Parks of Noida

If there’s one thing we can be grateful for whilst living in Noida, it is to the town planners for the generous tracts of land that they have allocated as open spaces. Commonly referred to by the generic term ‘parks’, such open areas consist of neighbourhood parks, playgrounds & sporting grounds, recreational parks, city forests, bio diversity parks and memorials.

Noida Authority in the master plan for 2031 has envisaged the following types of parks: Recreational Greens, Parks and Play Grounds, & Green Belts with almost all sectors having a provision of 10-12% for such usage. Presently existing at an institutional level is the sports complex in sector21A, Golf Course in sector 38 and the Botanical Garden in sector 38A.

Although large chunks of land have been left for such usage, as a city, their development leaves much to be desired and remains a study in contrast between the excellent and the ugly. Take for instance the Shaheed Smark in Sector 29, which is a war memorial dedicated to the memory of our brave countrymen who laid down their lives whilst defending the nation. Extremely well maintained and in pristine condition, this memorial carries the hallmark of an Army institution, all spit and polish in place. The memorial itself is a mark of respect, and true to the spirit of a memorial a strict code of conduct is maintained over the decorum of visitors, so as to maintain the sombre spirit of a memorial. An picturesque walking track, with excellent flora and fauna, benches dotting the walking track, and subdued lighting makes it a pleasure to visit this Smarak, and pause a while to think about our departed heroes.

Another memorial, the Dalit pride park or the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal, a project of the former CM of Uttar Pradesh, unfortunately evokes no such emotion. Created by clearing 84 acres of pristine forest land, felling 6000 trees, the gargantuan structure raised here replicating Victoria Memorial of Kolkata, remains the nemesis of this city.

A few hundred yards away from the Shaheed Smark of Sector 29, is one of the best located parks of the area in Sector 30, commonly known as the C block park of Sector 30. By contrast to the Sector 29 Smarak, this neighbourhood park is no man’s land, remains bereft of vegetation, brown, dusty and dirty. Forsaken by the community that resides around it, and apathetic maintenance by the Noida Authority, this park is open season to all and sundry for any and all activity. During the day hanger ons and vagabonds, in the early evening boys from other sectors playing cricket and football on grass that’s meant to be a lawn, in the evening children with more ayas than children, and later evening, a den for drinking and romantic liaisons.

Moving to Sector 40, an abundance of open area, with land allocated for play fields such as cricket and football, but nary a sign of a pitch or a goalpost. Lost and forlorn with overgrown grass these huge patches of land lie in disuse. The other parks in this sector too, carry the same trademark in addition to the colony’s garbage being dumped on the roads outside the parks.

 

Most sectors have strips of green belts contiguous to the residential areas, creating a green buffer between the sectors and noisy roads; but the concept of a city forest is by far the most interesting. Sector 54 is one such area, a man made forest, comprising of 70 hectares of land. This forest provides the carbon dioxide exchange we so desperately require to purify our city’s ever increasing polluted air. In nearby Sector 62, the D park ( so named because its shape replicates the alphabet D) of comprising of 19 acres of land, has been planned as a leisure park, but has yet to take off and carries the trademark of other parks, forlorn and abandoned.

Needless to say the town planners have done their job, i.e. allocating the scarce resource of land for  purposes of ‘parks’, so why have we not been able to realize its true potential? Why is it that the Shaheed Smarak is an example of excellence, and the sector parks, the ultimate in neglect?

The most obvious and apparent reason is the lack of ownership (not physical) i.e. in the planning and upkeep & maintenance of such community resources. History is replete with examples of how resources such as water which once belonged to the community, was used with utmost care. Once it became a resource delivered through the tap, with no idea from where it came and how scarce it is, the community factor was lost, and thereby treated as the government’s responsibility to deliver it to the consumers. Similarly, community facilities such as parks are being managed by local governing bodies, who take decisions and do deeds without the consent of community it is meant for, thereby making the facility  no one’s baby.

The essence is to empower the community to maintain and develop common facilities mean for them. If they do it well they enjoy the fruits of their involvement, and done poorly, they have no one to blame but themselves.

To achieve such an end, the RWA of sectors have to take initiative, and involve residents to devote their energies toward the developmental needs of the area they reside in. Unfortunately RWA’s are just not focused on such matters, their office bearers intoxicated in the pomposity of their status have absolved themselves of leadership and responsibility on such ‘mundane issues’ as parks, thereby leaving the residents to fend for themselves.

