Chandigarh trip

I don't know how to start this blog with. Well briefly, I came to Chandigarh on 27th March for taking knowledge transition for my new project which runs out from Infosys Chandigarh. Initially, my stay at Chandigarh was for 2 weeks and could have been extended if needed. I arrived in the evening and straight went to Infosys guest house by cab at around 8:30. Thanks to the semi-final match between India and Pakistan, my Delhi-Chandigarh flight was delayed by 2 hours due to air traffic congestion.

Infosys Chandigarh is located in a village and its quite far from the city centre. The campus has only 3 buildings, and there is a DT mall nearby to hang out. The area - Rajiv Gandhi IT Park is still developing and Airtel have just opened their office closeby. There are other companies like Tech Mahindra and IBM call centre, but the whole IT Park is secluded from the city.

The first week kicked off with meeting project team members, getting to know about the application, studying Unix and Oracle after 7 years, meetings and discussions. The food here consisted of one Dal and one item of potato compulsarily. In the evenings in between, I saw 'Tanu weds Manu' at the DT mall and went to Sector 17 shopping complex area (courtesy Bhumika). As we drove, I could make out that what everyone told about Chandigarh - 'the best planned city in India', is partially true. For the fact that roads are wide and areas are divided into sectors, but the sector numbers are not in proper order I felt. And the best thing is, every main road has a service road. Also heard that Chandigarh traffic rules are very strict, and a slight mistake could make you pay fine. But I've seen many instances of breaking the rule and not getting caught :)

As the weekend came, I was wondering if I take a tour of Chandigarh or go to Amritsar. But as the bus facilities for Amristar was very poor (busses only at 6 AM and 3 PM, takes 4.5 hours), I decided to go around Chandigarh itself. I enquired and found out that CITCO conducts daily half-day sight seeing tours of Chandigarh starting at 10 AM and 1:30 PM.

On Saturday, I managed to reach the starting point of the tour - Hotel Shivalik View, located in Sector 17, by 9:45 AM. The ticket was just Rs. 50 and there were hardly 10 members in the bus. I found a lonely lad, just like me, and he became my company.

The tour started first by going to the museum. This museum had nothing interesting - just some ancient Phulkari's (Phulkari, an embroidery technique from the Punjab in India literally means flower working, which was at one time used as the word for embroidery), century old idols, old coins and paintings.

Next, we came to Bougainvillea Garden where the Chandigarh War Memorial is located. Chandigarh War Memorial perhaps the largest War Memorial of the country, with nearly 8459 names of the Deceased Soldiers since 1947 from Army Air Force and Navy stands and was inaugurated by H’ble President of India Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

After that, he took us to Rock garden, which is the most famous attraction of Chandigarh. He gave us an hours time to go thru the garden. This garden was started by Nek Chand in 1957 and is completely built of industrial and home waste and thrown-away items. What an idea Sir ji !!

The Rock Garden is made out of recycled materials. It consists of man-made interlinked waterfalls and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap & other kinds of wastes (bottles, glasses, bangles, tiles, ceramic pots, sinks, electrical waste, etc) which are placed in walled paths.

Later, we proceeded to Sukhna lake which is very close to the Rock garden. This is an artificial lake at the foothills of the Himalayas, the Shivalik hills.

Finally, after seeing all these, he dropped us at Rose Garden which is close to Sector 17 and told that it was the last point of the tour. By this time, it was already 12:30 PM. Zakir Rose Garden in Chandiarh is Asia's largest Rose garden with a splendid variety of species of roses. I couldn't cover the entire garden though, but managed to click some macro shots.

I was very tired and hungry and I walked all the way back to Sector 17 shopping area to find some restaurant, but in vain. Then I walked to Sector 17 bus stand, and found some restaurant. I had a full punjabi thali and my energy bounced. As it was the World Cup Finals on that day, I thought I would see the second innings of the match and make use of the afternoon to see some other places. I ran thru the places to visit near Chandigarh and found out that Pinjore gardens was just 20 kms away from the place. I went back to the bus stand, enquired about the busses to Pinjore and the folks told that I could go to Housing Board near Manimajra by bus and take an auto from there. I did as they told me and finally reached Pinjore gardens by around 3 PM.

Pinjore Gardens or Yadavindra Gardens is a Mughal Garden, which looks more like KRS near Mysore, There were some renovations happening around and so water was only in few places. It is said that Pandavas rested here during their exile.

Having seen the gardens, I thought I would go to Bhimadevi temple also, but the route was not clear and so I had to drop the idea. I took an auto back to Housing Board and from there took a bus to IT park. I reached my guest house at around 6 PM and the Srilankan innings was still going on. Rest of the day I sat watching the match and what a match it was! India lifted the World Cup & a proud moment for all of us. I enjoyed alone, calling home.

On Sunday, as there was nothing much to do, I went to the DT mall and saw FALTU in morning show. Later in the afternoon till night I saw 3 movies back to back - Golmaal 3, Band Baja Baarat and No one killed Jessica.

The second week also went off with more trainings and other stuffs. On the day of Ugadi, after office, I went to Mansa Devi temple which is quite near to office. This temple is located near the foothills of Shivalik range. As I didn't know that the Navratra starts from that day in North, I had to wait for long in a queue to have Darshan of the Godess. Nearby, there is a Patiala Mandir, dedicated to Lord Durga. A 'Langar' was also arranged in the premises and I had the dinner in temple. Coming back to Infy guest house was a nightmare, as no ricks were available and I walked around 4 kms in the dark at around 9:30 PM!

I was supposed to go to Mumbai on way to Bangalore, but somehow things didn't work out and so I returned back to Bangalore on 9th April.

Overall, Chandigarh trip was a packed and good one. Although my wish still remains - visiting Amritsar and Wagah Border. Lets see when time comes...