A walk in the park

I have always loved moving in the public in India.... for the sheer richness of the experience you get and today evening was no different . I had to pick up some pics and so i ended up walking in the park before i had some light dinner and called it a day with my lovely buttermilk.

The park however had other plans and it had to make me write a blog. A recount of the experience of walking in the park. As i enter the park i see the familiar stalls that do brisk business by the roadside at the entrance.. the pani-puri wala, the soda-wala, the cholafali-wala, and the numerous others. their ploy is routine and i lose interest in it soon and i move ahead.

My quick steps make me noticed by many people at once, the young kids and the teenage girls who seem to be looking for their own space and the young girls who are on the look out for a date to the old couples who are probably reminiscing their old young days looking at an energetic me. i smile at the old pair and move on while the smile plays on my lips. i realise it is a show of the Indian diaspora and also a statement of the fast and furious changes it has undergone.

So i move along knowing for sure that i might be up for surprises. On the next curve (the path around the lake in between) i see two very young girls (definitely school girls) sitting and chatting with each other and i catch their sounds to realise they are chatting about boyfriends and i wonder if i even knew about girls and guys at that age and i realise that i did know lols.. and i don't miss my steps and keep walking only to see a mid age couple walk hand in hand. It's nice to see our mid age couples express love to each other this way.

On the next curve the scene changed a little more there were lot so families in a picnic like mood enjoying the summer breeze and the kids who were littler than five years were all busy playing and running everywhere. Families have slowly developed a culture of going out and enjoying and the public spaces will always be free irrespective of the prosperity and shifting priorities towards exclusivity for those who can afford it. There is more to India than just new found prosperity and it should always be remembered in making policies is what i realised looking at that huge crowd.

The next curve was lower than the others and narrow and dark and i was curious what i will find there.. The first was an old couple finding their way in the dark and the lady seemed very puzzled and amused. i had to walk five more steps to realise why it was so . A young couple not over 20 years were busy in exploring a wet-kiss thinking it was too dark. Sadly some like me and the old auntie are gifted with the eyes of an owl to see in the dark. The truth is that culture in India especially Ahmadabad has moved a lot and such couples were there beside every pillar along the curve and surprisingly there was a rural couple from the slums evidently and so was one in Reebok clothing and while the youngest seemed around 16 the oldies were also there making the most of the "dark" and they must be around 45 years in age.

i decided this wasn't the most interesting section when on the last pillar i saw an interesting looking girl cause she had herself covered in her chunni and her companion being convinced to buy some educative books by a group of 3-4 kids who seemed to be on some social mission. Unfortunately i was out on a walk and could not wait for how animated the discussion would have become.

The next curve was even more interesting and it had a couple sit and talk the serious issues over the choice of school for their child. The next couple were busy trying to figure out which vehicle to buy and the next one were trying to remodel their home and how the "kaka" should not feel bad about it. There was another couple where the guy was frantically trying to make a point to the angry wife and the next couple were unique as it was a single girl shouting over her boyfriend or husband and it seemed a really bad fight as she was red with anger and even sweating because of it ( i assume that).

i tried to walk a little faster and cross this sad curve fast only to return the lively schoolgirls and this time even she seemed to be looking for some appreciation irrespective of the fact that she was indeed a very lovely looking girl. i quickly went through two more rounds of the lake and nothing really changed.. the couples were the same , their actions same and each curve had a different set of activities that remained the same. People seemed to have created an order in the bustling crowd of the park just like in India the social capital will almost always lead to a norm for the usage of a common resource if not diluted by any laws.

The changing cultural face of India is more evident now than ever before and so is the changing concerns of people. While all this happened in the park the most startling observation was of the remaining 80 % of people in the park who were least bothered about what went on wither out of lack of concern or merely out of routine leading to lethargy. Either ways the huge lack of concern on common issues seems to define the Indian crowd now in place of the over concern just a few years ago.