Visiting Central Park

Entering Central Park in Manhattan yesterday did not bring back many memories as I don't happen to be a frequent visitor to that place. But I have always been fascinated by that place. The concept of a huge green patch in the middle of a large metro city may seem so simple yet it is so much overlooked back home in Mumbai. So when I first visited Central Park, back in Feb 2007, I was in much love with it. Roughly, spanning across 40 streets in NYC, which is 3-4 miles as distance between 2 streets is 0.1 mile, this park has a width of 0.5 mile, making it a 3.4 square mile of absolute green patch in a city where land prices are sky high - such a big boon to the city dwellers and to people commuting daily to the city.

New York city, the most vibrant in US, fast paced and where people are always running either to catch a train, attend a meeting, grab their lunch, or sign off a deal. If someone walks around midtown and downtown areas of Manhattan where most of the offices are located, from 8 am to 5 pm during a weekday, that person will tend to have just this single impression of NYC. But you go a little uptown and enter the Central Park area. The picture changes completely. Sometimes I wonder where do New Yorkers get their energy from. And I am sure Central Park must be one of the biggest contributor.

Every person you see in Central Park has a cheer on his face. You will see all kinds of people in this park. Jogging, cycling, walking, sitting on a bench - relaxing, napping, reading and the list goes on. But one thing which is common among all is that they all want to get away from the busy city life and find solace in this refreshing environment. Indeed, who wont need that peace after a grueling day at work. Not to mention, the park must be doing much more than you and I can imagine to keep the eco balance of the city in check. There are acres and acres of green lawns, tall and old trees, some of them probably more than a hundred years old. The park also has 50 statues of various famous American personalities encouraging admirers to take pictures of the fine art work. There are at least 2 lakes in the park, where there are ducks, fish and water in them is quite clean. Another aspect of the park, which I liked is that the park is not uniform and does not have a set pattern of trees, lawns or fountains. This is unlike some of the famous parks in India, like Vrindavan Garden, Mysore, where everything has a pattern. And the variation gives it a much natural look and you don’t know what you can expect to see next.

Of course, this was only my second visit to the park. I am sure there are more to come and more to discover about this park. The Central Park Conservancy, a not for profit organization, takes care of this park and full marks to them for doing a great job for giving a life to New Yorkers outside of their offices !