Eiffel Tower steals the show at Lalbagh

Flower magic

A larger-than-life statue of an unknown woman wearing a long, floral dress, and a replica of the Eiffel Tower vied for attention among other floral beauties at the latest edition of the annual Republic Day flower show, which kicked off at the Lalbagh Gardens on Friday.

While the floral tribute to Gustave Eiffel, claimed to be decorated with more than 2.5 lakh roses and more than 10,000 orchids, stood as one of the main attractions as expected, the statue of Swami Vivekananda, erected to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary, was disappointing. “The face does not really resemble Vivekananda and the body is not proportionate to the head,” said Sujatha M, 46, a homemaker from J P Nagar.
Also on display are potted plants and cut flowers, Thai art, Ikebana, Indian floral art, Bonsai and vegetable carvings.

The garden competition is being conducted among various competitors such as government offices, the Raj Bhavan, the police department, schools and colleges.
Compared to last year’s 764 competitors, this year 772 have registered for the garden competition. There are 431 competitors for Ikebana, Indian floral art, Bonsai and vegetable carving competitions - 14 up from the last year’s 417.

The organisers said that in addition to the Glasshouse, where the display is on, a special show at the Bonsai Park has been arranged to de-congest the area. “More than 500 attractive Bonsai plants will be displayed for Bonsai lovers,” a horticulture department official said.

Meanwhile, the organisers not allowing the public to park vehicles inside Lalbagh had a visible impact on the first day. But the organisers feel that it would change as the show progresses. Ikram pasha, a resident of Shantinagar, said: “It is a lot of inconvenience to walk all the way from the TTMC, where vehicles are to be parked, and then also walk inside the garden to reach the location. They should at least allow vehicles to be parked outside the gates where there is some place.”