Lalbagh Gardens, Bangalore

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Lalbagh Gardens are also known as the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. The map of the garden seems to indicate that it is a very big place so I decided to go over it as fast as possible as it was almost evening and I was pressed for time.

Entrance to Lalbaagh Gardens

Getting here was quite difficult as most of the people who I stopped to ask for directions didn’t know about the place. I had to take my chances and rely heavily on luck and it was a wonder I finally got there.

The Gardens are scattered over 240 acres and house around 3417 plants.

There are lots of places or star attractions to see here, mainly the Glass House, the Kempe Gowda Tower, the Rock, the Floral Clock, the Statue Garden, the Rosery, the Lotus Pond, the Lalbagh Pond and the Island.

Watch

Very few people come to see this place. The only people I could spot were couples. There is a huge HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools) clock in the middle of the garden. Over the years, the dial has been almost obscured by overgrown plants, but the clock is still in working condition. Impressive!

Circular Hall

The grounds also host a small circular hall, complete with seating arrangements, where musicians played in the evening.

I saw plenty of squirrels playing around the trees and the birds persisted in chirping away to glory. My knowledge about birds is very poor, I should say. I could only name a few, such as crows, pigeons, sparrows, parrots, kingfisher, cuckoo, eagles, and vultures. There were a lot of birds that I could not see very clearly, but I could certainly hear them.

Their chirping sounded like a soothing melody to my ears and I decided to stay there to listen to some more natural music.

River

Later, I headed over to the bridge next to the river floating there. The view was just amazing — blue skies with a few white clouds in the sky, green trees all around the water and the river itself with green water waves as if there was a pattern in the water.

This reminded me of the wallpapers we have on our computers. I used to think that they were unreal, conjured up through computer graphics. Now I know they really do exist. I felt as if I was in the middle of nature at its very best with no modernization for company.

Glass House

Next was the Glass House. The structure looked old. It was old. Hehe. Various types of plants were growing in it. This building was built in 1889 to commemorate the visit of the Prince Albert of Wales to Bangalore. The design of this Garden is very much similar to that of the Crystal Palace in London.

Here is a secret. Again my knowledge about plants is very poor. Shame. I will make sure I read up on plants and birds. The knowledge will help in my future trips.

There is a small miniature statue of Nandi located on the steps of the Glass House. Nandi seems to be a popularly worshipped deity around here as there are similar statues everywhere.

Next I headed to a rock surface which has a small temple atop it. This mixture of granite and other rocks is called the Peninsular Gneiss. You can view the entire city from here.