Jamshedpur : Winter season arrives with many memories and holds a special place in the heart, especially in a city where the rest of the months are under heat wave.
Thanks to the dip in mercury places like Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, Dimna Lake, Jubilee Park and Tata Zoological Park are flooded with picnickers these days.
Dalma forest area varying from dense to scrub and scattered grasslands with water bodies harbouring rich flora and fauna, offers the picnickers a wide variety of spots spend their day.
This is a place that attracts many visitors during the picnic season because of its rich biodiversity. Hundreds of species of plants struggle toward the sun, clinging and swarming over their taller neighbours, colonising their trunks and feeding on their fallen leaves.
�It is a complete contrasting picture ever since it had received good inflows,� says a regular to the place. �The park has filled the much needed vacuum, the place craved for it,� says Shakeel Ahmed, a school teacher.
Though there are restrictions on people entering the area or the vicinity of the place, youngsters are having fun trekking through the rocky terrain. �The rough terrain tests ones’ abilities,� puts in an adventurous youth.
The zoo in the city, abounding in shade-giving trees, provides an ideal rendezvous for picnickers to eat in groups and watch the animals in captivity.
This month is a boom time for caterers, tent house suppliers and transport contractors plying mini buses, as they take the organisational hassles off the shoulders of picnicking parties. These picnics also serve as ‘kitty parties’ with each participating family adding spice by contributing to the day’s menu.
Despite all the rush and long queues, the faces of all those who had reached their destinations glittered with happiness.
�I always wanted to go for the boat ride and we have done that twice today,� said Ramesh Mehra who enjoyed his picnic with his family at Chandil. Even the kiosks selling food and snacks were happy to have a business boom after one month of low turnover.
With almost everybody trying to get as close to the destination as possible, the spot seemed choked with traffic. The air was thick with gasoline fumes, as the engines of hundreds of vehicles were idling with the owners waiting to find some place to park. Like the picnic spots, major food courts in the twin cities also had best of the time with heavy rush in the evening.
Almost all the restaurants were filled to the capacity in the city, while the festive looks were more visible at the food joints of NH 33.�The people are happy and enjoying, the best thing is that there has not been any incident in the area recently,� said the manager of a restaurant in the NH 33.
Organisers and managers claimed the response is tremendous this year. “People are spending more this year as compared to previous year, irrespective of the fact that prices have increased and we are leaving no stone unturned to make the day memorable for our customers,” said Rinku Singh of Wave International.
