The city's first "open garden library" is a green escape but not without subtle propaganda
Peeking out of the shadow cast by a towering luxury hotel is the city's first "open garden library", which was inaugurated on May 17. Only, when we reach there on a Tuesday afternoon, the gates of this "pustakancha udyaan" are locked. We search hard for a board that shows timings, but don't find one. Instead, there is one saying that the garden was inaugurated by Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray.
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With some help from a constable, we get to know the opening hours, and we are back on its literary pastures. The garden is nothing but pleasant — frangipanis, a little walkway, and even a little fountain. In this Arcadian bliss are 10 metal cupboards, well-secured from book thieves and well-protected from hazardous weather. They house varied genres of Marathi writing, such as plays, novels, biographies etc. What we would have liked are roofs for the benches; even the most ardent bookworm would like shelter from the Mumbai rains.
It's still a little early in the evening, but, like the lone reader in the garden, it is a heartening push away from the urban-schizoid lives we lead. We will gladly welcome the calm here. There could be room for a school picnic (there is a shelf of children's writing) or for some solitude. We should have more of these in the city that's fast losing its open spaces to "development".
Except, hold on. Do we faintly smell propaganda? There's a shelf called "The story of our struggle", which has tomes on the late Bal Thackeray. How about a shelf on the wealth of Dalit writing? There is one on Shivaji too. With these icons peeping out from among the periwinkles, we wonder if this library is as "open" as it claims to be.
Where: Pustakancha Udyaan, Dr RK Shirodkar Marg, Parel
Timings: 9 am to 12 pm; 4 pm to 8 pm
Free
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