Chandigarh

A modern city designed by Le Corbusier in the 1950s is a feast to the eyes. With enough emphasis on walkways, parks, roundabouts and at a couple of hours away from the summer retreats of Kasuali, Chail and many more Himalayan towns, Chandigarh is a great place to be. It is the capital for both the states of Haryana and Punjab, also a Union Territory in itself.
Within the city, one can go to Rose Park, the Lake, Nek Chand’s Rock Garden made out of waste (probably the most unique in entire world) and spend a good evening at Satara Market (Sector 17).
Chandigarh doesn’t attract a lot of tourists since it is mostly used as the gateway to Himachal (link). Very well connected with roads, a high speed train from Delhi and an airport, the city is among the rich and developed cities of India. Being close to Himalayas, it gets very cold during winters and summers are also warm, so best time to be here is Feb-April and then Sep-Nov.

Best Time to Visit: February to April and September to November

Languages Spoken: Hindi, Punjabi

Climate: Hot summers and cold winters

Places of Interest: Nek Chands rock garden, Rose Garden, Sukhna Lake

Knowledge Centres: Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh Museum

ROCK GARDEN ROCKS

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Rock Garden in Chandigarh is a marvellous piece of creativity and worth a visit while in/ passing through Chandigarh. We covered the place while passing across Chandigarh – ‘The City Beautiful’ – a city dreamt of by the Frenchman, Le Corbusier. It must be recorded here; driving within Chandigarh gives one the feeling of being in Lutyen’s Delhi – with wide, shaded boulevards flowing around well shaped roundels, regulated and smooth traffic, distinctive signboards

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First Smoke-Free City of India : Chandigarh

First Smoke-Free City of India : Chandigarh

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Rock garden is open for limited time, so confirm the timings first. The entrance leads to a magnificent, almost, surrealist arrangement of rocks, boulders, broken chinaware, discarded fluorescent tubes, broken and cast away glass bangles, building waste, coal & clay-all juxtaposed to create a dream folk world of places, soldiers, monkeys, village life, women and temples. In the end there is a huge open space surrounded by different kind of mirrors having special effects.

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Baralacha-la pass at an altitude of 4890 meters

To Leh by road : Journey from Chandigarh – Srinagar – Kargil

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Had a lunch/prayer break at world’s second coldest inhabited place Drass (after Siberia). Winters in Drass are cold with average lows around −22 °C and as low as −45 °C at the peak of winter. The lowest temperature was recorded around −60 °C during 2005. We were told by some locals that everybody in mountain keeps at least 4 to 6 months food stock for emergencies.

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Chandigarh to Mandi – The fast and furious highway ride

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It was a long long hill drive for sure and in such perfect conditions of roads that if I had any longing for hill drive then it should have been satisfied completely by now (Must have been 200 kms in hills in this journey). After having a bump free ride for at least 400-450 kms till now, finally I was to face reality.

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Weekend Drive to “The City Beautiful” Chandigarh

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The Rock Garden in itself is a maze of tunnels, arches, narrow passages and galleries. At one point of time one would feel there is no further way ahead and suddenly a narrow walkway will open out of nowhere.

With astute sculptures of men, women, Gods and animals, the garden is indeed a delight. Not only vivid sculptures, the garden houses multiple waterfalls, fish aquariums and swings or jhulas that we all have loved swinging on during our childhood days.
Men, women and children of all ages without any tinge of hesitation swing their way through these swings, happily remising the good old childhood days!

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