In urban India, a decent green park is an underestimated need

India is supposed to be one of the hottest parts of the world these days. Yet most Indians have neither cooling devices, nor green spaces to venture out into when the sun goes down.

In urban India, a decent park is one of the most underestimated needs. In city after city, I have been shown more parks, which were built many years ago, and not something that are new.

But to every experience is an exception. The rebuilding of the old Jamun Park is one such. At the front of the Khirki village, is a new patch of green. It has pathways, lights and a toilet. It used to be a trash heap and a spot for dumping unusable motor oil. I saw the park for the first time and assumed it was an election gimmick. But I was happily wrong. The park was made with the combined efforts of the Select City Walk Mall opposite the road, and every possible civic agency, those who don’t usually impress us. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the DDA, PWD, and the LG’s Office.

The CSR arm of the Select City Walk spent about a crore and a half, and everyone else contributed something or the other.

Surely, the one sane thought we can have in this insane heat is that if all the city’s agencies join hands, then CSR from a serious company can offer the public a long-term asset we can all benefit from and share. Don’t they sort of say, it takes a city?