All these trees were mostly shrubs then. The park would get very sunny and I therefore came very early before the sun. Even the paths made by human feet that kill the grass and expose the sandy brown earth below were barely there. The park felt smaller then, probably because its boundaries were lost to untrimmed bushes, probably because my memory deceives me. Also ppl didn't visit parks that much then.
It's one of those close getaways from the rudeness and roughness of this city now. Both in how it calms my senses and in how ppl behave within its definitions as if they aren't fighting for everything the way they do in this city. On any good weather day you can see a combination of fitness freaks and families with kids, just doing their thing. Families from all heirarchies of this society. Sometimes a sole woman in a saree will suddenly sprint a length of the track before panting and walking again. And unlike another park closer to my home, here the dogs have never bothered me, even when I used to run, although running for some reason excites the strays closer to my apartment and they come bounding after and on top of you sometimes, their claws pressing through your clothes unbeknownst to them. It can be scary even if you know they are just playing.
I'll be spending some more time here. (There is at least one hiding dog in each of the above 3 pics, and two in the last one. They were also 6ft distancing while doing so in a row.)
