Located in the Central Ridge Reserve Forest, the sprawling Buddha Jayanti Park was founded on the occasion of 2500th anniversary of Lord Buddha’s Enlightenment in the year 1956. The park has a beautiful golden statue of Lord Buddha on a man-made island. The garden has almost all types of trees found in the national capital region such as Keekar, Babool, Gulmohar, Amaltas etc. inviting many species of birds like Woodpeckers, Barbets, Herons and Peacocks etc. The park is however infamous for love-birds whose reckless manners may cause embarrassment to the people visiting the park with their families.
The tree in picture is the grown out sapling of Sri Maha Bodhi Tree at Sri Lanka, which was brought to India and planted here by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike (World’s first female prime minister) in the presence of the then Indian Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964. It is pertinent to mention here that Sri Maha Bodhi Tree at Sri Lanka is grown out of the sprig of the original Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya (Bihar), which was taken to Sri Lanka by Emperor Asoka’s son and daughter to spread the teachings of the Buddha.
During my recent visit to the park, which was established to mark the occasion of 2500th anniversary of Lord Buddha’s enlightenment, I found the same in a neglected state. Prior to this, I had visited the park long-long back as a child holding the fingers of my father. Back then, as I remember, it was a lively place full of visitors including school children. The park has always been notorious for ‘courting couples’ making people uncomfortable with their reckless manners, but what made me uncomfortable during my recent visit was the eerie feeling all around the place. I wasn’t comfortable for a moment there. I could be wrong, but found the place extremely unsafe for ‘genuine couples’.