June 07, 2005

Nehru Park

This morning, Dad, Sis and I went to Nehru Park for a walk. Situated near Chankayapuri, this park has been a favorite haunt for my family for over 20 years. When we were little, Mom and Dad used to carry us and a basket of stuff to this park for a picnic. They used to go on bicycles before Dad bought a car.

Soon, we were able to contribute by packing the basket ourselves. One old double bedcover, some newspaper, plates, spoons and tissues, and whatever food Mom had prepared for the picnic. We had out favourite shady trees under which we would sit, and the edge of the little lake offered a good place to walk. There was a cluster of Champa trees that offered a miniature climbing challenge, and some fifteen-foot-high hillocks tempted us to roll down their grassy slopes.

After lunch and a nap, we played the official family game, where each member was given a bedcover ride one by one. You could sit merrily on the bedcover while the three others pulled at one side of the bedcover and dragged you down a slope. The bedcover developed un-washable grass stains, but who cares?

We laughed and ran and skipped and fought and yelled and napped and grew up in Nehru Park. I wonder of families go for impromptu picnics these days. We still do. They are so much more fun than a trip to the mall.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haf fallen in love with your fambly.

shub said...

for us it used to be moonlit dinners on terrace every other full moon day:)
shud do that again. soon. Thanks for the gentle reminder, inky! :) hope the jello fever's shooed away fully! :)

First Rain said...

We had the Deer Park close to our home. The park has the remains of a fort from the Feroz Shah Tughlaq - Allaudin Khilji era. I remember playing chuppan-chupai (hide n seek) all through the morning during summer holidays there. Imagining a whole new world among the broken stone stairs, dark hidden alcoves, rusted iron gates which we used to climb over, a small forest of lush green trees and a lake. Those mornings seemed to jump right out of a Famous Five adventure. And then inside, over the lake there was a stone bridge with round steps - you can't imagine how many times I've come close to falling off that :) Memories!

btw Hope you are doing well now.

Ink Spill said...

@First Rain: Hey, Deer Park was our haunt #2! Lovely, lovely place. Loved the ducks and the rabbits most of all.

And peoples, the jello is all gone! :)

First Rain said...

Hey that's cool! I remember there was a Nilgai antelope there once and I could not for the life of me understand why was it called Nilgai when it was all brown in colour! :) Silly lil me.

Nice to know you are a-OK now.

SwB said...

hey inkspill.. how ya doin?

Anonymous said...

sounds like a dream Inky.

Parna

Anonymous said...

:)

Mirage said...

Nehru Park holds memories for me too...some good, some not-so-good! I go there for walks while mom does her yoga. dad usually comes round to pick us up. but we never had those impromptu picnics like u guys, even tho we've stayed really close almost all our lives. guess everyone's just grown up and gotten on with their lives...i'm the only one lingering on...