Groups of family and friends, sitting on mats, either indulging in potluck luncheons, holding a private concerts with their guitars and ukuleles, celebrating special occasions or just enjoying the weather... Delhi’s picnicking season that picks up in the winters will soon come to end, now with summer at our heels. However, Delhities are not ready to pack up their picnic paraphernalia as yet, as evident at Sunder Nursery, Lodhi Gardens, Deer Park and Nehru Park, especially on weekends.
Picnics work as a symbol of social camaraderie, a break from hectic jobs and busy lives, and ideal for those cannot just up and holiday, especially in the pandemic. VK Julka, 65, who lives in Mayur Vihar, has been to Sunder Nursery with his family, five times over the last few months. “It used to be deserted, till the Aga Khan Trust for Culture gave it a facelift a few years ago. It became a good option for people to enjoy time with family. The best part is it’s clean, well-maintained, and safe for kids. But parking is a hassle on weekends. It can take 30-40 minutes to park your vehicle.” At an entry fee of `40, Sunder Nursery offers everything — from a garden to a lake to a monument, a nursery, and a café.
Gurugram-based couple Karan and Anupriya Uppal have driven all the way from Gurugram to give their two-year-old son a feel of their childhood days at Lodhi Gardens. “After Covid, we wanted to venture out and also adhere to social distancing protocols, and parks were the best option. We have been to Lodhi as kids, and wanted our kid to visit there. The best part about these places is you can bring your own lunch and eat it there. Since Lodhi is very huge, you can easily play cricket, football and badminton. Horse riding is available outside. Sundays are crowded, still there is enough space to maintain Covid norms,” adds Anupriya, who works at Dentsu.
An avid traveller, Chanderkala Singh of RK Puram, visited Nehru Park, Lodhi Gardens and Sunder Nursery and even some monuments at the start of the lockdown. “One reason to visit these spots was to click pictures for my Instagram and shoot videos for my YouTube channel. The places were empty back then, and are again bustling these days. Since I was not working during Covid, I got bored at home. So, I would take my mother and aunts to these gardens. We would spend four-five hours there, chatting, walking round and playing games like badminton, cricket and skipping rope.”
An official from Archaeological Survey of India shares that of all these places, Sunder Nursery remains the main picnic spot. This is because, as social media influencer Yashwi Agrawal reasons, it’s at the heart of Delhi, with The Earth Collective’s lifestyle market on weekends and a café that pulls people.
Agha Khan Trust for Culture CEO Ratish Nanda says, “We designed Sunder Nursery as a park to suit a diverse group of people. We do a lot of visitor surveys, and have found that 60-70 per cent people come with their families. Essentially, it’s not a neighbourhood park for sports.” This explains why you cannot take badminton rackets inside the park, and will have to deposit these at the entrance.
Social media influencer Agrawal feels that while Sunder Nursery’s crowd is more elite and jazzed up, people from all walks of life visit Lodhi and Nehru parks. “You get a feel that you are not sitting in an enclosed space and there is no burden of wearing a mask all the time. On our recent visit, we carried fruits and chips, and ordered food from Haldirams. It was a nice change, even for my parents. We played cards and walked around. While Sunder Nursery has a café, the other two parks have vendors selling chips and soft drinks around.”
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Agha Khan Trust for Culture CEO Ratish shares that during the winters, Sunder Nursery got 60,000-70,000 visitors per month. “We designed Sunder Nursery as a park to suit a diverse group of people. We do a lot of visitor surveys, and have found that 60-70 per cent people come with their families. We also do environment-related workshops on birds, bees, butterflies for school kids, in partnership with other agencies. The public can enjoy ecology, heritage, culture and environment, on a picnic,” he adds.