Oh 'Deer' !  This is What has Become of Your Park !

by Richie Lasrado, Resident Editor, Daijiworld.com, Mangalore
with exclusive pics by Dayanand Kukkaje

June 18, 2006

Musing over it on a Sunday morning, one couldn't help being awfully sad about it.

The deer and snake park on the Kadri hill-top, which brought joy to thousands of citizens as well as visitors to the city until about two years ago, today lies in an utterly pathetic and ruined state.

Past glory, now in a shambles

The past glory brings to mind the lovely herds of the spotted deer, samburs (or sambars, of genus Cervus unicolor, called 'kadave' in Kannada and 'kadamma' in Tulu, possibly a close cousin of the elk), squirrels, parakeets, lovebirds, hyenas, wolves, jackals, ducks, reptiles, monkeys and host of other 'star' inmates of the park attracted big crowds every day.

Visitors to the city, besides NRI families on holidays, would enjoy watching these beautiful creatures and go home with a sense of unwinding and relaxation.

Exit into oblivion

Monument to neglect

About two years ago, for administrative - mostly budgetary, as anyone would concede - considerations, the entire wildlife was moved to the Pilikula Nisargadhama on the northern outskirts of the city, lock, stock and barrel. The flora and fauna at Pilikula at present is thankfully under the special care of a few committed and enthusiastic officials of the department of social forestry of the state government.

The old land belonging to the deer park is being made over for the construction of a Ranga Mandira - a multi-facility theatrical complex. The plan is still in its embryonic stage. No one is sure where the huge funds will come from. What is promised so far is only a small part of it.

The remains of this reptile may be found as a fossil during an excavation after some centuries

Those who enjoyed visiting the park in its prime days will not fail to shed a tear to see its desolate and deserted condition now. The ruins give it a look of antiquity, enough to invite the attention of the archaeology officials.

The seclusion has benefited a few 'dear' people who can spend their time here in secrecy and solitude, quite far from the roving eyes of the self-appointed 'morality police' and guardians of Indian culture.

More ruins

The pictures here speak of the sad state of the place, only waiting to be cleared to make way for the theatrical complex.

The deer community has made way for the 'dear' people of the two-legged kind

By the way

The Kadri park and its surroundings appear to be the only proper lung-space of greenery left in the city. The area is used by joggers, fitness freaks and senior citizens every day. Many concerned citizens opine that it was a hare-brained idea to set up a Ranga Mandira there, which, if materializes, would spell doom for the sanctity, purity, hygiene, peace and tranquillity of the place. It is so surprising that our NGOs and environmentalists have not opposed the plan. 

With the four-laning plan for the national highway 17 running alongside in progress, a piece of land belonging to the park is likely to be gobbled up by the project. Besides, with a flyover at the Karnataka Polytechnic (KPT) circle on the anvil, more land may go away.

That will mean the end of the only green strip left on Kadri hill-top next to the Akashvani Kendra.

No one seems to be bothered. Our heritage edifices are being razed to the ground. Our blue, azure city skylines are being ruined by commercial development.

Has a sense of materialism had the better of our aesthetic and civilized sensibilities? How will the future historians, a few centuries from hence, rate us as responsible and nature-loving citizens?

Don't miss to read: Mangalore: Phew ! Roads to Hell Indeed !

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