The last ride

At 6.30 pm, as the lights went out at the ticket counter and its shutter was downed, Kumar proudly held the last ticket (No. 946868), especially bought for his daughter, Harsha. “I had planned to take my family out today. We were planning to go for a movie but seeing Appu Ghar making headlines we changed our plan at the last moment and decided to come here,” said Kumar, a resident of Janakpuri.

The only thing he remembers from his first visit is the Columbus ride — “we screamed each time it swayed”.

“It is a historic last visit. I will not forget it. I am surely going to preserve this ticket,” said Kumar. Clueless of the attention his father was getting, Harsha tugged at him to rush from one ride to the other.

Considered as the country’s first amusement park, Appu Ghar, which derived its name from the mascot for the 1982 Asian Games held in Delhi, has entertained Delhiites for the past 24 years.

As it shut doors at 8 pm on Sunday, as many as 4,888 people were there to preserve the memory of the amusement park. On the last day, the last ticket was sold at 6.30 pm, instead of 6 pm, the usual closure time. The park remained open for an hour longer on Sunday.

As a farewell gift, Appu Ghar offered an ice-cream or a cold drink with each ticket.

“I had come here with my husband in 1985. The rides were much smaller and it wasn’t such noisy then,” said 75-year-old Swaran Puri who sat near the My Fair Lady ride, with an unfading toothless smile. “My granddaughter had not seen Appu Ghar. When they said it is closing I decided to bring her here,” she said.

For many, it was the place where their love story had blossomed. Accountant Ramesh Chand Saini (50) and his wife Kamlesh walked in at Appu Ghar around noon. “We wanted to spend the entire day here. We live in Paharganj. For us, it was the closest hangout place and we used to drop in often for a day out together,” Saini told Newsline.

Among the crowd of nostalgic visitors were several first timers also. “I shifted to Delhi only six months ago. I had heard about it a lot and didn’t want to miss this last chance,” said Mahesh Kumar as he rushed to capture the crowd and the park on his video camera.

Visitors today were not only from within the Capital but outside too.

The closure of the amusement park was brought on by expiry of the land lease between the International Trade Promotion Organisation and the International Amusement Limited. The park area will now be used for extending the Supreme Court premises and some part of it has been allotted to Delhi Metro.