A garden of the world - a morning walk at Lalbagh

Globalization is mistaken to be a current trend and being from an Industry which attains its very meaning via globalization, my perspective on it has been coloured by the pre and post liberalization of the Indian economy. But take a step way back into the past and there are vivid examples of India being a driving force rather than a meek participant in globalization. Not a stellar example, but definitely a by product of global influences is our very own Lalbagh.

I have visited the garden a few times in the past and have noted with a passing concern the furore caused when authorities repeatedly try to infringe into this precious lung space, but the garden for all its size and majesty failed to create much of an impression, large sections of it looked unkempt, kitsch prevailed where the plants could easily have created a better impression, but all of that changed when I was recently cajoled into taking up a morning walk at.

The walk is conducted by Vijay Thiruvady and lasts a good part of 3 hours, but its 3 hours of an awe inspiring barrage of details about the history of the garden, layers of history lie exposed and each tree we stop over at has a tale to reveal. The walk began at 7 AM at the base of the geological rock formation that is pretty much a landmark by itself. Part of the Gondwana land mass , it is half as old as the earth itself. Crowning it was a monument marking the southern extreme of the city as demarcated by Kempe Gowda. The garden was commissioned by Hyder Ali in 1760 and vastly enhanced by his son Tipu Sultan. Gardens were the closest representation of paradise on earth and the Mughal gardens were an inspiration to the southern rulers. Tipu Sultan encouraged his subjects to bring in seeds and saplings from across the world and we looked back to observe the Tabebuia which adorns the streets in riotous yellow in spring , a rain tree and the bougainvillea. The frangipani revealed a Carribean source and we moved to observe the Peepal (Ficus religiosa) tree. This tree may count as one of the most revered of tree species, having deep religious significance to both the Hindus and Buddhists. The fig varieties have a deep interdependence with a species of wasp which chooses to breed in the fruits of the fig and in turn pollinating them. The glass house lay a few metres down the path which was the next stop.

This has largely been modelled on the Crystal Palace at London by James Cameron (a park superintendent) , we side stepped a bit in history to a work of dedication from a certain Robert Gill who spent 18 years sketching the Ajantha cave paintings, all the sketches were burnt down in the fire at the London crystal palace. We passed a ficus variety which had virtually consumed a palm. My head reeled with the barrage of facts and I found myself capturing panoramas of the majestic trees and some snaps of the flowers which adorned the garden.

I grasped a little of what followed, a banana species from which most of the current species have derived, a large gum tree from Australia , an elephant apple tree whose serrated leaves lend itself well to ivory polishing. The walk culminates with a fantastic specimen of a Silk Cotton tree which is over 200 years old, the girth seemed to be about 15 feet and the branches provided a beautiful symmetry.

The walk culminates with a breakfast at MTR, which frankly isn't tops in my rating for a hearty breakfast. The history trivia continued much to my delight. The Rava idly is an outcome of a shortage of rice in World War 2 and was an innovation at MTR. We were lucky to have Vijay at the table and another gem came through- a part of the Star spangled has a reference to rockets. These were the rockets captured by Lord Wellesley from Tipu Sultan and used by the British to attack Baltimore.

I headed back to the car park and the route took me back through the garden. I followed a trail through a Japanese garden. The garden stayed unkempt and pure kitschy sculptures adorned a shaded grove within it. But the plants had got a voice and Lalbagh had my respect.

Check out the walk here