“Welcome to the garden city….”

“Welcome to the garden city….”

It’s a Sunday morning routine for me and my father to go out for a long walk. In most occasions we would trail down the forest path (yup! a forest path!), which is close to our house but when we find ourselves low on humor, we take a ride to the city. After adding more carbon to the atmosphere than the oxygen we intake, we take a walk in the green zone in the centre of the city. Well we excuse ourselves of doing the 'intelligent' thing of ‘driving to walk’ by looking at our fellow carbon debtors (walkers) who do this on a day to day basis.

As we start the walk we start getting the right reasons for the all the effort we have taken to reach this humor zone. In the first round we are enthralled by the early walkers and their free style walking.  The dearth of green spaces in Bangalore becomes evident in the first round itself. It will seem like half of early risers of Bangalore have landed up there. Walking here is a real good exercise, after all it’s an obstacle race! People of every speed, shape and mood take their turns to make you lose the damned monotony of rhythmic steps. Those who keep their ear drums busy with music, miss a lot here. Even the passing voices are like an index to an open source Wikipedia. If this is boring then you have the pleasure of seeing the disco parade of the walkers with their limb movements in every possible direction. The good part of the disco parade is that they make other walkers to participate in the parade once in a while– otherwise the walkers risk being hit by one of the free flowing limbs.  

As the walk continues, if your glance easies out to the sides, you are in for a treat. A man with a packet of sugar, moving around sprinkling it, will catch your eyes and if you take a jovial guess of what he is up to, you will not be wrong – he is actually feeding the ants! Well we can’t be too nosy about this man’s activity, there are others waiting to amaze us. Along with the ant feeders there are crow feeders, dog feeders and such others who dot the walking path.

There are zones for each activity but being amidst the botanical wonder it’s easy to forget the cultural dimension – ‘The Hindu Sprit’! Our ancestors being the brainy chaps, they made sure that every aspect of nature is respected and conserved and thus every flora and fauna found its association with the gods. This spirit is celebrated here, thus don’t be surprised to see a peepal tree being decked up affectionately! Don’t be baffled if a fellow walker deviates and starts going around a tree, that’s their path of walk for the day!

Then there is a breed of intense observers who will be concentrating on a small dew on a small petal – they are the early morning lens men with their shutter open to catch the theme of early morning – ‘freshness’. As the cameras click away in leisure, it’s a busy morning for a vegetable vendor as he reminds the walkers that kitchen at home needs ammunition for the day and just beside him is a young chap ushering the walkers to a stall that he has established to sell a green juice which he claims is a remedy for all the medical challenges! Well, each one has its takers and thus they show up without a break at the break of dawn.

Every step of every walker has a story of its own, there is a dragged step bogged down by the spirit it carries, there is a lethargic step still coveting a good bed, there is a spirited step of a bogged down body but an awakened mind, there is a step seeking health, there is a step eager to meet somebody. Although the romantic dribbling steps of couples are rare in the hour we visit the green heaven, but the carvings on the trees give enough clues of the sumptuousness of the steps at a different hour.

There are several serene locations here and the morning sun paints a picture in the lake which is amidst this green haven and walking by it, is an experience of its own. It’s a lonely surge amidst nature and as soon as the lake is out of sight the sprouting population of walkers comes to our senses.  For the regular visitors to this Eden garden, the inner zones or the ‘addas’ are the real attraction. These addas become debating clubs, cult meets, in law bashing zones and many more depending on the choice of the birds that flock together. The groups that are most noticeable are the laughing clubs. The laugh starts like a Mexican wave and grows infectiously (at least enough to make you smile)!

As the walking hours draw to a close and the walkers pack off, a new bunch would have already descended – the leisure Sunday picnic gang. Their hour is announced by the aroma of the Biryani carried by the Muslim folk who are regulars in this garden commissioned and completed by the Muslim sultans who ruled around these areas. The Sultans of the yester years knew well to create public places for leisure and social intercourse, this is where the society breathes afresh.  

If Bangalore were to be challenged for its title as the garden city of India due to its growing contribution towards garbage, the only cards it can throw out to win the bet will be the two dazzling beauties in the heart of the city – Lal Bagh and Cubbon park. They are the two lungs that still make the city come alive and the more enriched amongst these twins is the Lal Bagh – our Sunday escape, the Eden of walkers, the paradise amidst the crumbling blocks… the space which imparts sense to the sign boards that call out ……“Welcome to the garden city of India!”…