Tag: goregaon

Categories
Diaries

An office in the middle of a forest: CEC

This might be one of the coolest office spaces in Mumbai – CEC in Goregaon is located in the wilderness!
by Adithi Muralidhar

Part 4 of the ‘Green Hangouts’ diaries

The education wing of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) is located in the wilderness that lies between Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Film city, Goregaon. The Conservation Education Center (CEC) is situated in a 33-acre spread of forest which also includes some nature trails. If you live in the western suburbs, particularly close to Goregaon, CEC could become your regular weekend retreat.

CEC-2-AdithiWhat’s so special? When one makes their way into Film City, you will come across the sets of various saas-bahu serials, and you might think, where the hell is this CEC? Thanks to the film crew, a fair amount of rubbish can be seen strewn on the roads. But once you go past the last cluster of film sets that appear after the signboard that says ‘BNHS 450 m’, you see some beautiful forests and hear some amazing bird calls. And right there, in the midst of the forest lies this somewhat old building hidden well in the thickets of the canopy. A gate that says BNHS-CEC, Beware of Leopards, welcomes you.

Staffed with just a handful of people, CEC might be one of the coolest offices (in terms of the location) in Mumbai. During one of my recent visits to CEC, a friend of mine who works there showed me a carcass of dog on a tree that was right outside the CEC office building. The neighbourhood friendly leopard had made her way this side of the forest with a happy meal (of the dog) but then left it halfway for reasons unknown. And yes, leopards are common to this area, with sightings restricted usually to dawn, dusk and night times. They tend to steer clear of human beings and are not sighted very often.

Lots to see and hear. But the summer season apparently yields wonderful sightings of spotted deer, barking deer and wild boars who visit the water bodies near CEC to quench their thirst.  And it is during this season that the ever-elusive thirsty leopards let down their guard and come to the water hole.

It is a wonderful place to learn about butterflies and birds. Apart from this, the forests that surround CEC are a treasure trove of insects!  During the monsoons, there is a crisscross of streams that run through the forests which is an absolute delight!

Since the Centre’s main aim is to spread awareness among the masses, they have a wide range of programmes that cater to children, youngsters and families. If you also are very cecparticular about going green in your respective offices, CEC has customised programmes and workshops for corporates, too. On some occasions, CEC also organize night camps at their base, and the opportunities to witness “nightlife” in the jungle, whilst in the city is a rare thing! I would definitely recommend that everybody visits this beautiful forest.

CEC celebrated its 20th birthday this year and hopes are set on it becoming a permanent attraction at Film City. Over the years, CEC has made sure that the area surrounding it has remained green and vibrant with wildlife. It is our duty as Mumbaikars to help CEC maintain this thriving habitat.

Getting there: The nearest railway station to CEC is Goregaon (Western line) and the nearest bus stop is Film City. The CEC office is open from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, Monday through Friday. But depending on the season, there are sometimes weekend programmes at CEC. You can keep yourself updated by checking here: http://www.bnhs.org/education-mainmenu/upcoming-programs-cec.html

Adithi Muralidhar currently works in the field of science education research, in Mumbai. She is associated with Hypnale Research Station where she assists with various environment, wildlife conservation, education and community-related projects. She is a strong advocate of nature education.

Green hangouts is a series of stories celebrating Mumbai’s place in the green scheme of things, to coincide with Wildlife Week, which is celebrated from October 1 to 7 every year. 

(Pictures by Adithi Muralidhar. The author would like to thank Amandeep Kaur, education officer at CEC, for her inputs in writing this piece.)

Categories
Deal with it

Where in the world is JB Talleu?

This Frenchman came to Mumbai in 2007 and vanished without a trace. His family and friends still look for him.
by Vrushali Lad | vrushali@themetrognome.in

It is a story that continues to baffle me, five years after it happened. I used to be a correspondent with a Pune-based paper in 2007, when the news of French national Jean Baptiste (JB) Talleu’s disappearance first broke out. Apparently, the 27-year-old was to embark on a bicycle tour of India, starting from Pondicherry, and he arrived at Mumbai on December 7 that year. The only evidence of him being in Mumbai at all was that he withdrew money from an ATM near Film City, Goregaon.

Nobody’s seen or heard of him since.

Somehow, I still write about JB every year.

