Unplanned Garden in the planned city”

1976, during winter vacations, I along with my elder brother Girdhari Lal, my wife and my two infants happened to be at Chandigarh. For sightseeing, we visited Rose Garden and the Sukhna Lake. Without any fanfare around, we chanced to step into the world famous Rock Garden beside the manmade Sukhna Lake and in front of the respective Secretariats of Punjab and Haryana and the common High Court premises. Little known to the local authorities, I believe we were god sent VIP dignitaries to oblige Nek Chand, the builder of the Rock Garden for opening ceremony of the Rock Garden.

Seeing both of us well dressed in coat and pantaloons with an Adox camera slinging by the shoulder,  Nek Chand in tattered tweed coat with patch work done on its elbows got delighted to see we two the most respected citizens to honour him with our presence to perform the opening ceremony of the Garden. Nek Chand clung on to us for the entire round until we obliged him with our stay in the garden. He was extremely delighted to pose for a photograph with us.

Those days’ cameras were not as common a thing as they are today. Until 16^th January 1990, the day of my exodus, the black & white photograph along with other photographs in their passport size was in the photo frame tucked to the wall of my common room.

Nek Chand kept us abreast of the developments from the day first he stealthily planned to develop the garden to the day he declared it open for the public free of any ticket.

As narrated:

Nek Chand was a work supervisor, the lowest paid and the lowest rank in the field staff of the Public Works Department of the Chandigarh Union territory. Chandigarh a planned city was in making. His honest character kept him away from the main stream. He had become a laughing stock among his colleagues. To get rid of him, he was posted as in charge of dead stock. Soon stock of empty tar- coal drums, broken washbasins, fused tube lights, broken kettle in pieces, hydrated hardened cement bags and all useless things piled up in his stock. He arranged the empty drums one over the other to fortify the area. He used to attend village fairs, a common feature in Punjab. There at the village fair, he used to engage young children on payment of four annas for collection of broken pieces of bangles, circular grass woven mats and hay woven slippers and the like. He placed the stony cement bags in a posture to look like human beings. Pieces of bangles were studded on to look like hair and skirt or dresses of different pattern.

Nek Chand approached the then Chief Engineer to approach the Chief Commissioner to sermonize the opening ceremony of the Rock Garden. Those days the administrative head of the Union Territory was designated as the Chief Commissioner of the Union Territory. The Chief Engineer did not take the matter seriously and mocked the issue. Despite his assurance neither of the two arrived to open the Rock Garden that was ultimately opened by me and brother by default.

Nek Chand felt highly obliged and grateful to both of us.

Next day headline on the local News paper quote : “Unplanned Rock Garden in the planned city under the nose of the High Court and the two Secretariats.

Bríjû dàss te Girdass chhú vanàn låsív tû båsív.