An oasis stashed away: Five Gardens

It's amazing how a row of buildings stacked up by the jam-packed Ambedkar Road at Dadar-Matunga nearly hide ribbon-like smooth roads behind them. If the 'main road' gags and chokes with traffic every day, the road that runs parallel to it runs free like a little girl.... A girl who runs straight into a park, and oh! She has five of them to choose from! The satiny strip, or Adenwala Road, that shoots off as a ray of the Kings' Circle garden, ends at Dadar Parsi Colony, further breaking into little stream-like paths that encircle the famed Five Gardens. Barely a mile away from the main road now, the lush green grass that spread in front of me almost felt as though it was all untrue. It took me some walking around, some looking up at the sky through the branches of rain trees and some comforting chirps from birds to tell myself that it was indeed a succour of sorts for my parched eyes.

Eponymously named, Five Gardens has a smaller central garden surrounded by four large gardens. Each of them looks vastly different from the other. I was walking in around this particular one because I reached here first, and it was the greenest of the rest. Also, better maintained, almost like a golf course. Five Gardens is one of the fortunate treasure houses of rain trees which are approximately over 50 years old! While they make for a wonderful home to birds and squirrels, they also make great resting places for Fox bats. Look around at the tops of these trees if you happen to pass by - they look like little black plastic bags hung on high branches. This picture is a personal favourite for the star light; almost in a voice-from-the-skies manner! The Dadar Parsi Colony has been famous for buildings, small 'n' cute in build, typical of those owned by the gentle Parsis. Of late, though, old constructions have been demolished to give way to high-rises which look monstrous in comparison to the others around. Sooner or later, urban demands will have had swallowed them too. But they all seem to have a common advantage, that of a view to kill for! I had to stand at the mouth of Adenwala Road for this shot, right in the middle at that. It is almost reminiscent of a dense forest, the road, what with the lush arch that is formed by the rain trees on either side. Like I said, the quiet that this road offers is in contrast to the hustle-bustle of the main road that it meets at its other end. The rock layout beneath a large tree reminded me of the roads in Rome. If nothing, they make for splendid subjects for my newly acquired ultra-wide angle lens! Of the five, two gardens serve as parks - while one is a flat ground for some cricket, the other has park equipment for children... swings, slides, a sand pit, the works. The cricket ground even has an open gym of sorts; you will often find the odd muscleman doing his pull-ups and the like. A secluded area, it is also ideal for couples to sneak in a few private moments; not an excellent idea anymore since moral police can be a major cause of concern. Students from nearby colleges have their fix of chaat and gola, while it makes for an ideal expanse for trainers to give their canines a good run.  Morning walks, evening jogs, laughter clubs, poetry societies or a photographer... we'll always have Five Gardens.