Aha Lalbagh!

“Aha Lalbagh! Aha Lalbagh!” exclaimed a four-year old Tipu visiting the garden with his father Hyder Ali when he saw a vast expanse of red roses in full bloom. Thenceforth it is called Lalbagh. This was narrated by an official of the horticulture department to a group of students from University of Roorkee visiting Lalbagh in 1967. A 200 years old live mango tree supposedly planted by Tipu Sultan, the trees planted by Abdul Gaffar Khan, Pandit Nehru, Bulganin, Elizabeth II, a beautiful lake, a three million years old huge rock of geological significance with a Kempe Gowda tower at its top were all shown with a sense of pride in history. But, he emphasised on Lalbagh being a botanical garden nurtured with great care by dedicated German, English and Indian superintendents of garden who enriched it by bringing various species of plants from various parts of the world.

The group was utterly fascinated by the visit and everyone wished to come again. At least one of them fell in love with it. As luck would have it, Karnataka became his adoptive state and one of his postings happened to be director of horticulture. The realisation that Lalbagh’s pristine glory lies in flourishing only as a botanical garden became still more pronounced. It asked to be handled with care and not to be trifled with.

However, there have been persistent attempts by various interests from time to time to commercially exploit such places. The idea of a musical fountain near the jubilee hall and boating in Lalbagh lake has been floated from time to time. Reaction to the idea of musical fountain in Lalbagh had been a mixed one until it became redundant when a musical fountain came up in another land near the planetarium. The idea of boating in Lalbagh lake was always thrown out at the outset.

The times have changed. Now some people come up with mouth-watering ideas such as a food court or rollicking ideas such as an amusement park. It is not uncommon for powers that be to get fascinated by such ideas. What is uncommon is non-realisation of the consequences and inability to anticipate the severity of backlash of public opinion. However, I see both brighter and darker sides of the government’s latest proposal about ‘development’ of Lalbagh. The brighter side is that the government is now in a position to spare a few dozen extra crores of rupees for Lalbagh and horticulture department — which have generally been languishing for adequate funds. The darker side is that it is for uncalled for activities totally unsuitable for a botanical garden. The visitor of 1967 wishes that better sense prevails in preserving the character of Lalbagh.