THE ELEPHANTS

How many huge elephants did Lucknow have a few years back? I am talking about the ones in stone.

Haathi Park had one, kids loved to get inside the stomach of the elephant and crawl out at the top. The Haathi Park… may be you have been there too. I don’t know if people still go there and if it still has the elephant.

I loved to go to the Haathi Park when I was little, the elephant being my favorite animal.

Seems like there’s somebody who likes elephants so much more than me!!

The entire city has elephants carved all over now! I would have been jumping in excitement had not the red sandstone particles entered my eye as I was gazing at the many elephant heads, besides it was too hot for me to enjoy looking at the statues of my favorite animal, thanks to the ‘now’ tree-less area. But obviously the trees had to be cut down brutally and all of them too so that there was enough space for the elephants to be installed. So now there is no cool breeze to feel across your face while driving your bike, there is no lush greenery to admire, there is no ground for ‘melas’ to happen and there is very little oxygen left too, but let us not forget that there are so many elephant statues to look at in awe, there are other statues to admire too, there is red sandstone in the air for you to inhale as much as you want and there are rows and rows of beautiful white and blue lights to replace the lush greenery and cool breeze at night. Oh and I forgot to mention the machinery that now adorns the roads as a permanent prop and make such a pretty sight and of course their loud music for the passersby as an added advantage!