Gonna Take a Walk

A couple of weeks back, something struck my mind and I decided to visit Cubbon Park early morning at 6 A.M. Cubbon Park, the other lung of Bangalore, is a great boon to Bangaloreans, with the city expanding at a rapid pace these days. This is one place, which replicates peace and calmness on earth early morning for those who go for a saunter under the tree canopies and beautiful tree avenues. Its vast stretches of celestial green look form an elegant backdrop for the public buildings like the Memorial Library and the stately Vidhana Soudha.

Morning time is more refreshing and energizing as one finds both the animate and inanimate stirred by the vibrant rays of the run. Men and women walking in tandem making the best use of the branded sneakers, 'Common Nike, Reebok and Addidas ko deekhado' or use the permutations for the placement of the three words, Nike, Reebok and Addidas in the order of your choice. Few people practising yoga stretching and flexing their muscles and trying poses called surya namaskar is a very common sight.

While straying through the park, the eye glances over many exotic and indigenous flowering trees and the avians. Known after Sir Mark Cubbon, the celebrated Chief Commissioner of Mysore, the park was initially known as 'Meades Park' after John Meade, the then acting commissioner of Mysore. But later this was renamed as Chamarajendra Park in 1927. Sprawling over 240 acres, Cubbon Park is a heaven on earth for Banglorites.

Few people call this 'pagoda flower' or the 'wat flower' but the name by which I know this is 'champa'. I have seen women in South India and in Eastern part of India, placing the closed buds of this flower in their lustrous black hair, either plucked from the garden or having got the same on a visit to a temple. In the course of the day the flowers bloom completely, releasing their typical divine fragrance both for the individual to enjoy as well as those in the immediate environment.

The cutting down of trees for widening of roads, laying the metro railway service and construction of fly-overs, dwindling of water table and tanks and shrinking of park spaces due to encroachment have all contributed to the receding greenery in Bangalore. Even the verdant environs of Cubbon are not spared. With the permission of the guard who was brushing his teeth, I entered inside the perimeter of a small pond where the ducks were floating leisurely. I later learnt that this pond is turning to dangerous habitat for these innocent creatures as a sewage pipe runs close to this pond and decants drosses into the pond.

But still amidst all these allegations and counter allegations, attack and counter attacks Bangaloreans can proudly proclaim that this is one of the best metropolis in India. I really feel sorry for those people who keep complaining that the city is deteriorating in terms of the greenery stretch. Yes, it is definitely not the B'lore of yesteryears, with globalization touching every tentacle and appendage of life. What we are seeing is the dark side of the growth, the blunder side of globalization. But what have those who complain about the loss of greenery done, why can't each of these fellows go and plant a tree in their backyards or in their apartment complex or in their residential complex or in a nearby park. In this regard, I really appreciate the work undertaken by corporates and firms who have constructed and maintained green islands and small parks at various locations in and around the city. Many school kids and students from different institutes are also voicing their support for the preservation of greenery in my garden city.

The vibrant Gulmohar (flame of the forest tree) is what greets the joggers in this park. To me the most gratifying site was that of kids running here and there under the canopy of the gulmohar trees, to be intersected in their playful activities by elderly couples walking hastily with their pet dogs.

The mauve jacaranda blooming in joyous abandon amid the red gulmohar, and its carpet of petals early morning makes one crave for a long walk. But making sure that the fine spun natural rug on the ground is not disturbed. The entire environ is embellished with some shade, in cool shades of pinks and purples, or for that matter think of any color and you can find it there.

Somehow time passed by and by then I had spent 2 hours in the early morning on a lazy Sunday morning. I walked towards the K.C.Das outlet on Church Street to have poori and alu along with a cup of tea but then the shop was closed since it was pretty early in the morning.

Well then some other time but the visit to the park in the morning was worthwhile, as I don't like crowd. I make my visits to these places before the crowd plunges in when the city life comes into force as the day grows.

For this short and fulflling visit ek chota sa khayal

silence is there.
but then the curl of the hearing widens.
purple jacaranda filtering the morning breeze,
the birds twitter,
life slowly unrolls
and blend into groundbass....

daily life takes its depth, mantle and proportions
but the woods still stand there,
to reveal the secrets and signs,
move ahead take life as it comes.

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