Colaba-Cuffe Parade garden gets makeover; play infrastructure revamped

A revamped green space welcomed ColabaCuffe Parade locals this month As the city said lsquoopen sesamersquo with COVID cases on a gradual decline children seemed to have found their wings After being cooped up at home it was a joy for them to be up and aboutThe dynamic Bella Shah part of several projects in the vicinity said ldquoSeveral locals and corporators Makarand Narwekar and Harshita Narwekar decided that the BMC garden strip near the Bhadhwar Park junction opposite Deepak Jog Chowk needed a faceliftrdquoThe project started in November 2021 and a spruced up strip opened to kids this month The space is largely frequented by slum children as there is a slumcolony adjacentThe new tiled ground at the parkShah added ldquoThe faces of the children as they entered their renovated space could light up an entire room The play equipment has been changed The flooring which was undulating and very rough has been levelled and tiled Then of course like they say walls have ears and they heard us say this is for children only The cartoons on the wall art add to the zany fun vibe of the placerdquoCynthia DrsquoMello a local claimed ldquoTiming is everything The revamped space opened this month just as Mumbai was in unlock season Children who were forced inside literally chafing as COVID put the clamps on rushed out joyously to use this BMC garden Our hearts lifted when we saw them using the space playing with abandon and gusto on the equipmentrdquoMaintain modeCorporator Harshita Narwekar said ldquoThis garden frequented primarily by slum children was quite rundown The equipment was of concern broken chains jagged edges meant that cavorting kids lost in the merriment could get hurt easily with the sharp ends of this play infra Then as you know slums are extremely densely packed together and in COVID times these children had their little avenues for outdoor entertainment closed That is why this garden facelift was importantrdquoAsked about the prospect of this space becoming derelict again and equipment coming apart as maintenance is a problem Narwekar said ldquoThere is much more wear lsquonrsquo tear in the civic gardens simply because there are many more kids using the play infra compared to a highrise perhaps with children in upscale housing using the play area in their building Yet given the mental and physical benefits of being outdoors I think even if this needs to be revamped say two years from now it would be very well worth itrdquoNandita Bedi said the flooring of the garden was a focus area ldquoThere is a softer landing for kids as we have ensured a level ground to inure them against hard falls It is the attention to detail looking at the whole picture that counts when doing up a spacerdquo Bedi saidCartoon callWall artist Sachin H agreed The garden wall has a cartoon theme with Disney characters Mickey and Minnie beckoning kids to the space Sachin said ldquoI think these characters speak a universal childrenrsquos lingo When doing wall art for children whether it is Mickey or Chhota Bheem it is about getting into the childrsquos mind seeing the world through their prism and translating that onto the wallrdquoMaria Chico from Colaba who also worked on the project said ldquoWhile this space was being done up kids used to hang around outside peering wistfully at the work on They were wondering when the work would be over and they would be free to access the place They have their garden back and the sun is in the sky and all is well with their worldrdquoThe residents claimed that it is important we take small steps to create a more equal society Children of the wellheeled may have access to clubs and places inside their buildings to play While this may not be absolutely comparable ldquoit is vital that lesser privileged children get a chance to play on equipment toordquo they ended