Shivagi Park (Raksha Mallya)

                    

    Shivaji Park is considered as one of the largest parks in Mumbai. It is situated in Dadar west on Gokhale Road. It is a historical place as it has been here since 1925, from the British age. It was established by the Bombay Municipal Corporation. Many social gatherings are held here, but what are more often to be seen in Shivaji Park are the political rallies. The other grounds that are historical are August Kranti Maidan and Azad maidan.   

    Shivaji Park has been named after the Great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji. It is the centre place for all the activities. The main entrance of this place has a bust of Meenatai Thackeray, late wife of Bal Thackeray and a long pillar with small carvings in them. The ground serves as a recreational purpose along with serenity. The park also consists of Samarth Vyayam Mandir (gymnasium), Nana- Nani Park, Children’s park, Udhyan Ganesh Mandir, Shivaji Park gymkhana (club) and a Library.

   The park even has a fair amount of space which is used for cricket practices and Scout related practice. The young boys are usually seen practicing their early cricketing shots in this ground. One of the cricketer who has spent the most crucial cricketing practice here is none other than the God himself, Sachin Tendulkar, who is a local boy for this place. Vinod Kambli, Eknath Solkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Agarkar are amongst the other few who have marked their career from here.

   Its not only the game of cricket that is mainly played here, even football is practiced here.Some of the teams that practice in this ground are Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club, Prodigy FC, Adarsh FC, Dadar  IX, Kenkre etc.

  The other places that are around this park are not on finger countings, they are vast. There are many food joints which attracts the maximum number of crowds, especially in the evenings. Places like Gypsy (Authentic Chinese), Tibbs and Move n’ Pick (Frankies and Sandwiches), Aswad and Prakash to binge onto the typical Marathi cuisine, Café Coffee day and Barista to get on with some warm conversations happening, Naturals and Baskin n Robbins to keep you cool. We get the best pan from Shraddha Panwaala who’s around the park till 12 in the night.

  The Mayor’s house is situated to the west of the park and itsa beautiful house where currently Shraddha Jadhav stays. The next closest is the Dadar chowpatty (beach) which gives a fantastic view of the sea and the Bandra-Worli Sea link which can be seen prominently. The Dadar College of Catering, Hinduja Hospital, Mahatma Gandhi swimming pool, Sena Bhavan too. They are in and around the park.

   There are a lot of buildings autour the park which are very expensive and highly looked fater places. Many people want to own a house in dadar. Dadar is like the ‘Heart’ of Mumbai, being in the centre for both Suburban n South Mumbai it attracts people in huge number. Some of the famous personalities who stay here are Raj Thackeray, Manohar Joshi, Anup Jalota and the others.

  The place is most crowded on Sundays when all the elderly couples and young lads get free time and spend it on the “katta” (a wall that is lower than the normal ones so that one can sit) or take a stroll on the wide circumference of 1.17 kilometers and mostly it’s in the morning that we see the people taking walks.

  Priyanka and Pooja are eighteen and fifteen respectively, Hegde sisters visit the park very often and they love the place. Priyanka says, “This place is like a stress buster for me, I used to study a lot for my board exams and whenever I wanted a good break, I usued to take a walk here and refresh myself and get back to my studies.” Nodding her head in accordance with the elder sister was Pooja who said, “I like to hang out at this place with my friends. I spent my friendship day here today and it’s a great place to celebrate because you have the food joints around and you like to take a quick bite too.”

Madhav Bhandarkar, an 80-year-old said, “I still come here for swimming in the Mahtama Gandhi swimming pool to keep myself fit and fine. I take a walk sometimes. It’s a great feeling to stay very close to such a beautiful place.”

 What was noticed this time around was that some metal bars had been supported to the rain trees that surround the park, which is a very good idea to save it from the strong winds blowing that way.

  This place is the ultimate one for people from any age. It’s sure that the person who comes here once will fall in love with this place.

  Reference :                            

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji_Park