prepare a paste, which is applied on the scars on the skin. Turtles are also used as essential ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine and also find their way to the dinner table. The carapace is also smuggled out of a country, as it earns a good price.

If we listen to what police department says, an organized racket that operates from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal is behind this smuggling. Tortoises, which are picked from Uttar Pradesh rivers, are sent to Malda (West Bengal) from where these creatures are secretly pushed to the porous boaders of Bangladesh or consumed locally. So far, the authorities have nabbed only the petty carriers without caring to track the links, which could have fetched them the kingpins of the illegal trade. In one such incident, on January 19, 2008, cops in Hazaribag (Jharkhand) had gunned down two inter-state turtle smugglers who all exchanged rounds of fire. In fact, the Jharkhand cops had to retaliate when the criminals opened fire at the police after the sport utility vehicle (SUV) was intercepted. After the encounter, at least three unidentified smugglers made their escape, while the cops recovered over 300 tortoises, besides pistols and live cartridges. The exchange of fire raised the red alarm and confirmed that only petty carriers are not involved in the turtle trade. The documents recovered from the site gives the insight that the criminals were interstate smugglers having links with Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. That big-time criminals were involved in the turtle trade was once again established when Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Liyakat Ali and Shakila in December, 2007 the West Bengal based couple, for running a fake currency racket in further Investigations it revealed that the two were also involved in smuggling tortoises.

The matter of fact the turtles are also subjected to extreme cruelty before getting killed. Even the rescued tortoises have been found seriously injured their shells pierced through some sharp pointed material while some had their legs pierced and tied together. Besides, those rescued alive have been found held in unsanitary conditions, exposing them to serious physiological and health problems. Before they are released in their natural habitat, these turtles are required to be treated for parasites and screened for diseases which seldom happens to these creatures.

Incidentally, these harmless gentle creature are facing lots of hardship and struggle for their existence, turtle are an important link in aquatic ecosystem which tells us about the life in water. The tortoise usually helps keeping the water clean as it feeds on small fishes, aquatic insects and aquatic herbs. A special feature that of the tortoise is it's hibernation that lasts through the winter periods with the beginning of the winters it begins to soothe its active life and rest at the muddy bottom of the waterbed till the summers tend to begin.

(*Some facts were taken from http://www.protectiondesoiseaux.be/index.php/pressreleases/190-turtleindia )