Artistic Creativity Along Sustainable Lines: A Look at The Rock Garden- One of India's Hidden Gems

                                

(This is an article I wrote back in June 2010)

By day he worked as a roads inspector, by night he illicitly created... a fantasy paradise garden!

This is the incredible story of Nek Chand and how following his inspiration led to the creation of the remarkable Rock Garden of Chandigarh in Northern India.

India can sometimes seem like one of the most bustling places on earth – a constant assault on the senses. As a white western woman I stuck out like a sore thumb when I visited in 2001, and it frequently seemed that there was no respite from the stares and experiences of men brushing up against me and nowhere (except for the hostel room) to get any peace, as paradoxical as that may seem given India's spiritual associations. I remember going into parks to sit under the trees in the shade to recover from the 50 degrees Delhi heat and soon there would be a crowd gathered around me just staring at me and the repeated requests for my photo would commence. It was hard enough just trying not to pass out in that heat, let alone having to fend off the milling throngs at the same time!

I would move somewhere else and then a while later another crowd would gather. Apparently this is a not uncommon experience for Westerners, or so I was told. I began to wonder whether this was how Jesus had felt! I don't want to give the wrong impression about India - we met so many kind and generous Indians along the way. One man was incredibly trusting and leant us what would have been an awful lot of money for most Indians when we ran out and could not get to a bank in time, not knowing whether he would ever see us again. The whole experience was a mixture of extremes, varying at times between being enthralling, exhausting, alarming and thought provoking, but often just very humbling for people like us who have come from a culture where we are used to fairly instant access to whatever we want and need.

As we travelled via the country's excellent railway network north of Delhi en route to the hillstation of Shimla in order to escape the heat, we decided to break our journey at Chandigarh. Our guide book recommended taking a look at this place called the Rock Garden developed by an unassuming Indian man called Nek Chand, who has been hailed a creative genius. It was said that his style was reminiscent of Gaudi's work, although apparently Nek Chand had never received any formal artistic training and had never even heard of artists such as Gaudi when he started his own work.

The garden was situated just outside the Le Corbusier-designed, award-winning city of Chandigarh (of an altogether different kind of style). The place sounded intriguing so we went along, not knowing what to expect. What we discovered there was an oasis of serenity and beauty that took our breath away and felt like the complete antithesis to many of the other parts of India we had just experienced. And best of all, it was mainly created along sustainable lines, using reclaimed and recycled items collected from refuse.

As we walked around the garden we came across landscape features of large swings, cascading waterfalls, pavillions, winding pathways and walled courtyards. The site featured some amazing landscape design which must have taken many man hours. As it was so intensely hot, I stood under one of the gushing waterfalls fully clothed, as many of the locals were doing. It was very refreshing and afterwards, within minutes of standing in the sun, I was fully dry again. I got a sense that most of the landscaping was designed to provide exhibition space and a grand stage for the various sculptures of people and animals who were to be encountered in prominent positions in all directions, as if on parade throughout the grounds.

The sculptures included many different types of animals as well as dancers and musicians. Many of these were made out of pieces of ceramic crafted together to form a mosaic surface to the creations. However, some of the characters who really caught my eye were the people made out of sparkly and brightly coloured sari bangles, making them appear very exotic. Other materials used included reclaimed bottles, ceramic tiles and pots, electrical materials and even sinks, sourced from both industrial and home waste.

What I found most inspiring and enduring about the place though, was the actual story of its conception and the lessons and hope this story may offer us. It all started out as a hobby for Nek Chand in the late 1950s who started collecting waste items and creating sculptures out of them in secret during his spare time away from work as a public roads inspector. Eventually (we are told around 18 years later) the authorities found out, at which point Chand's creations had already taken up acres of local Government land!

Despite the seeming audacity of Nek Chand's creative vision and the breach of use of the Government land, the enlightened decision was reached to turn the garden into a public space and continue developing it. Nek Chand was then given a salary for doing what he loved [what a result!] as well as a team of 50 helpers! In 1976 the garden was officially inaugurated and since then it has grown from 12 acres to over 40 acres and has become something of a landmark.

This story demonstrates well that beautiful and harmonious spaces can be created by reusing and redistributing resources, which can become places of community and inspiration to benefit the whole. Beyond this, it can serve to inspire us all to persist with dreaming and following our passions. In fact I feel it is our duty to follow our passions as this is our dharma, or life purpose. It is my instinct that we each have passions that will complement and blend well into the whole, creating more beautiful, natural and cohesive communities, if we heed our intuitions.

Conversely, the message I take from this story is; if we ignore our own inner callings then can we reasonably expect changes to occur in our societies as well as on a larger global scale? And! If we do not dare to create extraordinarily and outrageously beautiful homes, lives and communities, then how will any authority be convinced that such places can exist and that new ways of looking at society are necessary? Surely things will keep plodding on as they always have done, veering near to ecological disaster from time to time until people are finally ready to sit up, see the signs, hear their hearts and pay attention.

From India, a country of contrast, where not all worldly comforts are instantly obtainable, extreme resourcefulness and persistence can be seen and individuals daring to follow their dreams have made big changes. Gandhi demonstrated this and emphasised our need to "be the change we wish to see" and we can take heart that authorities and communities can be inspired by the acts of the individual, as Nek Chand's story has shown us.

Beautiful images of the garden can be found on this webpage: 
http://tricity-online.com/rock-garden-chandigarh.html#prettyPhoto