No Playground - Hive Learners!

One absence of infrastructure in tier 1 cities in my nation is the absence of playgrounds and gardens. Very few societies house an open space for outdoor activities and such places are restricted for outsiders. I remember I had to walk for an hour to get to the nearest playground when I was a kid. It was a playground managed by the local government but the lackluster approach had resulted in poor availability of basic facilities in the playground. Since It was the only ground available in a 2 Km radius, it used to be filled with many people on a Sunday morning.

I remember that every Sunday, my brother and I used to wake up around 5:30 am to reserve a spot in the ground for a cricket match. Multiple sports were being played which required different shapes and sizes of playable areas. We used to wait for an hour so that football teams could play their match and then we used to reserve a small section of the ground. At times kids used to come in the morning as well and at that time we used to play safely so that no ball could go in their direction.

One such day we were playing using season ball and it was a very hard-heavy ball. One of our batsmen hit it in the air and that ball entered the kid's area. We kept our eyes on the ball as it was coming down. For a second we were so nervous that someone might get injured today. Luckily, all the kids were safe and we stopped playing. Our game may injure a kid badly or even kill them if the ball hits anyone's head.

Since it was the only ground, many festive and public/private functions used to take place. Sometimes ground got reserved for 2-3 weeks and we had to wait to play. Rainy season kills all the joy and there is no patch on the ground to play cricket as it requires a dry ground. Our playground also houses a water tank with 4 taps from which one can drink water. We used to drink from it regularly. One day ground staff stopped the water taps and told us to wait for a few days as the tanks that used to hold water hadn't been cleaned for a year. We stopped drinking water from there. The hygiene issue was grave and it's better to not take risks.

Another thing was the presence of stray dogs. They were a menace for kids and senior citizens. Vaccination of dogs was also not there, plus they used to litter everywhere. After playing for a few weeks, we stopped going there and switched to indoor or online games. The playground was there but it was not safe at multiple points. No security guards and the absence of staff were common. Local people and smokers used to cut holes in the net to enter illegally into the ground. My experience with the ground was not positive as at one point an old man tried to touch me inappropriately.

Due to all these concerns, I left the ground and my outdoor activity dipped completely.

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