The Five Benches are no longer here.

These forests had been my ‘study’ during my childhood. Dad used to pack my and his books and walk me to the jungle on Saturday, Sunday or a holiday and find a nice shade and place for me and himself to soak in the filtered sun and the books.

The red rhododendrons just lit up the ambience. The wind, the sun, the trees, the wailing and singing birds, the fluttering butterflies played a harmony.

The walks were also story time when dad used to narrate me folklore from the ages gone by. I guess now, these forests helped the poet in me grow in my formative years.

But then the city life, the sound of cars and blaring horns and the fight for earning money killed the poet in me.

Today, I deliberately dragged myself out to breathe in the jungles. But sad, some of my favourite study places have been lost to concrete buildings. A shack has come up at Five Benches to sell instant noodles to tourists visiting the Jakhu Temple. A few taxis wait for some weary travellers. Five Benches is no longer the wide ground it used to be.