How nice it is to get out of the city, even for a day. On Saturday, John and I went to Chandigarh with Justine, a woman I met through an expat network who is new to Delhi. Justine and I originally connected when I posted on yuni-net looking for anyone who might be interested in traveling with me to Rishikesh for the ashram. As it turns out, she's a fantastic gal, originally from Tennessee, who lived in New York for a bit and then Barcelona for the last 4 years. Since she has just arrived, we invited her to brave the train with us (all of our first experience) and trek north to Chandigarh for the day.
Chandigarh is one of the few Indian cities to be planned out by an architect, and a french one at that. The architect LeCorbusier gave Chandigarh a grid design with broad avenues and a sense of order not often found in other cities. It is also exceptionally green and clean, and the plans also included a large artificial lake complete with paddle boats.
The main reason to go to Chandigarh, however, is the Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden- a 25 acre rock/sculpture "garden" that is like falling down the rabbit hole into the fantasy land of Mr. Chand's mind. It's genesis in incredible- following India's independence, many refugees were flooding across the borders and villages were cleared in the construction of new towns, including Chandigarh. Nek Chand saw the amount of waste generated and hauled the matter back to his village home where he turned it into sculpture. Eventually he had tens of thousands of forms made, sprawling into secretly sculpted spaces, that were, as it turns out, illegally occupying government land. When it was all discovered, 15 years after it was started, it was almost demolished until the local council recognized the garden as a culture asset. Chand was given 50 laborers and salary to devote himself to the project. What remains is an exceptional hideaway from time and reality that cannot really be conveyed through words...
After the winding, lush land of Nek Chand, we grabbed a bite and then headed to the lake for a bit of paddle-boating. A fantastic afternoon to enjoy the lakeside promenade and a spin in a quite ancient paddle boat shaped like a dragon.
This trip was Justine's first experience having her picture taken with locals- an odd phenomenon considering how many tourists (many of them fair) there must be, and yet it never ceases, especially at tourist sites. I've had the pleasure/inconvenience (depending on how you look at it) of having my picture take with a family of 15, and then individually with each family member! It is somewhat baffling to think of how many stranger's have a photo with their arm around me- a proud moment, to be sure!
Chandigarh is one of the few Indian cities to be planned out by an architect, and a french one at that. The architect LeCorbusier gave Chandigarh a grid design with broad avenues and a sense of order not often found in other cities. It is also exceptionally green and clean, and the plans also included a large artificial lake complete with paddle boats.
The main reason to go to Chandigarh, however, is the Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden- a 25 acre rock/sculpture "garden" that is like falling down the rabbit hole into the fantasy land of Mr. Chand's mind. It's genesis in incredible- following India's independence, many refugees were flooding across the borders and villages were cleared in the construction of new towns, including Chandigarh. Nek Chand saw the amount of waste generated and hauled the matter back to his village home where he turned it into sculpture. Eventually he had tens of thousands of forms made, sprawling into secretly sculpted spaces, that were, as it turns out, illegally occupying government land. When it was all discovered, 15 years after it was started, it was almost demolished until the local council recognized the garden as a culture asset. Chand was given 50 laborers and salary to devote himself to the project. What remains is an exceptional hideaway from time and reality that cannot really be conveyed through words...
After the winding, lush land of Nek Chand, we grabbed a bite and then headed to the lake for a bit of paddle-boating. A fantastic afternoon to enjoy the lakeside promenade and a spin in a quite ancient paddle boat shaped like a dragon.
This trip was Justine's first experience having her picture taken with locals- an odd phenomenon considering how many tourists (many of them fair) there must be, and yet it never ceases, especially at tourist sites. I've had the pleasure/inconvenience (depending on how you look at it) of having my picture take with a family of 15, and then individually with each family member! It is somewhat baffling to think of how many stranger's have a photo with their arm around me- a proud moment, to be sure!
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