It is obvious, if we want a quantum improvement in the beautification and upkeep of our parks, like minded residents will have to create work-groups to carry this work forward. In the first instance, the community will have to acquire rights from the Noida Authority to maintain their parks. This would then have to be followed up with the horticulture department, which runs plant nurseries in various sectors, to acquire planting stock for such an exercise. A visit to these nurseries found them barren and empty, and we couldn't get a single shade tree sapling to plant. Thus, to mitigate dependence on any governmental agency, residents can chip in and buy plants from private nurseries, and also receive plants from residents who have abundance in their homes.

Beyond all the official paperwork, planting of trees, perennials, shrubs & flowers should be events encompassing all, from young to old, from 8 to 80, in a carnival like atmosphere, together with tea and snacks to give a community sense to the whole exercise. It’s important to guard against the work being just handed out to the ‘malis’, as that would defeat the purpose of the residents being directly involved.

Whilst it may be easier to get residential sectors motivated for such community upkeep, the larger issue is of greening the city. An enormous amount of land is owned by schools and institutions, either as play fields or just vacant land for expansion. The challenge would be to get them to use their boundaries and vacant areas for afforestation. This would serve a dual purpose, educating the children in greening, and building up a tree bank on their premises. An example of good horticulture is DPS School in Sector 30, which has an expansive garden, lush, green & well laid out. Innovative ways and means will have to be found to motivate institutions, group housing societies and other such bodies to do similar deeds.

Whilst our parks languish in apathy and neglect, waiting for ‘the next person’ to take the first move, the ageing trees and barren parks of Noida urgently need support. These trees, unable to meet the demand of purifying the air, are dying a slow death, and urgent afforestation efforts are needed to save them, our parks, our city and ultimately our health from a downward spiral.

rajeevsuri.cbms@gmail.com

Earth Day

April 22^nd is Earth Day, What is Earth Day?

 Earth Day has its origins in the US in the late 60’s when citizens alarmed at the degradation of their natural resources such as lakes rivers forests etc., began a movement to protect the environment. By 1970, April 22^nd officially came to be called the Earth Day, and as the movement grew, The United Nations in 2009 officially designated April 22 as the International Earth Day. Earth Day has now grown into a global movement with the participation of 192 nations around the world, to recognize and encourage environmental protection efforts, and bind disparate people and countries together in a common cause. Earth Day is now celebrated every year by more than a billion people across the globe.

This year, people all around the world marked Earth Day yesterday, April 22^nd by planting trees, cleaning up parks, rivers and lakes and so on.  However such measures are no longer enough, and Earth Day Networks are now working on growing this movement from single-day actions to long-term commitments, such as focusing on climate change.

Although Earth Day is a single day, each day of the year should be an Earth Day, as important as April 22^nd from the standpoint of the environment. Whilst tree planting cleaning lakes and rivers etc. were the agenda in the earlier days, action has now evolved to encompass many more areas amongst which waste recycling, energy conservation, and climate change have emerged as important focus areas.

How has India responded to the Earth Day Movement? Well, beyond a Google doodle on the search engine’s home page, precious little has been done as a country, and this day went virtually unnoticed. The Green Tribunals and the Environment Ministry have adopted the role of the regulator, rather than mentoring actual measures to protect and conserve our natural resources and environment. A country that is being ravaged and degraded environmentally, actual conservation has not permeated to the grass root level i.e. the children; the inheritors of the planet.

In the US for instance, waste recycling starts in kinder-garden; children along with their class teachers form small group workshops and work together on projects on how to recycle waste generated from their own homes such as plastics, paper and so on. Children are encouraged to think creatively on how to use such waste, and it’s truly amazing at the ideas the kids come up with at their tender age.

In India, energy conservation and efficiency is still in its nascent stages limited to persuading people to switch to CFL bulbs, whereas countries like Japan, Denmark, and Switzerland have incorporated energy efficiency in all walks of life. Global warming commonly referred to as climate change can checked by a reduction in the use of fossil fuels, and this has been a matter of much debate in the international forums.

Long journeys begin with the baby steps, and whilst we can leave the larger issues to the government, as individuals and communities we can plant trees, conserve electricity, energy & water, pollute less, recycle more and walk where we can. If we adopt such measures, we’d be celebrating Earth Day each day, and not waiting a year for 22^nd April to arrive.

