A Visit to a Garden

Parks and gardens – lungs of cities and countries

Parks are said to be the lungs of a town. Similarly, gardens can be called the “lungs of a country.”

India has many beautiful gardens. There are some very famous gardens in the Kashmir valley. There are also many different types of small gardens in several cities and rural areas.

Mughal Garden, Delhi and Verinag.

In Delhi, the Mughal Garden in the Rashtrapati Bhawan is an extremely beautiful garden which is opened to the public only for a few days in the spring season when the trees and flowers are in full bloom. There is a beautiful garden bearing the name “Mughal Garden” at Verinag, Kashmir also.

Kudsia Garden, Delhi

I have visited several small gardens in different places. I still remember the vast variety of flowers that was there in the Kudsia Garden which existed at the place where the Maharana Pratap Inter-State Bus Terminus in Delhi is now situated. The beautiful garden had to be sacrificed for the sake of the bus stand.

The most beautiful garden I have ever visited in my life is the one in the complex of the Indian Institute of Advance: Study, Shimla. I had to get special permission from the authorities to visit it.

In fact, the complex of the said Institute has a number of gardens. But the one which I am going to describe in some detail regarding its variety of plants and flowers, indeed, captivated me.

Viceregal Lodge

The said Institute was at first called “Viceregal Lodge” as it housed the summer capital for the Viceroy. After Independence, it came to be known as the “Rashtrapati Niwas.” Later, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan got it changed into an institute for advanced study.

The Institute is spread over an area of 110 acres, out of which lawns and gardens cover an area of 25 acres. It is difficult to see all the lawns and gardens, but the fascinating beauty of all of them even from a distance overwhelms one’s mind.

The particular one garden to which I focussed my eyes and mind was a model one. It was a blaze of colour and a paragon of beauty. It had a systematic and well-planned layout. I learnt that it was built by Lord Curzon and its layout had not been changed since the British period. It had over a hundred varieties of roses.

The garden was a sight to see with its numerous and multifarious plants, creepers and Himalayan as well as exotic shrubs and herbs. The sweet smell of flowers made me hilarious and jocund. The rare “tulip tree” on the front lawn in the vicinity of a bird bath simply transported me to some enchanted fairy island.

It should not be presumed that because I want to become a botanist, I visited the garden. It is more because I have a natural bent of mind to love flowers, trees and plants.

Birdbath

I, of course, loved to see the bird bath also. But as I approached close to it, the flying birds took a sudden flight with one sweep, even then singing as they flew, and I hurried back to a distance to enable the birds to return. And the lovely birds of the variegated colour of feather retraced their wings and began to bathe again in the crystal clear water and that sight sent thrills of joy in me.

Return

Enjoyed the sight of birds, plants and flowers for some time and thanked wholeheartedly the gardener and officials before going homewards.