Soft targets?

The red tiled footpaths contrasts very well with the abutting greenery.The highly polished granite topped benches mirror the sky above and look sleek and inviting .But the profusion of metal chairs ,placed in every nook and corner,makes the newly renovated park look more like a railway platform. There are more faces to be seen than foliage.

Earlier this green space though situated right at the heart of the bustling metropolis had a charming privacy of its own,but now with the new clear cut design ,it has become another public place buzzing with activities.

The sculpture of a child showing his back greets the visitor. And the pride of the place is occupied by a granite tablet that trumpets the most notable achievement of the doctor whose name the park bears.

I am in the habit of reading every signboard that comes my way.And if it is a plaque or engraving regarding the history of a person or place or monument even wild horses cannot tear me away from them .

On my first visit to this park several years earlier I went up to the engraving beneath the bust of the personage, eagerly to learn about the noble deeds of the Dr ,whose name the park bears ,imagining them to be in the class of Dr Kotnis or Dr Albert Schweitzer . I was in for a rude shock.

The engraving very plainly stated, leaving nothing to imagination that the park was built in the memory of a man who was in the forefront of leading agitations in the last century ,hold on ,not against the occupation of the British but against the domination of Brahmins!

Now ,after renovation the words have been slightly altered .A plain reading suggests that Brahmins are not Tamils!

The deafening noise of an aircraft flying low has subsided but the droning ,continues!