Spring Time !

Flowers in our garden !

THE FINAL SOLUTION

‘The final solution’ exclaimed my friend Kaybee.

I looked at him quizzically; who was he taking about, Hitler, Radovan Karadžić  NaMo, Rajapaksa or had I missed a name of the ethnic cleansers of the world. ‘You mean the Taliban’ I said, whose aim is to make India an Islamic Caliphate... ‘No’ ‘no’ he replied irritably, I’m talking about the stray dogs in our sector.

Thus unfolded the ghoulish plot my friend seemed to be hatching. With almost an evil glint in his eye, and a decidedly wicked smile on his face he said, ‘I’ve thought up of a plan to get rid of all the strays once and for all, the final solution.’ ‘You mean exterminate them?’ I said in horror, it couldn’t be my pal Kaybee talking, mild mannered and gentle who couldn’t hurt a fly, now thinking of culling dogs....’he’s flipping’ I thought. ‘Of course not’ he said startled at my thought process, ‘exterminations are passé, a thing of the past, we now have more sophisticated means at our disposal.’ ‘Like what?’ I asked a tad confused. ‘Music & Food’ he said, ‘a festival for strays’

‘Now listen carefully,’ he said, and espoused his devilishly simple plan.... I wondered what our RWA office bearers would think of it. Have you discussed it with President Dopra? I nervously queried, or Secretary Manga? Or committee member Bhandra? You could get into trouble you know, if you didn’t get their ‘approval’ as the ‘do nothing’ motto of the RWA would be violated.... my voice trailed off... but Kaybee wasn’t listening;

You remember the fable of the Pied Piper who got rid of the rats in the city of Hamelin?’ That’s my plan’ he said. ‘Since the strays have been exported to our sector from the adjacent sectors, and are always hungry, we’d organise dog food camps in those very sectors where we’ll get the dogs to go and feast. The camps will last for a few days, by which time the dogs will get used to being there, and presto! we’ll shut the camps down; mission accomplished!

Not clear on the semantics, I asked ‘but how do we get them there in the first place?’, ‘Ahh now that’s the key’, ‘We’d get a Dhoolak wala, a drum beater to go around the sector, announcing it to the dogs.’ Announce to the dogs? What was Kaybee talking about? ‘He’s finally flipped’ I thought to myself, but carried on the charade, ‘and pray how will the dogs understand?’ ‘That’s an  easy one; we’d rub bacon on the drum, and keep strips of bacon in the back pocket of the drum beater, the dogs intoxicated with the smell of bacon will just follow him to the food camps, like the rats followed the Pied Piper’, he announced triumphantly.

Taken aback I asked weakly, ‘Ok you’ve got them out of the sector, what stops them from coming back?’ With a straight face and a dead pan expression, he said ‘haven’t you noticed the boom barriers our RWA has set up at the sector’s entry gates, with the guards sitting in the centre of the road? Well, we’d ask the guards not to raise the barrier when the dogs want to re enter’!!

I collapsed!! At the time of going to press, my family is still trying to revive me!!

rajeevsuri.cbms@gmail.com

Blowin’ in the wind

14 months ago,

Yes; house hunting can at best can be described as a difficult task, and even more difficult if it’s Noida! No shortage of houses though, with cake icing balconies, haveli like jharoka’s, turrets & towers, gothic baroque structures; glass, steel, more glass, missing is the genre called home, home sweet home, the kind you’d see and instantly want to move into;

So, walking into this prospective home in C block Sector 30......we exchange quizzical glances; “Is this for real?” my wife Aarti asked me, as the fawning broker led us into the house. ‘Hush’, I said, casting a sideways glance to see if the broker has picked up her positive vibrations, but fortunately he was intent in leading us into the house to show us around. We had a pact not to display emotions if we liked a house till we were out and on our own.

This time round, it was a no brainer. After seeing many dozens of houses in various sectors of Noida, and not even entering them, we had finally made up our mind; Yeh ghar kuch ‘simplax’ hai Sir, chortled the broker, but we weren’t listening. We had exchanged that silent eye contact; the special glance between husband and wife, a silent nod, and decided this was the house we were looking for. A beautiful old world independent home; a structure on a 400 meter plot, there she sat, facing a huge verdant park with flowers of Gul Mohur strewn  on the road almost to welcome us, rustling Peepul leaves; breeze, tranquil sounds, quite forgotten since our childhood days. Whilst we were soaking the ambience in a reverie, the broker couldn’t quite figure what was going on in our minds,  looked us up and down a few times, and seemed to think ‘they seem to be well heeled, but poor chaps, perhaps they don’t have the money’!

