I first got acquainted to this delightful idea of a freebie public outdoors gym in a garden while I was at my mother’s residence in Juhu, Mumbai. I was recuperating here after my bypass surgery at the Asian Heart Hospital in 2013, I was told I had deadly block at the vital T-section of my heart and this meant as my doctor put it bluntly, “if you get a heart attack you haven’t a chance in hell of surviving!” But this is to say I’m still alive in the month of April, 2021, in Goa and with the newly installed public workout gym at Miramar in Panaji reminding me of another garden in Juhu, Mumbai.
I remember the Krishnarao Rane Manoranjan Maidan next to the ISKCON temple in Juhu, very close to my mother’s place. Post-surgery some of my happiest moments were spent in this garden! Recently, when I’d enquired with my Mumbai sister, Shobha Patel, about the garden, she sent me these pictures of the garden I so loved… have a look, comparisons are unfair but the workout units are more or less scientifically designed and standardised.
The point I would like to make here is that when government departments commission such public projects they should take pains to adhere to the science in the designing…. and exercise stations have to be workable and maintained regularly! The public also should respect these outdoor gyms and not abuse them in obnoxious ways. Public property is for public good!