My lake

The lake near my house has helped me a lot in preparing for the walk. For that matter I have spent more time with the lake over the last five months than I have with Sarita , or even with the office or anyone or anything else.

The moment I started to practice the question that would immediately pop up from everywhere was “but then where will you practice?” in any urban jungle it is impossible sounding that some area could possibly have a place where one can walk for 2 to 3 hours at a stretch without the boredom of having to walk past the same places again and again. Of course come to think of it Delhi is singularly lucky that way – we have the ridge, we have budha jayanti garden on it as well as mahavir vanasthali, we have the talkatora gardens, Nehru park, the noida park and the Indraprastha park but all these would involve driving from between a few minutes to an hour to get their one way and waste a lot of time. Without my lake the “Walker” was doomed to be a” Never walker “ even before he started.

The lake is called sanjay lake- it is a 7 acre lake set in a 70 acre park that is part grassy lawn, part Japanese garden, part wooded jungle - with a suspension bridge, a boat house , a waterfall ,a windmill (albeit not in working order now) and hundreds of ducks. There is a path which runs all around it and through the park and whereas it begins some fifty meter from my house it meanders all over the area running round the lake , going over the suspension bridge past the place where the ducks feed to over the yoga platform and then back again. This whole journey at a brisk pace which I have timed at around 6 kms an hour takes two hours – a distance covered of almost 12 kms. Additionally there is also a tar road running behind the colony and around a part of the park which adds around another 3 kms for two rounds.

Walk though all this and viola you have spent three hours of continuous movement with only your music for company and which normally ends in reaching back home completely drenched in sweat with the last half hour having been spent registering almost nothing of what goes on around. I have grown really fond of the lake and am surely going to miss it once this is over.

This lake at one point of time till maybe 4 years ago used to be a major stopover point for migratory birds and in the winters one would see literally the entire area carpeted with birds of various shapes and sizes. Then as usual population pressure took over and people from some of the resettlement colonies on one side of it started releasing their sewer lines into it – and the birds disappeared. Off and on the government declares grandiose plans to restore it and convert it into a tourist spot hence the boat club and the suspension bridge and the ducks and so onn. They dammed abut half of it for the boat house and put in a windmill and two waterfalls as well as a few fountains- and then promptly forgot about them. One of the waterfalls does at times work and the water at that end is cleaner because of the aeration – but the other one and the windmill as well as all the fountains are in a state of complete breakdown.

The lawns, the paths and the bridge etc are though well maintained and every morning hundreds of footballers, yoga enthusiasts, laughter club members and yes how can I forget the cricketers – besides the walkers and joggers like me descend on it and bring it all to life only to leave the lake to rest from 9 am till the early evening when all of them troop right back in. I owe them all a debt of gratitude for having been a part of me over the last few weeks as I do the lake.

There is not much I can do for those that meet there but I sure can for the lake and as soon as this walkathon is over I plan to organize a campaign to shake up the government from its lethargy and for a start at least get them to get the aeration systems working so that the water is purer – the sewer lines are already stopped- maybe next year when I walk past , the birds will be trooping in again- and the lake will smile a thank you to me- and I will smile back and say – you did more for me than I did for you friend- rest well !!!!!!!”