Republic Day delight: Lalbagh to pay floral homage to Swami Vivekananda

Ready to bloom

This year’s Lalbagh Flower Show will have a Vivekananda flavour.

On the occasion of 157th birth anniversary of Swamy Vivekananda, the popular attraction, scheduled to be held from January 17 to 26, will have floral replicas of Chicago Memorial, a floral model of Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari and a Floral Vivekananda for Republic Day.

Dr M Jagadeesh, Joint Director of Horticulture (Parks and Gardens), said, “There is a temple on a rock in Kanyakumari (rock cut temple). We will be replicating that with 3.2 lakh cut flowers. For Chicago Memorial, we are using 1.2 lakh flowers. We will be using 40,000 saffron flowers to make Vivekananda.”

Jagadeesh said flowers will be changed on the fifth day, on January 21, for the three replicas since it is a 10-day show.

The flowers are being sourced from 10 countries, including Brazil, Thailand, Kenya, Argentina, US, and Holland among others. Only flowers such as roses, ‘King Proteas’ from Holland and ‘pink cushion’, whose stock can be retained, are being used.

Cymbidium Arcades, flowers that grow only 8,000-feet above sea level in Sikkim, Kashmir, and Darjeeling are being brought. From Ooty, temperate flowers like red hot poker, cyclomen, statis are being brought. As many as 87 different types of flowers from tropical and subtropical places like Mysuru are being brought.

Vivekananda’s connection with Karnataka will also be portrayed. As many as 200 messages of Vivekananda will be displayed at the botanical garden in abstract leaf patterns.

Apart from that, children from Ramakrishna Mutt will bear messages on their backs in the form of stickers. Inside the glass house, 106 boards will display the life of Vivekananda in English and Kannada.

Talking about security, DCP South Zone Rohini Katoch said 108 CCTV cameras will monitor the crowd. “There will be frisking in a separate enclosure for women. Anti-sabotage checks will also be conducted. Designated food suppliers and vendors are being given passes,” Katoch said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Swami Vivekananda Film Show, documentary, book and sales exhibition will be some of the attractions in the glass house.