Weekend at Central Vista brings back pre-COVID cheer

In the early half of the 2000s, Freid, a German national, visited the 2-km stretch from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan and the lawns around it.

He has a faint memory of the road, then known as Rajpath, being “below par”.

Two decades later, Freid, who is now in his late 40s, says he is “astonished” with the revamp of Central Vista Avenue.

Pleasant surprise

“It is so neat! During my last visit, the maintenance was not so good. It is a pleasant surprise to come here after 20 years and witness this makeover,” said Mr. Freid as he takes a look at the same 2-km stretch, which has been given a makeover and renamed as Kartavya Path.

He walks around Central Vista soaking in the atmosphere and narrating tidbits from his previous visit to a young French national who is visiting the revamped Central Vista for the first time.

The makeover of this historic site, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has attracted not only first-time visitors.

Many old-time visitors also dropped in over the weekend to find out how different their favourite picnic spot looked now.

Catching his breath

One of them was 80-year-old Arihant, a regular visitor to this area for the last five decades. He was sitting on a granite bench to catch his breath.

Despite having suffered a stroke, Arihant was taking a stroll here to catch a glimpse of the space where he had spent his youth relishing “ bhel puri and  chai” during the winter.

The centre of attraction for many is the newly inaugurated 28-foot-tall statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.

While many families could be seen admiring Netaji’s statue, people could also be seen lining up to watch the dance and musical performances on Sunday evening, when the four-day cultural extravaganza here came to an end.

Kapil Jain, 55, who has been visiting the iconic venue since his childhood, found the revamp impressive.

His wife, Kaamini, was happy with how many people had come together for the first time after two years of COVID-19 restrictions.

Many like her were reminded of life before the pandemic, as they saw children playing on the lawns with fluorescent toys and their parents capturing their outing on smartphones.

“The statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is simply marvellous. We live in Karol Bagh and are regular visitors to this area. My father would bring me here when I was a young boy and I have been a regular ever since. The changes here are drastic. They have definitely improved this place,” said Mr. Jain.

Celebrating birthday

For 35-year-old Mahesh Kumar, celebrating his birthday along with his wife and three-year-old daughter here, the only thing missing was “some ice cream”.

“Throughout my college years, I would regularly come here for a picnic. It is a sweet memory that I wanted to recreate. But I do understand that these are only the first few days after this place has been opened to the public. So, it will take some time for things to be fully operational,” said Mr. Kumar.

In fact, many people, upon discovering the absence of ice-cream vendors in the vending zones, were spotted sneaking in bars of ice cream from across the main road.

Some visitors were unhappy with the tight security across the stretch and many were divided over the restrictions over picnics on Kartavya Path.

“It makes sense to restrict picnics because many people do not clean up afterwards. We have seen this pattern of littering for too long and this needed to be stopped,” said Durgesh, 35, an east Delhi-based businessman.

According to an official at the New Delhi Municipal Council, the civic body is currently working on a list of approved ice cream vendors, the work for which will be completed soon.

Traffic movement

A senior police officer said that the C- Hexagon opposite India Gate saw smooth movement of traffic on Sunday evening. No traffic congestion was reported in the area.

The officer added that traffic policemen have been deployed at Akbar, Ashoka and Shahjahan Road in order to facilitate smooth vehicular movement.