Everybody has a place dear to them during their growing up years.
Shivaji Park is etched in the memory of my past, present and hopefully at least the near future.
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Having lived in Matunga all my life, Shivaji Park has been the go-to place, be it on every mid-week holiday (most Mahim-Matunga schools have it), every summer vacation as a child, for teenage romance getaways and now in the evenings when the job allows that rare spare time.
The squeaky slides in the kids’ park, the sound of laughter springing from the group of dentures in the senior citizens’ park, the soiled, white clothes of future Sachin Tendulkars practising master strokes, the smell of mud after the first monsoon showers, the golawalla at the corner, the Mangola-potato chips-eclairs picnics are some of memories painted around this place called Shivaji Park.
Urged to write about Park or SP (as most people in the area call it) are the recent changes it has gone through. And yes, this is no PR exercise for the BMC.
For as long as I can remember, it did not have any dustbins, making visitors litter. The BMC, some years back, erected a huge board near one of the entrances listing the fines for littering. With no dustbin in sight, the board had a heap of garbage right at its feet. Recently, little silver bins have been placed, looking at which I can’t stop smiling. BMC just gave my tirade against littering a shiny boost, or so I’d like to think.
New metal benches lining a selected section of the playground see a competition among couples as well as senior citizens waiting to rest their derrieres while watching young boys kick ball. It’s fun to see how there’s literally a race to get to the benches facing the ground.
The air seems to have got a quaint touch, thanks to the pretty, black lampposts around the ground. They don’t exactly serve the purpose of lighting the area brightly but do add to the path’s beauty. The newly-laid tiles and distance signages make for a pleasurable walking experience.
One step in the beautification plan that hasn’t gone down too well with me is the fencing around the trees on the walking path. Protecting trees may have been the idea, but railings that encroach upon the walking space is not done. The ‘katta’, or sitting area, has been painted a bright green and happy yellow adding to the park’s attractiveness. I even came across a board the BMC has put up enlisting the phases of development and beautification. Seems we’re likely to see changes that’ll influence the memories of the generations to come.
These changes haven’t messed with the park’s soul. It offers everyone something to cheer, be it the sports enthusiast, or the toddler taking his/her first step, the nana-nanis, the budding lovers and also the happily married.
Even I’m not complaining as I have got new reasons to enjoy quiet evenings there and make new memories.
So, what is your Shivaji Park memory?
