Cubbon Park: From Lover's park to Love Park

Sunday afternoon is a perfect time for a lazy dependence on television. Brain stops working and nothing on TV seems sensible. Hands get tired of torturing the remote control by continuously holding the channel change button. Finally, we accept defeat and surrender to the mercy of some channel. Having accepted defeat, our mind tries to find logic in the crazy stuff that we end up watching.

One such lazy Sunday afternoon, my stomach was full and no part of my body was willing to move. I lay on the bed having accepted defeat to a Kannada music channel. I was not sure if the terrible looking anchor was talking more or shaking more. My eyes refused to move much but he kept swinging and swaying. My lazy mind tried to tell this guy to stop shaking as it could not focus on the crap he seemed to be talking. He went on and on; after shaking and barking for a long time, there was sudden silence. Apparently, he had stopped making the noise that he was making. It was song time; finally the music channel was playing a song instead of showing us a shaky, noisy, terrible looking VJ, who I believe was trying to make a joke (probably of himself).

What followed was a pure melody, an Ilayaraja creation for Mani Ratnam’s debut movie; “Naguva Nayana Madhura Mouna” from the movie “Pallavi Anu Pallavi”. This Anil Kapoor starrer had some excellent music and the movie was way ahead of its time. It’s pure ManiRatnam magic.


Coming back to the song, this melodious number has been shot against the backdrop of CUBBON PARK. For a Bangalorean like me who always complains on the disintegration of Bangalore but never does anything regarding that, this is a treat to watch. The colourful background of the lush green trees with blooming flowers brings back memories of the excellent city this used to be.

My complaining apart, the lazy brain of mine starting doing what it does best.. Brooding!! Cubbon park was the perfect location for a family weekend get together. Come Sunday and the place would be filled with children playing, adults gossiping while hogging the pot luck lunch. It was an excellent setting for almost everyone in the family. But it was even better for the lovers back then. This was easily the lover’s paradise. Couples could come spend some quite time with each other, take off for a walk hand in hand while listening to the birds chirping. Perfect setting for “old world romance” as it used to be.

Today, Cubbon Park still attracts crowd. With changing times, it has transformed itself from a “LOVER’S PARADISE” to “LOVE PARADISE”. We at Bangalore are gifted to multiple access road right cutting through Cubbon Park. As we pass through this wonderful stretch of greenery, while emitting poisonous gases from our polluting vehicles, we get to see all sorts of couples. Different combinations of all the 3 sexes, Male/Female/others could be found in various stages of pleasure.

Gone are the days when people when to Cubbon Park to watch birds. Today Cubbon Park is more famous for watching BIRDS, you know what I mean!!!