A park that helped a gaushala run is now a struggling venture

The music was the first thing I noticed. A loud beat played through the open space, oddly festive for what looked like an empty park. As I stepped through the familiar gate of the gaushala at Khokhar village in Bathinda district, 35 km from Mansa, I saw no one.

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Four years back, when I was here last, this place had been alive. Children on swings, families laying out picnics, and boats gliding across the pond. A toy train circled the park, and the amphitheatre hosted small cultural events. At least, one couple was here for their pre-wedding shoot at all times. But now, the swings hung broken. The boats sat idle in the pond, and the canteen was shut. The toy train was cracked and choked with weeds. The amphitheatre stood silent and bare.

It was a Sunday, but the park felt abandoned.

Eventually, I spotted a woman seated at a desk in the open. She had a receipt book in front of her. When I asked what the tickets were for, she pointed to the ‘water park’. Curious, I stepped in. It turned out to be a mid-sized pool with two or three families already in. The loud music was coming from a speaker nearby. The woman, who had only joined the staff a month ago, said the pool had been built about a year earlier.

When I asked more questions, she seemed tired and directed me to the manager. “Why don’t you look at the new Virsa display while you wait?” she offered.

The Virsa Ghar was beautifully styled to imitate a traditional Punjabi house. It had tall wooden doors, old-style switches, a clay stove and even a well. But like the rest of the place, it was empty. No caretaker, no signs of visitors.

As I returned to the garden, a cow wandered in and was guided back toward the shelter. It was the only glimpse of the gaushala’s original spirit I had seen so far.

When I met Harpreet Singh, the manager, he explained that the government had managed the gaushala until January 2024 but had stopped maintaining it properly. “There was no system for fodder. We couldn’t bear to watch the condition decline,” he said. “So we took permission and decided to handle it ourselves.”

Today, a private committee of locals looks after the gaushala, with occasional support from the government. Harpreet is one of the several community members trying to keep it running, including Sunil Goyal and Sanjeev Goyal.

The park, once a major draw, was also a financial engine. Visitor fees helped feed and care for the nearly 1,200 cows that live here. But now, as crowds have vanished, so has the revenue.

“During the Covid days, everything just stopped,” Harpreet said. “Now we’re trying to bring it back, little by little. The pool was created to give people a reason to return. It’s not fancy, but it’s something.”

The team is doing whatever they can to keep the place afloat. There’s a unit that produces organic manure. They sell dairy products, too, though people often complain they’re too expensive. “But it’s organic, it’s clean,” Sanjeev pointed out. “We’re not adding anything artificial.” They’ve even opened the space up for religious functions and weddings, but so far, no one has booked.

“We’re trying everything,” Sunil said. “This gaushala was once the biggest and most developed in the district. People used to come from far away. Now, even the locals hesitate.”

Desperation now fuels their ideas. “I told an ice-cream seller to come here every Sunday. I said if you don’t make at least a thousand rupees, I’ll cover the difference myself,” Sanjeev said. For him, the motivation is simple. “These cows need a support system. We need to find a way to give it to them.”

The place still has potential. Its history, its space, and the community around it can be revived with the right help. But it’s clear that without consistent support, especially from the government, the gaushala may not be able to keep going much longer.

As I left, the music still played on. It seemed almost out of place, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe, it was a reminder that somewhere beneath the dust and silence, hope still remains.

— The writer is a postgraduate student and researcher in English Language and Literature at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning