Gurugramwale: Heaven for the urban escapist

A brief walk to flee the city

Sometimes all that you have to do to escape from this tension-filled world is to close your eyes and think of yourself chilling out in Reykjavík, or Jaisalmer, or may be Vladivostok. And presto, you fly away from your troubles, and your city.

Another easy way demands a slight, only a slight, effort. Drive over to Gurugram’s DLF Phase 2, park your car outside gate no. 6, and walk along the genteel Gulmohar Marg. A few steps ahead you will find a rutty track to your right.

This is the way to freedom.

It’s a very short stretch but instantly transports you to another world—motionless, hushed and meditative. The path snakes through a landscape of trees and overgrown grasses. The rest of the Phase 2 might be crammed with gigantic bungalows and apartments, but this piece of land is totally untamed, for now. This afternoon, a peacock is hopping through the bushes, and a bougainvillea is shedding its papery petals on the ground.

Meanwhile, the air is charged with bird sounds. Two crows perched on a tree branch, however, are silent. They are gazing upon the track like a long-time couple watching the evening sky in a hill station’s Sunset Point.

The surrounding trees are dense with leaves except for two that have been reduced to their skeleton. Separated by the track, their bare tips are bending towards each other, as if wanting the intimacy of touch.

Now, a revelation.

The path goes up to a wall ahead and directly beyond it is… well, National Highway 8. This extremely close proximity to the smoggy world of speeding trucks and cars renders the magical spot fragile, filling it with even more poetry. Come here before this escapist haven inevitably disappears.