Guindy National Park, Chennai, India

I happened to be returning from somewhere and was sitting in the back of the car, listening to OASIS on my iPod. We were stuck in the usual Chennai traffic. To my right, there was a high wall that seemed to go on for miles. It’s not unusual to see walls in Chennai (or anywhere in India) as walls are regarded here as a prudent way of protecting one’s property.

Anyway, the contrast between India and the West, suddenly hit home - a kind of epiphany. Here I was, riding in air-conditioned comfort through the chaotic streets of Chennai, totally immersed in music that was so incongruous to the region. The contrast literally ripped my eyes open and I suddenly could see beyond the wall to my right.

The song, ‘Wonderwall’, came on practically on cue and the picture on the cover of George Harrison’s 1968 album by the same title flashed in front of me. There was a wall there as well. On one side of it was a scene depicting a gaggle of young Indian maidens washing their long, black, hair in a lotus pond. On the other, there was nothing but a stodgy English gentleman dressed in black, wearing a bowler hat and carrying an umbrella.

I looked and saw monkeys happily scampering about atop the wall. Beyond them was a profusion of exotic trees - including Sugar and Wood-apple, Banyan, Peepal, Neem, numerous species of palm and cacti – reaching for the heavens.

I sat mesmerized by it. The random growth behind that wall looked as dangerously seductive as anything I had ever seen. It would turn out to be the Guindy National Park, an extension of the grounds surrounding Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the governor of Tamil Nadu. It extends deep inside his estate, consisting of beautiful forests, scrub lands, lakes and streams.

I looked it up on the net on reaching home and found that Guindy Park is contiguous with the Arignar Anna Zoological Garden which is directly behind the Gandhi Mandapam, Kamaraj and Rajaji Memorials. Guindy Snake Park is a relatively new addition right next to the Guindy National Park. There one can see king cobras, pythons, vipers as well as monitors, crocodiles, turtles and other reptiles. Animals, in a separate area and designated as The Children’s Park, include black buck, sambhar, spotted deer, porcupine, hyena, jackal, pelicans, night heron, cormorant, cockatiel, mongoose, bonnet monkeys and the common languor. The various parks have separate, but very nominal entry fees. Entry to the memorials is free.

As such, the insistently beckoning forest behind the “Wonderwall” was accessible. I would make it a point to go the next morning and explore.

Explore I did. And, as is always the case in India, the people are the landscape. My heart was so easily nudged away from its original intent when confronted with busload after busload of school children and orphans – the blue team, the red team, the yellow team – all vying for my attention. They wave, smile broadly and shout, “Hi! How are you? Take our picture. We are learning English. What is your native place? We like you…”

They are thrilled, of course. And so am I. I feel like a rock star. What was it (again) that I came here to see? Never mind. I feel good. I switch my iPod back on.

Peter Koelliker; pkoelliker8@yahoo.com