Delhiwale: A Jantar Mantar secret

This Monday evening, yellow police barricades stand beneath the trees beside Jantar Mantar, in Central Delhi

This Monday evening, yellow police barricades stand beneath the trees beside Jantar Mantar, in Central Delhi. Men in blue camouflage linger by a banner warning against “any public gathering.” Khaki uniforms appear beyond the road’s barricade. Only a few people in civilian clothes are walking along the pavement linking the Jantar Mantar monument complex to the adjoining protest square.

From outside, the park’s greenery could be taken for a roadside plantation. Step inside, and it turns out to be a place to wander aimlessly. The park’s pathway is full of curves, bends and turns. (HT Photo)

Here, almost unnoticed, is a public park. Its secretive entrance stands at a turning of the said pavement. A board identifies it simply as “NDMC Park”, displaying a map of paths and trees, though the place hardly seems large enough to need one.

From outside, the park’s greenery could be taken for a roadside plantation. Step inside, and it turns out to be a place to wander aimlessly. The park’s pathway is full of curves, bends and turns. Walking through it, you feel your body continually changing direction. A circle of paving encloses a bed of greenery.

Truth be told, the trees are reason enough to enter the park. One stands amid a congregation of its hanging roots. The roots descend around the trunk, clinging to one another like a sadhu’s matted hair.

This evening, the park is occupied by policemen and policewomen, perhaps taking a break from duty at the barricaded protest area. Some men are standing beneath a spreading tree. In one corner, a policewoman is sitting under another tree, her folding chair turned away from the solar observatory’s picturesque structures. The park is pin-drop silent. This is Jantar Mantar, yet there is no sound of slogans or police sirens, or even of birds.