Towards a Sustainable State (Dharma Rajya)

Hapus – the celebrated mango from the Kokan region of Maharashtra has indeed been a celebrity in the domain of fruits for long. The recently released Marathi movie “Hapus” makes this king fruits a celebrity on the silver screen as well. The Hapus is the narrator in the background several times in the movie, which nicely depicts the important place that Hapus or Alphonso mango has in the lives of the people of Kokan region. The cinematography set in the serene surroundings of south Kokan is good with verdant scenes from mango orchards, sea shores, beaches, creeks, dense mangrove forests in the background, small bridges spanning the backwaters and the curvaceous roads of Kokan snaking their way amongst some of the finest greenery and forests in the state. This setting is sure to hook on the nature lover and the lay person alike. The movie revolves around a family from Vanarwadi village near the town of Kudal. The Gurav family is traditionally into growing mangoes and they regularly sell ...

In the first week of April 2010, I finally managed to visit the beautiful Nilje Lake near Dombivli. I started off from my in-laws’ place in Dombivli on a morning trip of Nilje Lake with my wife’s uncle Uday Dada. After planning for several weeks we managed to make this trip and despite the rising mercury it was worth it. We started off at 8.30 am, which is late as compared to normal bird-watching standards, but since we expected waders (birds seen in shallow water) we were not bothered about the time, since unlike forest or grassland birds, waders generally remain in the wetlands even as the scorching sun marches up the sky. We drove off on Uday Dada’s Honda Activa and even in the concrete jungle called Dombivli, the beauty of spring was evident from the blossoms of Indian Laburnum (Bahawa), Gulmohar, Copperpod (Soanmohar), White Silk Cotton and an occasional Pride Of India tree (Taman). After cruising briefly on the Kalyan Shil Road amidst upcoming townships altering the earlier rural...