Wandering in the Vibrant City... Kolkata... Day 2 Part 1
As we started traversing the traffic filled roads the next day. what was glaringly obvious was the traffic discipline... Vehicles stop the minute the green changes to amber and don't even wait for the signal to go red!... I have seen vehicles reversing a few paces back just because they crossed the zebra crossing when the signal lights changed from green into amber... Upon inquiry came to know of the strict law enforcement since a month or two which has every driver in jitters if rules are broken. It is a round the clock enforcement.. Even when unmanned if caught at any time on the surveillance camera, one will be served notice by post the very next day.
After meeting up a friend in
the morning, we visited the Botanical Gardens.... Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden... named after one of the famous sons of Kolkata... The pioneer
Botanist of India, a Bengali Polymath.....
It encompasses a huge area, covering 109 hectares (270 acres), founded in 1780’s by British Army Officer, Col. Robert Kyd of East India Company.
It houses a huge collection of plants and was started with a profiteering vision… to identify the unknown commercial trees, plants and shrubs of this area of the world…
What started off as an experiment to find new commercial value plants, today has a cactus house, palm collection, river-overlook and a boating-lake with splendid Giant Amazon Lily pads… a herbarium delight…
The plaque above says... Tree planting is a compliance of cosmic law of right behavior and social order... one tree is equivalent to ten sons...
It encompasses a huge area, covering 109 hectares (270 acres), founded in 1780’s by British Army Officer, Col. Robert Kyd of East India Company.
It houses a huge collection of plants and was started with a profiteering vision… to identify the unknown commercial trees, plants and shrubs of this area of the world…
What started off as an experiment to find new commercial value plants, today has a cactus house, palm collection, river-overlook and a boating-lake with splendid Giant Amazon Lily pads… a herbarium delight…
The plaque above says... Tree planting is a compliance of cosmic law of right behavior and social order... one tree is equivalent to ten sons...
The minute you enter the gardens you feel the dip in the temperature... After seeing quite a few concrete structures it is a refreshing breather... an eye soother....a relief from the dust and the honks on the streets of Kolkata….
Lush and rich with flora, all your eyes can see are shades of green that soothe and relax a tired mind. The collection of trees and plants are vast.
The ambience is such that it looks like you have entered a forest not a manicured garden… Though there are metaled pathways it's the trails of the beaten path that lead to a variety of trees...
While following one such path we had our first glimpse of an interesting tree… What I found interesting was it's trunk... Really quaint and very impressionable....
It has a single trunk that spreads itself into multiple support bases smooth elegant and proportionate as though it's an art form flowered in the hands of a sculptor.... It reminded me of an elegant lady...
When my eyes flew up to its top, it revealed a distinct spread of leaves. Not being able to identify it but still having my heart fill I strolled ahead...
~~~ oOo ~~~
'A greening of the human mind must precede the greening of our Earth. A green mind is one that cares, saves and shares. These are qualities essential for conserving biological diversities now and forever.'
- M.S. Swaminathan
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