And interestingly, the current name “Jamun Wala Park” has been derived from a park of the same name which once upon a time used to exist in the very same place and it was in the memory of that park owing to which this name was chosen.
It won’t be wrong to say that this park quite peculiarly showed, in times of its wreckage, what can be described as the much negatively popular and grinding gap between the rich and the poor section of the society.
With practically a ton of garbage; responsible for unimaginable kinds of stinks, this park was nothing short of a propounding mess which was culminating into a menace with the passing days and was becoming a nuisance for the people.
However, it was one fine Sunday morning when things took a swift turn for the good and in no time bulldozers could be seen in the park rolling and doing their job with a scalable sense of accountability.
Thus, after putting about 2 months of hard-work and concrete efforts the people got something which can be described as a clean, refreshing and lively park for themselves where they could take an evening walk with their loved ones or go on a little jogging session in the fine warm mornings and do so much more.
And, now the very same park which was once a mess, promised a very immense scope of things for the people which could be done there.
If one visits this park, then they will come across many boards depicting its inglorious past in the form of before and after visual imagery. However, in the present context, the park is quite beautiful with exciting props and clean, precise pathways forged for the people. The inner walls of the park have been curiously painted exciting a vivid plethora of emotions in one’s mind and being.
Not just that, this park also has a library for itself placed under one of the gazebos and has been named “Book Mahal” and rightly so as it has been stuffed with a lot of books and novels like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Silk Worm by Robert Galbraith which is none other than the new pseudonym for the much critically acclaimed author J.K. Rowling, is also present. Apart from the children story books, there are many other pieces of literature including the Holy Quran, The Geeta, Limca Book of Records and our Indian epic – The Mahabharata itself.
Talking about the aura of the park we can say that it lies and fructifies in the presence of the children who can be seen having fun and prancing around especially in the evening. And what is quite interesting is that at the same time the option of reading good books is always open to them via Book Mahal which is responsible for developing their character and for their holistic development guiding them in the right direction in life.
“Reading is dreaming with eyes open” is a quote which has been embossed on one of the hoardings of the Book Mahal and depicts the very purpose of its presence in the park.
The Book Mahal is an initiative by an NGO named “AAROHAN” founded with the motive and primary goal to eradicate illiteracy which according to its philosophy is the root cause of great social evils – unemployment, poverty, and child abuse.
The purpose of this organization is to make children self-reliant and for them, one of the greatest ways of doing that is through accumulating knowledge and quite, fortunately, this approach has been proved dramatically successful for them.
Venturing towards the culmination of our topic it can be said that the people, especially the children got what they deserved – finally, and for the good.
Currently, the park spreads in an immense area of about 95,000 square feet with good facilities for the children and adults alike.
The park also boasts of a sewage treating plant, LED lights, open gym, swings and gazebos, disabled-friendly ramps so that differently abled people can also enjoy the environment of the park which makes it a great place for the locals to visit and spend some time in the clean and fresh environment of the park.
People can be seen sitting around in groups and jutting out all the tiredness of the day’s work in the healthy environment of the park.
An initiative by the Select City Walk Mall and AAROHAN this park is what can be considered the missing factor of the people residing there.
When asked how did the people felt about the park, Ricky a 14-year old child assailed a uniquely interesting package of the story.
According to him, the overall condition before this park happened, was not quite good. In those times one could see huge heaps of garbage harbouring all sorts of rodents and diseases in them. He even got to the extent of saying that there were also some snakes to which his friend, Vikram, a 15-year old testified in affirmative.
And when asked that, “How did they felt coming to the park in the evening after school?”
His answer was quite unbiased and regular – that they enjoyed the park in all its spirit. However, they weren’t allowed to play cricket so as not to harm the people and the grass with their sixers and fours. Otherwise, he was quite content with the times they spent together in the park. He also said that there were a bunch of extra-curricular activities from AAROHAN like dance classes and art classes which aimed for the holistic development of children.
“If it wasn’t for ARROHAN then these kids wouldn’t have got the opportunity to grow in such an enjoyable way where they can learn so much from these books” were the words of Sonu who has the task of managing the children. According to him many children who came there were from government schools and as the quality of education in such schools was not up to the mark the Book Mahal provided quite a good substitute for that if not in a full-fledged then at least in a partial way.
When the children don’t read or are in the mood of having more fun than reading and learning and sometimes when also they create nuisance then it is Sonu there who guides them.
He feels that beating children in the name of discipline is not the solution to the problem rather it flares up or aggravates the problem up to much extent.
And all this provided an opportunity where there was no differentiation on the basis of colour, caste or religion. Hindu, Muslims and Afghani children can be seen quietly reading in the park. It is also a great opportunity for those parents who want their children to learn something extra from the daily routine of school going. And the best part is that there is not any kind of safety issue for the boy and girl child alike. All due to AAROHAN & Select City Walk because it wasn’t for them then perhaps the people wouldn’t have got such a lively park. In short, we can say that it has proven to be the kind of park that opened plethora of possibilities for children.
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