Some questions on a beloved park.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Opened in 2018, the 90-acre Sunder Nursery, with its gardens and monuments, swiftly became Delhi’s great escape (photo of the park gardeners’ midday break was snapped last week). Lately, some have expressed discomfort over its ongoing evolution. We confront Ratish Nanda of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which created and manages the park.

The traffic towards Sunder Nursery is impossible! Even for commuters not heading to the park. Was your parking facility an afterthought, or was clogging the access roundabout the plan?

A UNESCO World Heritage Site will attract visitors. Across the Humayun’s Tomb–Sunder Nursery–Nizamuddin Basti area, we have conserved 75 monuments, landscaped 200 acres, planted 300 tree species that attract 151 bird species, and built a world-class museum, making it a highly desirable destination. The Al-Azhar Park we created in Cairo attracts more visitors than the Pyramids, so in anticipation we provided parking at Sunder Nursery for 500 cars and 60 buses. Additional parking is needed for the Humayun’s Tomb World Heritage Site, and land is available—but this is ultimately for the city to implement. In fact, only a small proportion of vehicles at the restored Sabz Burj roundabout is headed to Sunder Nursery. 68% of visitors use public transport. Parking fills up only on Sunday mornings in December and January, and we no longer provide public events in the park on winter Sundays.

Why the café boom at Sunder Nursery — are we turning it into a mini-Khan Market?

The cafés have opened in the lush-green Museum Courtyard, under 100-year-old trees. This courtyard has been mistakenly identified by some commentators on social media as part of Sunder Nursery. But it is adjacent to the Nursery. With 70% of museum visitors spending over five hours across the three sites, the curated food outlets serve museum visitors, as well as those visiting the Humayun’s Tomb World Heritage Site and Sunder Nursery Park.

Why host events in Sunder Nursery? Lodhi Garden manages without them.

We modelled Sunder Nursery on New York’s Central Park. While most visitors come with family and friends, the park is also envisioned as a cultural hub. We focus on cultural events, environmental awareness programmes, art installations, organic markets, and literature. Sunder Nursery is, after all, the land of poets Rahim and Khusrau. All cultural activities anyway are conducted in defined spaces, never extending beyond 5–10% of the park’s area.

At times, the park gets too crowded.

It is difficult to be the best, and we are continuously trying. Sunder Nursery is open from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week—over 6,000 hours a year. For 99% of that time, the park has few visitors. Please walk then. During the fewer than 100 hours a year when Delhiites visit in large numbers, the park’s 3 km of pathways ensure there is always space to walk. Ours is a diverse, inclusive park, safe for women. Here different parts of Delhi coexist. We, of course, welcome the criticism; it shows how much the park means to people.