Of all the places, I usually tour in my Company, the best place I love staying in is Chandigarh. After my, Mumbai, Chandigarh is the City I Love. It’s Clean, its Spacious, its Artistic, its Sheer Beauty, something, which you can over & over again & still feel like you’ve not had enough of it. That’s India’s Most Beautiful & Well-Planned City, Chandigarh.
Fortunately, our Company has a Branch here, & I can visit here. I say, thanks to our Branch Manager, there, a polite & excellent guide, who would take me sight-seeing in Chandigarh, in the evenings, I came to know of this City’s immense Beauty. Or normally on my tours, I stay restricted to my office, my hotel (and of Course the Shopping Area, which female can avoid Shopping!!).
Luckily, whenever I had to visit Chandigarh, the IT problems were so major, that my tour would not be less than 3 days. Unlike other trips where I would be like a ‘Fish out of Water’, to get back to My home, Mumbai, here in Chandigarh, I wud actually feel sorry when going to the airport, back to Mumbai, with 5 bags instead of the 2 bags, I had come with. What can I do?. This Beautiful City has so many lovely things, for a tourist to buy. (& a shopaholic like Cattie !! can buy everything beautiful, she sets her eyes on !!)
I love looking at the native people of Chandigarh, they are equally beautiful. Tall, fair & all with cream & rosy cheeks !!
Chandigarh, they say, is, the dream city of India's first Prime Minister, Shri. Jawahar Lal Nehru. (Shocking how little we know of our country!!). He was intimately involved with the Chandigarh project. The city was planned by the famous French architect Le Corbusier. Picturesquely located at the foothills of Shivaliks, it is known as one of the best experiments in urban planning & modern architecture in the twentieth century in India. As the capital of the states of Punjab & Haryana, & the Union Territory of Chandigarh it is a prestigious city. India’s first planned city, is a rich, prosperous, spic & span, green city rightly called “ THE CITY BEAUTIFUL”.
It is the best-planned city in India. Chandigarh, I’m told, derives its name from the deity 'Chandi', the goddess of power & a fort of 'garh' lying beyond the temple. The quality of life in the City Beautiful is comparable to the best cities across the world. The less pollution with greenery all around & driving etiquettes makes it a perfect place to stay.
The significant thing I like about Chandigarh is the Roads & its Sectors. I’m told (& also strongly vouch for), that this city has the Best Roads in the entire country. Every junction, has its own artistically designed Circle, its so neat, so spic & span, & driving on these roads is a awesome experience. I would just enjoy the morning joy rides, our Branch Manager, would take me for & while he would be chattering away like a true guide, I wud be looking out in awe, at the picturesque beauty all around me. Dense panicles of yellow-reddish flowers adorn scores of mango trees on both sides of the road. They form a canopy, shading you from the scorching sun. The profuse flowering on mango trees is a rare sight, even in a city known for its greenery. You still find the antique Cycle Rickshaws here. I always make sure to take one ride in it, during every tour in this city. Its awesome !!
The city is composed of sectors. Each sector is 800 meters by 1,200 meters, enclosed by roads allocated to fast mechanised transport & sealed to direct access from the houses. (Like a perfect Fairy-Land !!). Moreover it is here that the trees & plants are as much a part of the construction plans as the buildings & the roads. The most incredible thing, here is at every sector is build Uniformly.
Summers, (March to May), I’m told, are very hot & temperatures climb to 35 °C to 42 °C . Winters (November to February) maximum temperature level generally lies in 7 °C to 20 °C, but minimum touches 2 °C to 5 °C. So the Best season to visit Chandigarh is September to March.
Many artists & writers live in the city. The frequently held exhibitions, & performances by singers, dancers, musicians & actors have inculcated among city residents a desire for the best in performing visual & plastic arts besides literary encounters.
Leisure Valley, Rajendra park, Bougainvillea Park, Zakir Rose Garden, Shanti Kunj, Hibiscus Garden, Garden of Fragrance, Botanical Garden, Smriti Upavan, Topiary garden & Terraced Garden are some of the famous parks of Chandigarh. Sukhna Lake, Rock Garden, Government Museum & Art Gallery are major tourist attractions of Chandigarh.
The place, I cherished best were the Rock Garden & the Rose Garden. If you ever visit Chandigarh, don’t leave the city, without seeing these two Marvels. When my Branch Mgr suggested one day, we go see the Rock Garden, I was a little doubtful, thinking that it wud be some rocks stuff. But OMG !!, once I got inside there, I just cud not stop clicking away pics of the unbelievable art in there!!. The creator of this Breath-taking, Rock Garden was Nek Chand. A Road Inspector in the Engineering Department of the Chandigarh Capital Project. Since the site where Rock Garden stands today was also used as a dumping ground for urban & industrial waste, Nek Chand, salvaged a variety of things from demolished structures, discarded street lights, electrical fittings, broken sanitary ware, crockery, bangles etc, shaped them with his creative genius into human, animal or abstract forms. These pieces have been innovatively displayed as sculptures in the garden. The Rock Garden has become almost a heritage site. Artists & connoisseurs from all over the world flock to see this unique & amazing creation. (Cattie’s advise - Carry a camera with a huge memory card when you visit this Spectacular Rock Garden).
Next is the Rose Garden. Zakir Hussain Rose Garden Asia's largest Rose Garden & is spread over 30 acres of land having over 1600 different species or roses. Every year, either at the end of February or beginning of March, a big festival known as Rose Festival, is celebrated at this garden. Luckily, one of my visits was in February & my Branch Mgr insisted on taking me here, in the evening, before dropping me at my hotel. The amount of roses & roses, you get to see here is phenomenal. If you go here with your kids, you can let them run about all over the place safely, as there are acres & acres of lush garden land full of roses. Probably you can even hold hands & sing with your kids “Ring-a-Ring o'Rosies
A Pocket full of Posies”.!
Then there is, Sukhna Lake where you can go for joy rides with ur kiddos or on the toy train & other machine toys, boat rides, & fishing & other events. Mostly Saturday Evenings, people gather in sector 17 to witness the most popular show Plaza Carnival. It's a cultural show with events like songs, dance, plays & many other items. Also among all these festivals people celebrate many other events like Fashion Shows, Rock Shows, and other Music & Dance
