Meetings in forests

“Where should we meet after work? I am carrying my walking shoes so it’s ok”, my screen blinks. Walking shoes are an important part of meetings with my friends. We don’t meet in cafes. Other than widening our waistlines and thinning our wallet lines, it does little else.  So we meet inside a forest/park. Sometimes, we catch a lovely sunset on top of a rock or a bird singing on a branch. Conversations flow easily and deeply in such places.

Some of my favourite forest meeting points are-

·         Sanjay van- I must have been a deer or nilgai in this forest, in my last birth. The moment I enter, I feel I am home. You can enter from the Qutub institutional area side and walk straight. On your left there is a rock formation – an easy climb and a great spot to just sit and catch up with your friend. You will invariably see a variety of babblers, a kingfisher and loads of peacocks from your perch. You can then walk on and climb the oldest ruins of delhi – the lal kot walls. Sunset from here is rather spectacular. Climb down and go to the water body which has conveniently placed chairs for you to sit and watch little grebes – ducks- diving in and out of water.

·         Rose garden forest – it hides it’s rather dense forest behind a ‘garden’ façade. Just walk in from the outer ring road entrance, opposite IIT, and go straight. You will enter a very pretty vine-entangled silk-tree forest. On your right there is a gazebo – for you to chill for a bit before walking further. It’s a pretty tiny forest and you walk straight to emerge at the deer park garden entrance. Enter that and walk some more.

·         Jahanpanah forest- this is a serious forest with lots of serious runners, bumping into you all the time. It has an 8 km mud track which you can walk on for a bit – but there are sufficient sitting points throughout. If you want to avoid the constant ‘excuse me’s of runners and want a quiet spot, there is a machan you can climb – signages all over will direct you to it.

·         Hauz khas forest – I love this forest because this is where I met my first owlet friends, many years back. I like entering from Soami Nagar side, next to their colony park. You walk a little bit and come to an Amla forest. This quickly leads to a Kachnar forest and then Sirus trees – one of the best nitrogen fixers for the soil. It’s nestled between a residential area and college campuses. So it’s a busy forest with loads of walkers. But you will always find a quiet spot, under a tree, if you walk deep enough.

      The usual suspects- Lodi Garden, Nehru Park (which constantly hosts free events by music maestros) etc are also loads of fun if not as intense an experience as the forest. So next time you want to spend a happy, healthy and high-on-oxygen-and-conversation evening with friends, step out to a neighbouring forest or park.