Human Flower Project

Saturday, January 21, 2006

With Flowers, ‘Here’s to the Republic!’

Note: Many thanks to Lubna Kably, photographer and travel writer based in Bangalore, for her report on a horticulture show that doubles as a patriotic celebration in India.

Floral urn, Republic Day Flower Show, Bangalore

Photo: Lubna Kably

By Lubna Kably

An annual horticultural show held to celebrate India’s Republic Day – January 26, reminds the city folk that Bangalore is also India’s garden city. (On the 26th of January 1950, India became a sovereign state, governed with its own constitution.)

Lal Bagh, Bangalore’s local botanical garden, was laid out by the monarch Hyder Ali during the 18th century. It further flourished under the care of his son Tipu Sultan. Today this @250-acre garden boasts of over 1,000 species of flora. This garden also features a glasshouse, modelled on London’s Crystal Palace. It is believed that Prince Albert Victor ordered this glasshouse to be built.

If one thought, that this was enough history – there is more. The oldest rock formation in India, dating back about 3000 million years, stands right in the middle of this garden. A notice posted by the Geological Society of India at the bottom of the hillock calls it: “a typical exposure of ‘peninsular geneiss’”—the geological term for a complex mix of granite rock that developed in Peninsular India 3000 million years ago. Mr. W.F. Smeeth, of the Mysore Geological Society, gave the phenomenon this scientific name in 1916. A watchtower erected by the founder of Bangalore – Kempe Gowda—stands atop this hillock.

Fruit mountain, with Bird of Paradise flowers

Photo: Lubna Kably 

A locus of so much history, Lal Bagh seems the right place for a fitting tribute – with flowers- to celebrate India’s Republic Day. Every year the Horticultural Society organises a horticultural show. This year, while fruits and vegetables were on display, the cynosure of all eyes was the flower show. An interesting decoration – an urn made of flowers was the centre of attraction. Riots of colours were everywhere – carnations, dahlias, roses, lilies.  The show, generally a ten-day affair, commences on the weekend prior to the Republic Day (January 26).

Bangalore may today be a technology hub, but the horticultural show reminds us that it is also India’s Garden City. (The special exhibition at Lal Bagh runs through Jan. 26th.)