A day at Lalbagh

Kempe Gowda

  Been in Bangalore for last 2 years and still haven’t seen the places for which people come from outside. My parents were here & we decided to visit  the local places. So we got ready to start our venture in Bangalore with Lalbagh--the famous Botanical garden. Bangalore is known to be the city of gardens &  it is said Lalbagh can be the pendant in the necklace of gardens.

The kids were soaring in excitement, vacation after a long time so what even if it was just for one day. Aanya didn’t understand much but in any case she was equally excited to see his brother in that form, though that’s another thing that he would be equally excited to go out even if it’s a nearby mall. Packed badminton rackets, cricket stuff etc. not to forget some munches & cold drinks. We parked our car got the tickets (very nominal-10 bucks per person only). We noticed a nursery in the very beginning  & decided the shopping part would be done on the way back.

The foundation of the garden was laid by Hyder Ali  in 1760 & was also known as ‘The fruit trees jungle. Starting from a 40 acre patch the gardens now sprawls across 240 acres & is every botanist’s & horticulturist’s delight. It has some 1854 species of plants & a tree fossil which is believed to be more than 20 million years old. Paddy & sugar varieties now grown in south India were first experimented over here.

In the starting is the Kempa Gowda’s tower on a rock mound. We all enjoyed the small tracking on the rocks. The rock mound dates back to 3000 million years. Then came the jewel of Lalbagh the centrestage for the famous flower shows that are held there annually-the glass house which was built in1890 at a cost of Rs75000.

There are lots of benches at short intervals. We would sit & take some chocolates & wafer breaks. My parents got exhausted after some time so they decided to wait for us on a bench, we went till the lake & then decided to move back. We had quite a walk, even my 2 year girl was so thrilled that she covered most of the part by herself. But my son still insisted with the picnic thing so we went back & laid down our mat, had some simmering hot coffee & biscuits to recharge our batteries. Though exhausted everyone gave in to my son’s orders & so we played badminton, cricket & of course all the time our photography session was full on-- u see we are a very camera friendly family, be it the 2 year old or the nana-nani(grand-parents) everyone is always ready with a pose for the camera. My son had maximum fun when his shuttlecock went up on the tree. My husband aimed the racket at it & it was up there as well to give company to the lonely shuttle resting there, so he aimed another one & this time both of them came down. People passing by specially stopped there to see & we all laughed till our stomachs ached.

Time to go back home, had great fun. The only regret on the way back home came when we remembered we had forgot to visit the nursery, but that’s O.k. there is always a next time.