Year was 1978 when I got married and moved to Delhi from the rustic town of Sirhind, Punjab. My husband being an avid morning walker and adventure enthu-siast was already a regular at the Deer Park and I was introduced to it immediately. Being a botany graduate from Punjab University, I was always interested in the flora and fauna and hence the park along with its trees, plants and animals caught my attention. My bank job was not as hectic in the starting years and Delhi roads were not as busy too. I would cycle to my new bank of India (hauz khas branch) or walk through the Deer Park. The park grew on me and my sons, Sohil and Jeevesh, started going there regularly too. Every relative who would come from Punjab or Haryana was taken to Deer Park without fail and my Husband’s Uncle from Punjab would make sure he educates children about various shrubs and medicinal plants. This is where many children from our family who visited the park learnt about the Touch Me Not Plant (Chui Mui as well all call it playfully). We all learnt that plants are full of life and they response to sensory motions.
While my Husband along with his morning walk peers including Sh. Pankaj Aggarwal and Sh. Govindarajan stood like a wall to protect the park from any form of concretisation, It has been saddening to see that the duck pond which was a great point of interaction between the ducks, water and young kids has already been closed for many years now and no one in DDA bothered to revive it despite many requests by area residents. The lake itself has faced innumerable challenges in terms of how it should be maintained and has many a times reached the verge of dying due to addition of banned chemicals for removing the algae. One wonders why the water bodies and its inhabitants are treated this way when global environment friendly technologies are available?
The park does not need a rethink. It just needs to be left the way it is. As they say, nature will cure and grow itself. My request is to let the “Deer” remain in the park as they are acquainted to this city habitat and let the park be a center of environment learning for current and future generations to come.
Lets remember that We are because of the park and not vice versa.
