Sight Seeing in Chandigarh

I woke up on Saturday morning and, remembering my weariness the night before on account of Becky’s bug experience, checked my limbs and face for bites. Finding them clean I sat up relieved and went for my first “Indian shower” as Megan had termed it late our first night in town. What she meant was that instead of a shower head like we’d be used to in North America, there was a bucket, a faucet on the wall and a drain in the corner. The water heater was off even though we’d asked to verify that it was on the night before. I’ve learned that sometimes “yes” is sometimes a polite way to say yes, no or ‘I have no idea’ in the event that something was lost in translation between English and Hindi.
I met Becky for breakfast where I was able to point to an egg in the fridge and have it hard-boiled for me to accompany my morning tea. Intent on finding some new accommodations, Becky and I packed up and put our things into the Tata Indica which we’d hired for the day (an Indica is similar to a ‘smart car’ in size but manufactured by Tata which is a massive corporation in India who makes just about everything). We went first to Sukhna Lake.
Chandigarh is famous for being the planned city of India. The urban scene reminds me ever so slightly of suburban California with its clean tree-lined streets, sunny skies and the feel of organization in the air. When Chandigarh was built, they demolished the entire are and started tabula rasa. In the process I understand a lot of waste was created and so was born the Rock Garden which was the next stop on our tour. A man named Nek Chand Saini who was fed up with the town’s wasteful behaviour decided to take it upon himself to make something of the waste that the government was creating. The resulting labyrinth through commandeered government land was ahead of its time. Now renowned as the second most popular tourist attraction in India, second only to the Taj Mahal, it stands as monument to recycling, art and represents another one of India’s great juxtapositions.
I told Becky that if I had one word to describe my experience so far in India, it would be juxtaposition. There are many things here that I’ve encountered in my life in the US but never within the context I’ve found them here. I’ve been shocked and tickled at times by the things that will show up in totally fresh places here in India.
Back home I’ve seen cows, but never on the freeway. I’ve seen children but never on the train tracks. I’ve seen families of four but never all riding the same Honda motorcycle. The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a place where many everyday items have been meticulously arranged in ways that look out of place to the western eye. As such, I thought it quite appropriate that this would be such a celebrated national monument.
We procured tickets to the Rock Garden from a little hole in the wall for about 100 rupees each. We entered through a chest-high stone gate into the maze of pebbles, ceramics, glass, electrical components and volcanic pumice which together formed a 2-8 foot wide cavern. As we walked forward along the path, it was like tracing a dried up river bed which had slowly carved its way into the ground. The resulting canyon walls on either side of us varied in height from a few feet to well over 60 feet tall. Like a natural canyon, the decorated walls created a cross sectional view into Chandigarh’s history, preserving the materials that had made up the landscape of yesteryear for generations to come. I enjoyed making my way through the chasm, snapping pictures as I went, as we passed fountains, waterfalls and eventually thousands of miniature statues.
A sign pointed towards ‘phase 3’ which indicated to me that I’d just passed phases one and two though it wasn’t clear to me what the distinction was. Making our way to phase 3 involved ducking under several more chest high bridges and meandering around another magnificent waterfall before finally entering a wide open courtyard with 40 foot walls, a bounce house, an aquarium, a vendor selling cotton candy and soda, a swing set and a man giving some children rides on a camel. Another amazing juxtaposition! Far from what I’d expected to find around the bend, Becky and I enjoyed photographing the children running circles around us for the better part of an hour before retracing our steps toward the exit to greet our waiting taxi.