Thursday 31 May 2012

An Evening in Lalbagh, Bengaluru

We were on the way to home after a tiresome day we spent in a mall. Suddenly my hubby stopped the car near Lalbagh Westgate, looked at me and smiled. I understood his intention and in next few minutes we were inside Lalbagh :) A few hours were left to dusk.Lalbagh - One of the main tourist attractions in Bengaluru is a famous botanical garden. Lalbagh has largest collection of Flora - Trees more than 100 years of old, a big Natural lake, an attractive Bonsai Garden, Aquarium, Glass House, Fountains, Kempegowda Tower etc covering an area of 240 acres. Lalbagh holds two flower shows in a year on Independence day and on Republic day. Lakhs of people visit during flower show. I will write about this flower show in my next post. Wikipedia says Lalbagh was originally commissioned by Hyder Ali the ruler of Mysore and later finished by his son Tippu Sultan in 1760.
Partial view of Glass house which holds flower show twice in a year
You call Lalbagh as Joggers Park, Lovers Spot, Birders Paradise, Picnic spot...everything holds true for this beautiful park. It wears a fresh look everyday. Though it was not my first visit to Lalbagh, everything appeared new to me.






Kempegowda Tower : We decided to spend some time near Kempegowda Tower which was built by Kemplegowda, founder of Bengaluru. This tower is on a huge rock which is on top of the hillock. It looks like a small temple. Bengaluru has four Kempegowda towers. This is one of them.
Kempegowda tower
Bonsai Garden : Then we decided to visit Bonsai Garden. Bonsai plants always attract me. These plants certainly have an oomph factor.  I always wanted to have a bonsai plant in my house and wanted to learn the art of bonsai. But considering my busy life as I cant maintain them and cant give sufficient time to take care of them, postponig the idea of having Bonsai plants at my home.
Entrance gate to the Bonsai garden is also very attractive. This 40 foot high gate is built in Chinese and Malaysian  Pagoda style. This gate really stands out in this huge garden.  Lalbagh Bonsai Garden is very beautiful. There are many bonsai plants which are more than 40 years old. Bonsai Garden has more than 1500 plants of different species. I was enthralled by seeing so many varieties of Bonsai plants at on place. This bonsai garden is recently opened and it certaily gave a royal touch to Lalbagh. Lalbagh also has many plants and trees which are native to different countries.
Pagoda style entrance gate to the Bonsai Garden






Lake : We moved towards lake. This is a natural lake with clean water and surrounding greenery reflecting into it. There is a neatly maintained path along the lake for morning walkers. This lake also has a small island in the middle. This lake is the source of water to those plants and trees in Lalbagh. You can also see birds like ducks, swans, geese, pelican etc in the lake.
A goose in the lake



Rose Garden : Sun was preparing to say bye to us. After spending some time near the lake we visited Rose Garden which is one of the attractions of Lalbagh. Rose Garden has an intoxicating beauty with colorful roses. This is neatly maintained. I felt like running towards those beautiful roses, touch and kiss them.  But entry into Rose garden is prohibited.



Lalbagh has many other attractions apart from these. 


Visiting Time : Lalbagh is open all days from 6 AM to 7 PM. Entry is free from 6AM to 7AM. 
There are direction boards everywhere for the benefit of  visitors. It is clean and neatly maintained. Dont through garbage and plastics anywhere and spoil the environment. There are dustbins everywhere, please use them. 
You can see lovers in every corner of Lalbagh who are busy in romance. They will be in their own world making visitors to feel somewhat uncomfortable. Whatever ... Shhhhhh..........dont disturb them :)

2 comments:

Vinuta said...

nicely written! keep writing!!

Unknown said...
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