Do a article of evening in a city park
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Answer:
Life in great cities is naturally less healthy than life in the country. The air is vitiated by smoke and by the breath of thousands of inhabitants, and the citizens have not the same opportunities for active exercise in the open air as are afforded by a country life.
The best way to remedy or alleviate these great drawbacks of city life, is to have large open spaces laid out as parks and pleasure grounds, and to keep them sacred from the encroachments of the mason and the architect. Such open spaces have well been called the lungs of great cities, because they enable the inhabitants to breathe purer air.
They are also extremely valuable as play-grounds, where young men and boys may engage in outdoor games. How much this advantage is appreciated in Bombay is clearly shown by the large number of cricketers who assemble in the afternoon on the expanse of grassy turf between the Fort and the native town, to enjoy their favourite game.
But for these large open spaces, which are nevertheless hardly large enough for the numbers who wish to use them, those who now play cricket and other outdoor games would find no proper outlet for their physical energies, and as a consequence their health and strength would suffer.
It is, however, not only the young and active who derive advantage from the spacious parks now to be found in the great cities of all civilised countries. Visit the parks of any big city on a fine summer evening, and you will see the poor man, who has laboured all day for his daily bread strolling there with his wife and children.
What a relief it must be for them to escape from their crowded rooms in some noisy street and enjoy something like the peace and calm of a walk in the country! For most of the inhabitants of great towns cherish in their hearts a longing for the country, as is shown by the shrubs and flowers with which they try to decorate their window-sills in the smoky city.
So they take great pleasure in a park with green grass and trees, in the midst of which they can forget, for the time, the surrounding city.
Some parks have the additional attraction of zoological collections and of sheets of water tenanted by swans and other birds.
The great pleasure that the sight of strange wild beasts and birds gives to the poor of great cities, is well known to all who have been to the Victoria Gardens in Bombay, and seen the numbers of people who crowed round the cages there on free days.
In warm countries like India parks are even greater blessings than in England. The days and nights of northern Europe are often too cold to allow the people to resort to the parks in the evening, for quiet and rest after the labours of the day.
But in India, for eight months of the year it is possible to sit out of doors for hours in the cool of the evening with great pleasure and no danger of catching cold. The citizens of Bombay largely use this opportunity afforded by the climate.
They may be seen any evening sitting in small groups all over Marine Drive, and playing at whist or stroll.
Answer:
Owing to the choking atmosphere of city life, public parks and gardens have become an indispensable necessity of a modern city. They are verily the lungs of big cities. They provide fresh air for the citizens.
They also provide an open space for games and recreation. In hot countries like India, they are a great blessing. People welcome the cool breeze which are usually shut out by lofty buildings and narrow streets.
I go to the big public park in our city every evening. The scene is one of pleasing animation. The children are the happiest of all. They run and shout and play to their hearts content. Young people come for rest and gossip.
Old men take their usual walk, some walk briskly; others trudge along slowly, almost as if it were a painful duty. A few sit on benches, under shady trees, quietly discussing the social and political problems of the day.
There are babies in perambulators or push-chairs and toddlers escorted by attendants. They waddle about on the lawns, or swing on the bars, or climb up and slip down the slides put up for the purpose. They run about and feel life in every limb.
The fair sex also does not go unrepresented. Here a couple of youthful girls in graceful sarees are enjoying a heart to heart talk, there some elderly ladies are exchanging notes as to their domestic affairs. All day the women have been busy doing their household duties, cooped up in their homes, which for the most part are not homes, but only pigeon holes. In the evening, they enjoy the fresh crisp evening breeze and feel its tonic effect for a while. It is for them a luxury.
The park has a small hill. People enjoy climbs on it. There are several small tanks full of fish of variegated colours. There is a small lake with water birds be sporting themselves in it. There are enclosures in which rabbits and guinea pigs run in and out through artificial tunnels or tumble over make-believe hillocks. They are a great attraction for toddlers and children.
There is a swimming tank which is full of life in summer. I daily enjoy a dip and a swim in it. It gives me a new life. There are several clubs in the park. The members play tennis, badminton or basket ball. I am also a member of the Municipal Employees’ club. We play tennis every evening and have our weekly meetings here.
Entertainment and business activities also are not lacking. Here an old man is telling stories and amusing a group of young boys and girls; there a blind singer is entertaining a small crowd. Here a beggar in rags is stretching out his hand for a little charity; there a palmist is unfolding the destiny of a chance client. Hawkers of all sorts are carrying on a roaring trade.
Some are selling parched and spiced gram, others are selling ice-cream and still others fruit or sweets of all kinds. They are patronized by ladies and children. There is a great hustle and bustle everywhere especially on Sundays and other holidays. The scene everywhere is highly interesting and colourful. It seems as if the whole city were out.