Breathing Space

In the present fast paced world where do people head to take a breather? Working on clamped up schedules, the only place where people find solace these days are none other than our very own ‘mall’ down the road. The place for recreation and may be for an evening walk too has changed and it is not surprising that the number of malls might be slightly greater than that of parks and other recreational open spaces. Barring a few parks in plush locales the parks are shoddily maintained and the concept of spending some quality time around lush green trees and pure air has totally vanished. As for the fit brigade of people there are some joggers parks here and there, but mostly they prefer their swanky gyms with sophisticated tread mills and for those who don’t hit the gym; they use the roads as their jogging track. In this concrete jungle, it is essential that the few open spaces can be tapped up by the BMC and developed as a park or a garden. One of the recent parks that has come up is opposite inorbit where there has been shrewd utilization of open land, and although there was a slight delay the residents of the goregaon-malad belt near inorbit have their very own park! The work done is impressive considering this was previously a dumping ground and the park is much bigger than what it seems at first glance.Local resident Sanskar Jain says “This is a pleasant treat for all of us.Our area did not have a garden and it was about time we had something like this.I like to hangout with my friends in the evenings here and you don’t know how time passes by”.There is a separate jogger’s track with a wide variety trees and shrubs surrounding it and an array of beautiful flowers crowning the sides of the walk.”It wasn’t easy jogging on the backroad as the surface is uneven.But because of this park,jogging is fun,as I just plug my i-pod and start running”says Omkar Shibad another regular at this park. It’s truly out of the world as you feel lost in nature’s beauty. Benches and grass meadows are a welcome treat to families who come with their children-a sight which is so encouraging as the kids these days are attracted to gaming arcades.The security guards usually have their work cut out as there are maximum number of visitors during the weekends and holidays.”Generally,new complexes that have come up have their own gardens but it doesn’t match up to the size of this one.I go to both my society’s garden as well as this one”quote from another resident in the area. Attracting the young and the old this park should be taken as a benchmark for the foundation of new parks, as people don’t mind paying a minimal entry fee for some peace and quiet.There is also another garden opening up near this one so things are looking bright.The local residents who use the back road for their morning walks and yoga exercises are thoroughly enjoying this experience and if properly maintained the spirit of public parks will live on and it rightly should.