The Talleus, especially his mother Marie-Claire, continue to fly to India and follow up every possible lead, of which there have been many. The Talleus and their friends here have made trips to several places in the South and North of India, while always passing through Mumbai to appeal to the authorities to help find their son. And yet, his mother, despite not knowing the fate that met her son five years ago in Mumbai, feels better the moment she gets here, because “this is where he was.”

I met a friend of the family, Dominique Hoeltgen last week in Mumbai. Dominique is a journalist who has lived in Mumbai before relocating to France two years ago; she met JB’s mother when the story first broke out, and quickly became friends with her. She has even helped in the search for the missing cyclist. “People have been writing to Marie-Claire on her email, telling her that they have seen a man who looks like JB. Whenever possible, I’ve followed up those leads myself, but all of them were dead ends.”

I ask her what she thinks happened when JB arrived at Mumbai. “I’ve thought about it and thought about it, and I think he was harmed by somebody here, may be for money. I find it strange that there is no trace even of his bicycle, so maybe he was mugged and his money and belongings were stolen. But I keep thinking that he is alive, he is just lost somewhere and that we have to find him.”

But why would JB, normally in the habit of contacting his mother whenever out on one of his trips, not contact her in five years? “I think he must have lost his mind,” Dominique suggests. “The people who have told us that they saw him, all of them insisted that the man they saw didn’t have any belongings. One person in Gujarat, a doctor, said that he spoke to the man who he thought was JB, and that the man told him that his belongings were all taken away from him when he came to India. The man had been sitting alone near a temple, and had a French accent,” she explains. Nothing came of that lead, either.

Even more puzzling is the police and French Embassy’s inaction in cracking the murder. “We made several trips to the cops, we pleaded with them to follow up the lead in Gujarat, but they didn’t do anything,” Dominique alleges. “We were even more surprised that the French Embassy did nothing, continues to do nothing, to trace its own national.”

Christmas approaches, and JB, a deeply spiritual person who is very close to his family, is still out there somewhere, lost. It’s another Christmas for the Talleus with no answers. Let’s hope they hear something before the next festive season.

If you have any information on the disappearance of Jean Baptiste Talleu, write to mctalleu@gmail.com. 

(Picture courtesy indiamike.com)

Categories
Event

200 participate in Transplant Games

Transplant Games 2012 by Narmada Kidney Foundation
Transplant Games 2012 by Narmada Kidney Foundation
Organ donors and recipients participate in the sporting event held in Mumbai on Sunday. A pitch report from the organisers.

The nation has seen the best of performances by Indian sportsmen in recent times. Mumbai was witness to another national sporting event, which was very different from other sporting events – this was the ‘National Transplant Games’, organised by the Non-Government Organisation (NGO), Narmada Kidney Foundation, for the fifth consecutive year. The Games were held at Goregaon.

Transplant Games 2012 by Narmada Kidney FoundationAs per estimates, about 200 patients from across the length and breadth of the country participated in the Transplant Games held on Sunday. Dr Bharat Shah, founder of the Foundation said, “This is one of the most emotionally overwhelming events for us. It is such a pride and pleasure to watch the enthusiasts coming from different parts of the country to participate in the Games. This event has been inspiring not only many potential recipients and donors, but also the Foundation to keep working in this direction relentlessly.”

The Transplant Games 2012 encapsulated outdoor and indoor games, especially organised for the transplant recipients and the organ donors. The objective of these Games is to demonstrate the success of organ transplantation and paint a big, positive and hopeful picture for the future donors and transplant patients. The Games underscore the significance of care, compassion and contribution.

Dr Shah further added, “Every year, approximately four lakh people are diagnosed with the last stage of acute kidney failures, of which only 4,000 patients are fortunate to get a kidney transplant. Approximately 10,000 patients are put at the helm of dialysis, which is an expensive modality with poor quality of life and poor long term survival. The approximate cost of dialysis is Rs 25,000 per month and the cost keeps increasing with the passing time for the patient.”

Approximately 2,000 patients on dialysis are waiting to receive kidney transplant in Mumbai alone. At the current rate, it would take 10 to 15 years for a dialysis patient on the cadaver wait list to receive a transplant. The present situation is alarming, as many patients would exhaust their resources on dialysis when they have their turn for a transplant. There are patients to tell their own stories of struggle, suffering and fighting for the life merely waiting for the day when they would be able to receive a transplant of the critical organ, like kidneys.

(Pictures courtesy Narmada Kidney Foundation)

 

Exit mobile version