Swarn Jayanti Park Indirapuram

Visiting the Swarn Jayanti Park in the October mornings is a beautiful experience. The Park is a boon to the residents of Indirapuram area. It is quite big but not expansive. You can take a round of the Park in about twenty minutes walking with a reasonable brisk pace along the outer most pathway which covers almost the entire area  but is not exactly circular. Men, women and even children walk. There is an area earmarked as Play Area, where mostly children entertain  either themselves or through their indulging parents or grandparents. There are rushes and swings too. Perhaps this area is more in use in the afternoons or evenings when children are more free from their schools and tuitions . By the side of this play area  there is a musical fountain,  which spews water perhaps in different colours and in different pitches, usually  in the summer evenings. In the month of October it is, however, dry. There are busts of eminent  people who contributed significantly in the freedom struggle of India.Incidentally, these are only female busts. Rani of Jhansi, Kasturba Gandhi,Sarojini Naudu, Anne Besant, Meera Ben and many other well-known and lesser known  women  have their busts there adorning the inner perimeter of the Park. The Rani of Jhansi occupies a place of prominence. Her bust on a horseback is the tallest and is located centrally. A brief description of what they contributed is given underneath each bust making a visit to the Park an educative exercise as well. At one corner,  there is a restaurant selling tea, coffee and soft drinks.Cool drinking water is also available  at a water-cooler.For a change, the Park is not without toilet facilities which I sincerely hope, are of a reasonably adequate standard. I have not used any till the time of writing but I hope they are. Then there are  sculptured representations of animals at different places some of them carrying cans for collecting garbage. There are kangaroos and pelicans and tigers and bears all giving an amusing look .A portion of the park  which is closed is marked as 'Ghaziabad Haat'.May be it is aimed at emulating the Delhi Haat which, of late has become fairly popular amongst  the young upwardly mobile Delhites.The Park boasts of a number of trees also. Unfortunately I am not a person who would like to know their species or genres. Unlike a botany man I just enjoy the company of trees without bothering which species they belong to.The trees are not tall but have a promise. In years to come they would become  highrise, shade- giving and flush with leaves. Of course, they will not be fruit-bearing, for then they may create a problem of disposal of the government property leading to calling for bids and tenders and consequently to corruption.
People do yoga exercises, laugh out loudly(this too is some exercise, they say).At one corner RSS people hold a SAKHA i.e.doing  physical exercises and chanting  'sada vatsla matribhumi'...etc. There are a few enclaves where women do yoga exercises. perhaps they bond more cohesively while stretching limbs.
For me the Park provides a place to walk in the mornings full of oxygen and the morning sunlight highly conducive to generating vitamin D in our bodies,which is a natural anti-dote to cancer as some websites would like you to believe.
The problem is how to reach there from my place of residence.If I walk down from where I stay, I am considerably tired by the time I reach there. And a tired man can not enjoy either the walk or the sunlight or the trees. Going by the car is an option but that works out rather expensive given the steep hikes in  petrol prices that the oil companies have been effecting  at  regular intervals. On top of that one is always mindful of the safety of the vehicle, given the rampant car thefts north India is notorious for. How can you enjoy a walk or for that matter anything when your mind is preoccupied with something as important as the safety of your vehicle?I am going by car these days but I don't know for how long I can afford this little luxury.