This camel has been nibbling away at Hanging Gardens for almost 10 years. He and the other leafy wildlife delight kids and adults equally. In this series, Sunday MiD DAY meets the guardians manning some of Mumbai's most endearing landmarks
This camel has been nibbling away at Hanging Gardens for almost 10 years. He and the other leafy wildlife delight kids and adults equally. In this series, Sunday MiD DAY meets the guardians manning some of Mumbai's most endearing landmarks
While the landscape around Hanging Garden's decade-old animal collection has changed a lot, the camel remains the same. As do the lion, monkey, deer, elephant and peacock that give it company. They're not really allowed to change a contractor maintains their shape even as creepers grow around them.
Visiting Hanging Gardens and the Kamala Nehru Park in south Mumbai is almost built in to all school excursion menus. Our visit brought back memories of ours. The wonder of a gigantic shoe brought alive from our junior school poetry books, looking through its window to imagine how the old woman and kids must have lived in a pretty much similar house. The splendour of Mumbai sprawled below us and the lush green garden behind.
Hanging Gardens covers almost 33,000 square metres. It stands on the water reservoir that stores almost 15,000 crores litres of water that meet the water needs of south Mumbai. Kamala Nehru Park, a 16,000 square metre area has one of the most spectacular viewpoints of south Mumbai. Kids love it because of the old lady's shoe. A musical fountain draws in additional crowds.
It is 29-year-old Tushar Shinde's job to ensure everything stays the same. A junior engineer with the BMC, he works from a modest basement office next to the gardens. And while his knowledge of the area is complete, he is not a Mumbaikar. An agriculture graduate from Dhulia, near Nasik, he was posted here for his first job post-graduation almost 18 months ago.
He says, "8-10,000 people visit us on weekdays and 15,000 over weekends. These are both tourists and locals."
The job comes with diverse responsibilities. Finding missing children who have wandered off in the garden or finding lost and misplaced belongings. He adds, "Good Samaritans deposit purses, mobile phones and we take care of these until they are claimed."
The garden, being the south Mumbai, is the garden of choice for many senior bureaucrats, politicians, film stars like Jackie Shroff and parents of film stars, he says. "Some key politicians (he refuses to name them) have stopped coming to the garden because they are constantly approached by people to help them with their issues." In their defense, he says, "They come here for health and relaxation and it's best not to disturb them since they need to have a sound body and mind to help our city function well."
It is not an easy task to keep this floral circus running. Ninety gardeners nurture both gardens. Shinde says, "Some of them have been working here for 25 years. Most stay far away and travel almost 25 kilometres everyday to get here."
Tushar beams with pride as he tells us that the team works on wastage from plants/weeds to make compost, saving the BMC close to almost Rs 5 lakh per year.
On probing whether there would be measures to beef up security to ensure a calm Valentine's Day at the gardens, he laughs, and replies, "Everyday is Valentine's Day here."
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