Deserted Ramlila Ground still attracts curious glances

An eerie silence has descended upon Ramlila Ground after hectic activity for 10 days. Barely a day before, the ground was teeming with people — Anna supporters, cops, mediapersons and hawkers.....

An eerie silence has descended upon Ramlila Ground after hectic activity for 10 days.

Barely a day before, the ground was teeming with people — Hazare supporters, policemen, mediapersons and hawkers — trying to catch a glimpse of 74-year-old anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare.

But on Monday there were only remains of a movement that had taken the nation by storm — dirty green and blue carpets, semi-dismantled shamianas and torn newspapers now gathering dust.

A huge pile of garbage and some dismantled tables stood where just a day before never-ending queues for food served for free was a common sight. In the scorching heat, a group of 20-odd men were busy removing the bamboo poles - the dismantling of the tents that had been erected for the protesters is still underway.

The stage too, which was a platform to Anna and others to address the gathering for 10 days, was occupied by a group of youngsters engaged in a friendly banter. Three trucks were stationed inside the ground for transporting the poles and the carpets.

Though the place is near empty, a number of passersby were seen peering over the railings of the boundary wall of Ramlila Maidan to catch a glimpse. Police barricades, dustbins placed by the municipal corporation, meanwhile, lay askew all over the ground.

Throughout the 10 days of the agitation the goings-on within the ground reverberated through the areas thanks to the loudspeakers installed at various points of the ground.

"We used to watch from our roof-tops the entire happenings inside the Ramlila Ground. It had become a routine," said Ashfaq Ahmad, a resident of Old Delhi.