Anyway, that was some 14 months ago, today, the leafy avenue, park, almost sylvan surroundings have astonishingly vanished...disappeared?? In just 14 months??

When we shifted in Feb 2012; the desire to have a beautiful home was rekindled, so in came the polishers, carpenters, plumbers & electricians and with all the enthusiasm at our disposal, set up home. Universal jubilation followed, our family & friends from Delhi came, saw, and fell in love. Such a glorious feeling, sit outs & lunches in the garden with the mild winter sun filtering through,  Earl Grey’s & Twinings with cookies in the early evenings; and finally cosy evenings with a book and Aarti glued to her favourite serial... could life get better? Well, there was a dark side too; yes, literally the dark side...the infamous power cuts. Just whilst enjoying the racy novel or serial, you’d be plunged into darkness without warning, an of outage for no apparent reason, no information, no time frame, no customer care to enquire from; to the Delhi Wallah this is a stark reminder of difference of being in the NCR and the Capital, where power outages are few and far between.

Winter gave way to Spring, gardening, planting, plenty of planting, a gruelling Summer, and then Monsoon..... The weather finally broke, a brilliant Monsoon enabled the creation of a beautiful garden, plants, ‘khad mangaoo mali, jaldi jaldi please’!!, plants, nurseries, gamlas, more plants, ‘he’s obsessed’, muttered my mother under her breath, but quite pleased at the progress; ....’Mali bhai, iss ka kya nam hai? main bhool gaya hoon’; I’d ask our cheerful mali Ramesh, who seemed to have endless patience in dealing with me, and immense knowledge on all gardening matters. The ‘green revolution’ was well under way!

However as the weather changing, and the dark clouds of the monsoons passing by, a perceptible change seemed to be manifesting itself in the neighbourhood as well. The park across had more hanger ons, loiterers, in the evenings the shadier corners would convert into drinking hangouts, the children with their ayaha’s seemed much less, the lazy walkers diminished in numbers, the genteel folk making way a rougher rowdier lot... my imagination? Aarti and I exchange notes and concurred, both of us had the same impression.

However, the decline like rust on unpainted iron had set in, marauding hordes from the nearby urban villages descended into the park ostensibly to play cricket & football, which is not a permitted activity but who cares anyway; and other nefarious deeds best left unsaid, their abrasive crude abuses ringing out large and loud. The grass, plants & shrubs, so callously trespassed and trampled upon, unable to bear the brunt of this heavy invasion wilted and died, leaving in its place brown earth, dusty, muddied, uninviting. Park it is no more, Rest In Peace (RIP) dear park of yesterday, now a dry barren patch, a desert in an oasis, bereft of green, soulless, abandoned and no one’s baby. We callous residents have only ourselves to blame for such apathy and destruction of this treasure, the jewel in the crown of our block and sector. Our collective conscience must awaken in guilt for this monumental neglect, and translate into a self help group ,take the upkeep of this park upon ourselves, and nurture with TLC (tender loving  care), it as we  would of our children.

Suddenly packs of dogs have appeared all over....Dingoes... are we in Australia? Littering, breeding, with the ferocity of planet of the apes, they appear intent on taking over if not the planet, definitely this block!  Enemy number one of the dogs....the hapless residents, ferocious, they attack at the slightest excuse, whilst cowering residents taken to walking with sticks and stones, valiantly trying to defend themselves from unprovoked attacks. The Dingoes don’t attack humans unprovoked, but not so with the packs here, you could bitten by a rabid dog, that’s no crime, but you can’t get it captured for interning, as the ‘law’ prevents it!!

Each community has its fair share of activists, and each time a litter would take place, animal rightists most of whom who don’t live here, would magically appear from adjacent sectors to feed these litters, ‘excuse me young lady’, I asked one of them, ’would you consider adopting these pups?’  ‘Oh no sir, they are good here, you see, this is their home!’ I nod sagely, ‘right’!

Inevitably with these almost fortnightly litters, my wife too became a victim, and on one of her early morning walks in the park was viciously attacked by two dogs biting her on her calf, undefended and injured she managed to limp back home, sending us all into a state of panic, more panic, family, phone calls, doctors, anti rabies, righteous indignation, and yes, the President of the RWA, he’d sure know the correct thing to do, so let’s call him up..

