Tour De Lalbagh Flower show 2016

For some years it has been hounding me why I was not able to visit Lalbagh during the annual flower show which happens twice in a year. All these years, it will be some or the other family constraints which will always make my visit to this place impossible during the flower show. This year somehow I made myself determined to visit the place during the show. This year it was the 203rd edition of this event and what i read in the newspapers was that there will be some 9 lakh saplings which were planted some three months ago.It was 23^rd Jan 2016 Saturday and I started it off alone towards the flower show at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. It was a sunny day fit for the occasion and I was ready with my gear of camera. I reached around 10.00 am when the gates of the garden were to open. The security in and around the place was very tight.

After the security check I went straight to one of the four cardinal towers erected by Kempegowda II to see the full view of Bangalore. This tower is built over a typical exposure of peninsular gneiss, a geological term for complex mixture of granite rocks extensively developed in peninsular India. The term was coined by Dr.W.F.Smeeth of Mysore Geological Department in 1916.The peninsular gneiss is among the oldest rocks of the earth dating back to 3000 million years.

Cardinal Tower built by Kempegowda II

The history of this garden dates back to the times of the ruler of Mysore, Hyder Ali who initiated building this garden in 1760, which was finally completed by his son Tipu Sultan. The garden was envisaged by Hyder Ali to be built in the lines of Mughal Garden and he deployed people from the ‘Thigala’ community who are considered as specialist in gardening. Hyder Ali and then his son Tipu Sultan brought trees and plants from across the world to ornament this beautiful garden for a long time to see for the next generation. Today this garden is seen as a research center for lot of scientific research in plants and trees and many students come here to do research on biological science.

Glass House,Lalbagh

This year the tableau, which is the hall mark of the show, was the house of the great   German botanist Mr.Gustav Krumbeigel. In 1908 he joined as the superintendent of the Lalbagh Gardens on the request of Krishnaraja Wodeyar. He was one of the pioneers in his field and he developed this garden into a world famous botanical garden in due course. The Glass house is the other standing marvel in the garden and this is the place where this flower show was conducted.

Model house of Mr.Gustav Krumbeigel

 As soon as I entered the Glass house I was witness to the most marvelous contrasting colors inside the glass house. The flower model of Krumbeigel House was the first sight as i entered the Glass house. The color which I was seeing was not just of flowers, it was also the colors of the dresses of the people who were inside the venue. It was just amazing to see the color riot inside the glass house. The tableau of Krumbeigel house stood as a mark of flower artistry at the best with the sprinkled color of different flowers in front of the tableau.

Flowers inside the Glass house.

 I just took a quick round of the glass house with the flowers all around. Today one of the unique things which I was seeing was the maximum click sound of the cameras in the form of mobiles, point to shoot and DSLR’s all around the place.

Orchid Floral Girl

There was a statue inside the Glass house of an Orchid Floral girl in pink color which was standing apart in the floral crowd. Soon after completing the round and taking some of the most satisfying shots of flowers inside I came out from the Glass house.After coming out I thought of taking a round around the garden and started going towards the lake.                                                     

Floral Boat

As i was about to move towards the lake,just outside the glass house there was a Floral Boat and a Floral Basket which was made out of flowers.

Floral Basket

The lake was blooming with a select set of Lotus flowers floating .I took some photos and moved forward and there I can see a set of ducks floating in the lake and making some joyful pranks. After covering the lake I moved around the park and took some pranks with the nature and some joyous moments with the monkeys around the place. 

Flower Clock

Then I moved towards the main gate to see the famous Flower clock. The clock was running and what gave me more surprise was the board of HMT watches which was once upon a time the symbol of make in India of we all Indians and today we have put the same in the oblivion. But the good part is that we still cherish the poor man’s watch dream through this brand and we have not removed the same from the place. 

Chamrajendra Odeyar

Just behind the flower clock was the statue of the famous Mysore ruler Sri Chamrajendra Odeyar. This statue was brought here i the year 1908 from Curzon Park Mysore to mark his memorable work done for the Lalbagh botanical garden.

The time was around 1.30 pm and i was sweating a lot. Soon I turned around and started to move towards the Band stand to relax for some time. I took rest in the band stand for some time and took a sip of tea from the nearby tea vendor. I was almost done with the visit of the floral delight and understood one thing why this show is so famous and why the people of Bangalore adore this so much. It’s like a flower riot all around the place and so many people visiting this place at the same time makes this a festival of flowers to be seen with.This is an experience in a life time.A must see for all the travelers if they want to visit this garden during the flower show. 

Travel Tips

• Once you reach Bangalore you will be able to reach this place from anywhere as plenty of auto rickshaws and buses are available to this part of Bangalore.
• Inside the Garden there are battery operated vehicles for the tourist to move around and if you have elders with you then this is the best way to go around as this garden is a humongous one.

Thanks for your patient reading

For More photos of the Flower show please see the link

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sujith768/albums/72157664974573729

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