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Ushering in the magic of spring

The Garden of Five Senses in New Delhi waits for you this weekend to celebrate spring amidst food, flowers and fun. SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY gives you the road map

Photo: S. Subramanium

AN INVITATION A view of the Garden Tourism Festival at The Garden of Five Senses in South Delhi

Spring, for ages, has evoked in us our finer sense of appreciating beauty, colour, fragrance and all that splendour one identifies with nature. No wonder, many a poet left behind unforgettable lines on spring for posterity to recite. Even leading a mechanical life in a concrete jungle like Delhi won't stop you from reclaiming this finer sense no matter how long you have let it rust if you happen to visit The Garden of Five Senses this weekend. Celebrating the colours of spring with the Garden Tourism Festival for the 19th year, the garden at Said-ul-Ajaib in South Delhi is turned into an endless bed of flowers and other vegetation of varied hues. To make the experience all inclusive, you would also have the facility of enjoying ethnic food, buying fresh flowers, plants and garden accessories, letting your little ones take part in a painting competition on the importance of nature in our lives while keeping yourself free to enjoy a fashion show based on the theme of - what else - spring.

Explains Suman Sharma of Delhi Tourism, the main organiser of the festival, "What best can you have for spring than to enjoy a 20-acre land of flowers and vegetables right in the middle of the city? Besides Delhi residents, this is also aimed at attracting tourists. Just one km from the Qutb Minar, it is a ready option for a foreign tourists at this time of the year." The three-day festival ending this Sunday at 8 p.m. has participants from The Kitchen Garden Association of Delhi, Delhi Dahlia Association, Bonsai Association and Ikebana Association among others.

Says Sharma, "The festival has turned out to be a great platform for as many as 500 gardeners in and around Delhi." This year, 35 associations are taking part in it besides one entry from as far as Kalimpong."

S. Kamath, the horticulture expert in charge of The Mughal Gardens, is at the helm of affairs here too. He has been overseeing the technical arrangements behind the annual festival. This time, Kamath will scan as many as 40 categories in flowers and other plants to award the best cut flowers, best fresh flowers, best Ikebana, best bonsai, best trays, etc. at the end of the festival.

Shuttle service

To make it convenient for visitors, Delhi Tourism has organised a free shuttle service from Dilli Haat and Qutb Minar to the venue and back. While others have to buy tickets to enter the garden, it is free for school children in uniform. Though there is no arrangement for any shuttle service inside the enormous garden, Sharma thinks, "The best way to admire nature is to take a walk."

And we know, he is right.

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