Good Morning Sir, this Mrs... I have just been bitten by two extremely vicious & ferocious dogs in the park, what do you think we should do?

Mmm, Well Mrs.... you can do two things.....write a petition and get 12 residents to sign it, and we’ll go to the dogs to show cause why they did so,

or,

‘We can try to get someone to talk to the dogs to apologise.’

‘You’re quite right sir, the right civil way to do things’ said my wife in amazement, impressed at sense of justice and fair play that the collective wisdom our RWA possesses.

The leisurely hand in hand evening colony walks have now given way to walking with brick and mortar, sticks and stones, to repel unexpected dog attacks. Early morning genteel yoga practitioners a hallmark of this sector’s wise, righteous and wealthy, are consigned to  a corner to practice their yogasans, since the park has been outrageously degraded and littered, we seem to have accepted this state of affairs with an almost a resigned fate.

However all is not lost; living in this sector has more than its fair share of joys; an early morning workout at the ‘Gold Gym’, buying milk and vegetables whilst chatting with the most friendly and amiable owners of Mother Dairy Milk & Vegetable Vends, dealing with the helpful ICICI Bank and Bobby Stores, greeting friendly neighbours, are some of the pleasures and indeed the intrinsic strength that makes staying here most enjoyable.

The time has come for decisive action; can the residents get proactive to correct the anomalies that have set in? Can ‘We the Residents’ get past our apathy and re establish the Sector’s pristine glory?

As Bob Dylan crooned in the 60’s

‘The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind’

Rajeev Suri: email:rajeevsuri.cbms@gmail.com

Chail

‘The hills are alive with the sound of music
 With songs they have sung for a thousand years’

August 2012, Shimla Hills

As we ambled down the meandering road to the village marketplace, last night’s thunder, lightning and torrential rains had given way to a beautiful morning. The rain had washed clean the brilliant foliage and undergrowth, the plants and trees looked fresh and smiling, a transformation only nature’s forces can bring about. It almost seemed as each bush and plant were vying with each other for attention, and none wouldn’t like to show itself lesser to the other.

We were spending a few days with our friends in Chail, a lesser frequented hill station at 7000 feet, but nonetheless well known because of the Chail Palace, and the highest cricket ground in the country, both once owned by the erstwhile Maharaja of Patalia. Our friends Bijit and Rashmi, have built themselves an almost picture postcard perfect cottage in a hamlet a few kilometres ahead of Chail, the sort we all dream off, but never get to possess. Perched on a hilltop with a panoramic 360 degree view on a clear day, one could see range after range, with mist like clouds rising one after another from the valley, wafting past you, caressing your skin gently, sun peeping through, scattering the clouds to assert its presence, and bathing the estate in brilliant sunshine.

The mission of our walk was simple; to reach the village market, all of five shops, and head straight for Sharmaji’s dhaba. The walk and the fresh mountain air built us ravenous appetites, Sharmaji and his wife would serve what seemed to be the simplest of home food, yet in Chail it tasted divine, locally grown rajma, kardi, seasonal vegetables, rice, chappatis plastered with asli ghee, salad with sharp hari mirchis!

What a life! The wonderful feeling of being in the hills, lovely walks, reading under a shady tree whilst the cool mountain breeze wafts by to cool the brilliant sunshine! Afternoons leading into evenings, clear starry nights, the sound of crickets each shriller than the other, conversation, wine, more conversation, more wine, super dinner, inconclusive debate, and finally, ‘G’nite folks I’m hitting the sack’!  Off to sleep, a sleep so restful, something you had almost forgotten existed.

The essence of a visit to the hills is the salubrious effect it has on your being. The hard nose existence of a city life tends to make us impervious to the reason of our existence; in the serenity and purity of the hills one rediscovers and rejuvenates, and connects with the sublime being. Just as one would visit a spa or a wellness centre for cleansing, a visit to the hills has the effect of purifying the mind, body and soul. For the battered and bruised city dweller, a visit to the hills, preferably away from the touristic circuit, is like salve on a wound, and an annual trip must be part of one’s holiday agenda.

So the next time before you plan Paris, Zurich or Rome, consider a rustic cottage in the hills, with just you and nature!

rajeevsuri.cbms@gmail.com