Mumbai's maidans may become one

Not long after CNNGo profiled Mumbai's maidans as the sacred birthplaces of India's cricketing demigods, comes a proposal from the state sports ministry to combine South Mumbai's three best playgrounds -- the Oval Maidan, Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan -- into one big park a la Central and Hyde.

A news article in the Mumbai Mirror breaks down the hypothetical 82 acre combined area of the maidans. The number is approximately eight times smaller than New York's 800 acre Central Park, while London's Hyde Park is about 350 acres. No comparison there.

The proposal is reported to include end-to-end green cover, a jogger's park and heritage walkways, but the plan is already facing opposition from various sports clubs whose turf this has been for decades and around which many casual cricket and footie games get underway on weekends.

Mumbai's maidans are loved for their youthful cricket clubs but when you dig a little deeper you also find colonial style gymkhana clubs, a scouts and guides club, a school sports association, political party offices, a Home Guards training ground and heritage buildings. 

When the tree is felled it's the subspecies of plants you never knew about below that are lost for good.

Is time for nostalgia really running out? Or are several cricket maidans not considered as iconic as a one central park?

I foresee big bellied men lying around in the shade of trees and I can already tell you I preferred it the way it was.