Withering leaves of various shades of green on a wintry morning is a poetic sight that might remind you of The Last Leaf but it’s not the crowd in Chacha Nehru Park that gets the best view of the place; it’s the motorists and pedestrians passing by the NMDC-route towards Masab Tank who’re offered a glimpse of the green splendour in entirety. The park that greets you with a visual relief to the busy Masab Tank-corridor has been an integral element of a resident’s lifestyle across Vijayanagar Colony, Ahmed Nagar and Banjara Hills areas for over three decades now.
- Where: Masab Tank
- Entrance: ₹5
- Time: 5 am- 8 pm
At 5 am, one is rather surprised by the crowd density — an occasional jogger murmuring ‘side side’, a section feeding pigeons, some using yoga mats for an early morning fitness session, a couple readying for a ‘surya namaskar’ and students gearing up for karate/boxing classes all under the open expanse. One wouldn’t find a better sight to describe the pace and the vibe of the city.
Though time and urbanisation bring innumerable changes to the dimension of a city, this is one side of Masab Tank that has stood the test of time. From newspaper reading to sipping a glass of a honey-dipped lemon water in the later morning to sports and experiencing solitude sitting by the bench, not much has changed for a visitor over the years besides the transition of a jogger’s walkman to his/her smartphone now. The palm trees in the either ends of the joggers pathway form a surreal backdrop to a park that houses a sporadically open mini-canteen as well. The coaching academies in an alternate section of the park is widely frequented by football, cricket and tennis junkies.
While the mornings are about diversity, the evenings are about joyous family time and some energy — they’re complete only with a session of casual badminton and frisbee as the chaiwalas drop by to give some fuel to the atmosphere. There’s not a better place to end a tired day, the park offers all the calm to dumb down the chaos in the life of an urban resident. The Masab Tank lake lends a painting-like view to the park, the once well-maintained water stream isn’t in a great shape now. This being a section of park, that in its early years was connected to the road through an alterior entrance. The issue with the park is also with its children section that’s in dire need of a revamp. Meanwhile during the monsoons, it takes barely a shower to transform it into a muddy mess and not much is done in time to make life easier for a visitor soon.
