The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : An oasis of green in the city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 24, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

An oasis of green in the city

Swahilya

Palm Grove Ecological Park provides a refreshing breathing space

EVER GREEN: The Palm Grove Ecological Park is a treat for the eyes.

CHENNAI: A few green areas in Chennai city provide some welcome relief for residents. One such spot is the Army stretch of Anna Salai down the Munro Statue to the end of the arterial road at the Muthuswamy Bridge and Flagstaff Road junction.

A thick patch of green and old trees on the broad service road abutting the Palm Grove Officers' Mess and Enclave greet not only the officers and families of the Army, Navy and Air Force who reside there but also morning and evening joggers.

This stretch of Anna Salai is broader and less crowded as the major part of the traffic branches off into Poonamalee High Road through the Stanley via-duct from near the Metropolitan Transport Corporation office.

Adding to the green expanse of the whole stretch is the Palm Grove Ecological Park and the Sports Complex, which have been developed over two years ago.

Devika Iyer, a hypnotherapist from Mumbai who accompanied her friend Wing Commander Rakesh Nanda during an evening walk in the park, has this to say: It was on an April evening that I took a walk through the park's wooden bridges over the water body. It was a really beautiful experience, just like being in an oasis in the midst of a city. One can find this much space and greenery only in the outskirts of the city. This is in the heart of the city, yet far away from the noise and the pollution.

Gurpreet Singh is an engineering student who is also zapped by the pollution-free and pure air that the ecological park offers.

The membership for the Park which has facilities such as a gymnasium with jacuzzi and sauna bath, library, horse-riding and golf courses, a play area for children, skating rink and jogging tracks, is open to members of the Armed Forces.

The moats and depressions on the land at the Ecological Park which was filled with enough water to go boating following the heavy rain from October to December last year, is bone dry now. "Yet the fresh air and the vast spaces decorated with artificial lights, is a treat for us after a tiring day," says an Army officer.

Mr. Nanda spends an hour walking through the space in the morning and evening. "While there are quite a few joggers in the morning, the crowd is over a 100 people with the children in the evening," he says. "It is almost like a picnic spot for us with movies shown once a week in the open air theatre," says Mr. Nanda, adding that such ecological parks are not just expansive lung spaces, but can act as a major motivating factor for youngsters to join the Defence Services.

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