#115: Chandigarh - India’s `dream city

I spent most of the last week in Chandigarh, where my husband’s younger sister lives with her family.

Chandigarh is also the place where I did my PhD at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research. (Note: I left the doctorate degree halfway, got married and moved to Australia.)

Chandigarh holds a special place in my heart. It is my second favourite place in India after Amritsar. It is clean, open planned, and perhaps the only place in India where people follow traffic rules.

Established in 1953, as a dream city of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, it was designed by French architect Le Corbusier.

After the division of India in 1947, Lahore (then capital of Punjab) went to Pakistan. Punjab needed a new capital. So did Haryana a newly created state in 1966. Hence Chandigarh became the capital of two states. It’s most famous landmarks are the Capitol Complex, the Legislative Assembly, High Court, Sukhana Lake, Rose Garden, and the Rock Garden.

Out of these the Rock Garden is my favourite. There is an interesting story about how this world famous sculpture garden came into existence.

Nek Chand Saini, a government employee, used to pass through a little forest near lake Sukhana on his way to work. One fine day (1957), he decided to explore this forest. He had been collecting rocks and other kinds of waste materials (bottles, glass bangles, tiles, ceramic pots, electrical waste, broken pipes etc.) He found a beautiful gorge in the forest. He decided to materialising his vision by creating a ‘divine kingdom of Sukrani’ near the gorge. From the waste material, Nek Chand made sculptures of dancers, musicians, animals, arches, interconnected courtyards, waterways and cascades.

But Nek Chand’s work was illegal. The gorge was under the land conservation forest buffer zone since 1902 and nothing could be build there. But self-taught artist managed to keep his creations a secret for 18 years. By the time the authorities discovered it 1976, the magical garden had grown into 12 acres.

All created by a single man in his spare time.

NEk Chand’s work was in danger of being demolished, but he was able to get public opinion on his side.

In 1976 the park was inaugurated as a public space. Nek Chand was given a salary and 50 laborers so that he could work full-time to build the garden.

Sculptures made of broken glass bangles

Today, Rock Garden draws 5000 visitors a day, the second most popular location in India (after the Taj Mahal). More than twelve million visitors have visited it since it was opened.

Nek Chand's statues have found their way into museums across the world, including an environment at the Capitol Children's Museum in Washington, D.C., the American Folk Art Museum in New York City and the main entrance to the Collection de l'art brut in Lausanne, Switzerland. The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, USA. (Source: Wikipedia).

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During this visit I had the opportunity to see a beautiful house which is as impressive as the Rock Garden. Designed by an architect and belonging to Mrs Pooja Sood (a friend of my sister-in-law) it encapsulate Rajasthani architecture and blend it with the contemporary so finely that I stood there baffled.

Have a look at the image below. A long tiled corridor leading to a doorway where male and female dolls are placed at the steps.

It is in fact an optical illusion. Now have a look at the full view and you will understand what I mean.

Each corner of the house had an artefact worth photographing. This wooden swing-sofa was one of many. I couldn’t resist sitting on it and getting a photo taken.

Next week we are exploring Sikkim and Darjeeling.

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I am on vacation from 23 August to 14 October. If I miss an issue in this newsletter or don’t respond to your comments on time, that is why.

During this time, I will be writing about my travels. Please keep your comments coming they encourage me to keep writing and tell me what resonates with you.

When I get back, I will run another sprint, Write Your Book In 30 Days, the last one for 2022. It will start on 25 Oct and end on 29 Nov. If you are interested, register your name here.

That’s all from me this week.

Neera Mahajan

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