The LalBagh Walk

Not a very impressive title for a blog, agreed. But I dint know what else to call the experience.
Am a Bangalorean , born brought up here and all the beautiful parks in Bangalore were a part of my upbringing. You cannot live in Bangalore and avoid Parks.. impossible. Lalbagh and Cubbon Park happen to be the most popular and huge in terms of size and vegetation.
LalBagh is 200 odd Acres of Botanical paradise, containing a variety of exotic plants and ferns. And the best part is that it is in the heart of the city. It is a haven for joggers and exercise freaks. It is a meeting point for all the senior citizens, picnic spot for screaming kids and a good place to catch up. MTR is right next to the park , no wonder people who try to lose weight by sweating it out all morning are not too successful. After the morning jog, if you just go and order a Masala Dosa dripping in ghee , you really cannot hope to lose even a milligram.
The photographer in me , all of a sudden , in a burst of creativity , wanted to take “Nature Pics” ( O come on, I live in Bangalore… the closest I can get to nature is when am in one of the parks). So I hurry my parents into the car and we reach LalBagh at 6:45 in the evening. A wasted evening in my opinion. There wasn’t enough light to even see the bats there. Was fuming , before I could take even a couple of pics there was no light.
To work the frustration out, I just kept walking , reached the glass house which was lit. People milling all around, kids screaming, smiling, laughing, eating ice creams. They were the simple pleasures which I had almost forgotten. Days which were long forgotten, days of sunshine, sweet smelling grass and a ball. The days, when we used to go to Lalbagh as kids. In those days we had nothing else to do in Bangalore and the major eating joints were UD and MTR. Every summer a bunch of us cousins used to be taken to LalBagh as a treat, after the exam results. The whole day of feeding the rabbits and deer. Boating in the lake, rolling about in the grass, chasing each other. The day was complete when we were allowed to eat any amount of ice creams and chocolates we wanted. Puuuurrrrrrrrrrffect !!! Simple very simple …
There was a phase in between when I was this very diffident teenager. I needed to lose weight and look stick thin and wear “fashionable clothes” and the coolest thing to do then was to rush to Lalbagh with a couple of friends and jog. We always ended up doing almost nothing but chatting and giggling. Then came a phase where we just used to go to Lalbagh to see all the beautiful flower shows and generally to hang out, meet up, spend some time together.
The location of the park is really unique, it’s like the city has built itself around it. You can hear the roaring traffic outside the walls of the park, but there is a special stillness which creeps in when you are inside. It like you have entered another world and you are being rude if u make a sound. It is a living breathing entity which has its own calm personality.
Come to think of it Lalbagh has been an integral part of my life in Bangalore. There are memories which will never go away. Golden, beautiful days filled with sunshine which never will be forgotten. Dint get the pics I wanted but had a good walk down the memory lane.