It was smiles and speedy miles at the Priyadarshini Park (PDP), Napean Sea Road, on Sunday morning, as the community gathered to witness the inauguration of the new athletics track. The makeover of PDP's old track was long overdue, with the original 1988 old synthetic track showing signs of wear and tear. In December last year, a new track was gifted to PDP by Reliance Foundation. The new 400m, eight-lane track costing approximately R4 crore was opened to applause, short speeches and the release of ceremonial balloons, as SoBo's swish set soaked in the sun and sporty sentiment.

Memories
The part where the track is placed is now called Priyadarshini Park-Rasikbhai Meswani Sports Complex (the late Rasikbhai was Dhirubhai Ambani's brother-in-law). B A Desai, president, Malabar Hill Citizens Forum (MHCF), which has developed and maintains the PDP, said, "My association with the Meswanis goes back a long way. Rasikbhai was full of life and liked white safari suits. At that time, the all pervasive jingle was… Only Vimal, today it is Only Jio (there were laughs, to this). He was known as the textile guru."