Four years ago, two 5-acre plots in West Chickwadi Borivali, off New Link Road, designated since 2013 in the maps of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were named “recreational area”, and locals called it nullah (discharge) garden rain water) . It is a rainwater drain carrying tons of city sewage, and garbage trucks have kept residents away from empty spaces.
In 2014, BMC decided to transform these lands, divided in two by a road junction, into a palm and sujandi garden or scented garden.
Inspired by the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai and the palm gardens in Singapore, the theme of the garden is developed.
Six years later, one plot of land was a dense and lush “palm garden” called Gopinath Munde Manoranjan Maidan, with no less than 17 species and 800 palm trees, including coconut, fishtail (leaves like fishtail), foxtail and champagne Palm and bottle palm. While one is named after another BJP champion, ‘Pramud Mahajan Manurangan Maidan’, it bears no less than 30 species of flowering plants and nectar, including wine garlic with its vibrant pink flowers, fragrant white flower Anant, rose, and Parijat (night flowering jasmine).
With palm bushes growing to provide dense foliage above the walking path, a small open gymnasium and three gazebos emerged, the park attracted morning walkers, yoga enthusiasts, and those trying out readily available and free gym equipment.
After a morning walk, by 9 a.m., locals chasing the winter sun settle on the park benches. As the afternoon approaches, the strollers are resting to chat in the three gazebos and pick up rumors of the previous day away from the sweltering heat of Bombay. To keep up with the internet generation, the park is also a hot spot for social media influencers and photographers, who shoot Instagram videos.
When palm bushes grew to provide dense foliage above the walking path, a small open gymnasium and three gazebos appeared, the garden attracted morning walkers and yoga enthusiasts.
It took us six years to design and purchase palm seedlings and to develop this patch from a waste yard into the garden with the largest collection of palm trees in the city. At first, when the palm seedlings were just planted, the locals were skeptical about the matter, but now it’s great to see that every corner of this little garden is being fully utilized. With 17 species of palm trees, it is also visited by a large number of botany students,” said Hemant Patel, Assistant Park Superintendent (R/N Ward), responsible for the development of the park.
Inspired by the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai and the palm gardens in Singapore, the theme of the garden is developed. Subhajit Mukherjee, one of the ambassadors for Majhi Vasundhara Abhiyan, a state government program to encourage citizen participation in climate change mitigation initiatives, named Borivali’s Borivali’s Palm Jumeirah. “Other than the aesthetic appearance, this is a self-sustaining garden in many ways. It has the least amount of civil work, a rain harvesting unit equipped to meet the garden’s daily watering needs, and a garden discards composting unit that saves 10 tons of compost,” he said.
The ‘Pramod Mahajan Manoranjan Maidan’ contains no less than 30 species of flowering plants and nectar, including wine garlic with its vibrant pink flowers and the fragrant white flower of Anant, Rose and Parijat.
Walking across the road to the second part of the former waste yard, the first striking aspect of Sogandi Park is the chirping sound of birds. Patel says 30 types of nectar and flowering plants attract sparrows, bees, and parrots to the garden.
In spring, he says, the garden is a riot of color from all the flowering trees. After the monsoon season is over, the ground is covered with tiny white eight-petaled and saffron flowers called paregats or night jasmine.
The high wall of the garden, the canopy of trees and flowering plants, ensures that the parallel loom is not visible from within the garden. It’s no longer Nol’s garden, said Patel, picking up the parijat flowers from the ground.
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