Park

In the past 1 year I have added pounds of flesh owing to the renovation of the park .It was a cool,shady, quiet and green expanse in the heart of bustling Chennai.All the middle aged people living nearby trod it regularily and majestically to shed extra flab,to de stress , to socialise and to meditate.

It was a lovely stretch of greenery with lofty trees and green lawns that reminded me of ooty and Kodaikanal. Fountains sprinkled water and rows and rows of flowering plants bordered the lawns.I could watch butterflies flitting around,clear the problems creasing my brow undisturbed and connect with nature and rejenuvate my flagging spirits.

All this turned topsy turvy when the Corporation cast its evil eye and descended with axes to chop of those friendly trees in name of renovation.Most of the walkers fled the scene and started trampling in a smaller park few kms away.I stuck on to my favourite green space though half of it was denuded by then.Walking in the park now was more or less like taking part in a obstacle race since the Corporation workers had dug up the well paved walk ways with vengence and had dumped the rubbish on the path!Uncowed by all these hurdles but all the while regretting all this wanton destruction I perseved and continued with my morning constitutional.

One day a strange smell emanated from the park .I saw 2 bulldozers on the rampage .They were busily shovelling and dumping the filth cleared from nearby sewers and from the faraway river bed of 'Cooum' the mega open drain of Chennai on the lawns .

The once lovely park became a nasty stinking place .That was the last straw and I lost my nerve and didn't visit it there after.

Now suddenly, after the park groaned and reeled under the uncalled for degradation nearly for a year with the Corporation going of into hibernation there is a bee hive of activity.Walk ways are being laid and red soil being strewn around and platforms are being raised. All this is in readiness to host the grand old man's daughter's pet project Chennai Sangamam to be held during Pongal.

The ruthless felling of trees and raising concrete platforms in name of beautification is to provide a stage for the scion to hold her annual mela and launch her to a promising political career.In the process the tax paying middle class who have been unceremoniously dislodged from their favourite walking space now trudge pathetically along dirty narrow roads dodging speeding motorists,and filling their lungs with black smoke .Middle aged women in their incongruous sports shoes and sarees and balding men in bermudas march on obeying the doctors advise to shed sedentary habits to keep their BP and sugar in control, cursing their fate for being born into the middle class that props up the populist moves of the politicians by sincerely paying taxes but is visited by ennui on polling days.