INDIRA GANDHI MEMORIAL TULIP GARDEN

                      INDIRA  GANDHI  MEMORIAL  TULIP  GARDEN,  SRINAGAR 

Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden previously named as Model Floriculture Centre, Sirajbagh, Chashmeshahi, Srinagar, is the largest Tulip Garden of Asia spread over an area of about 12hectares. it is situated on the foothills of Zabarwan Range with an overview of picturesque world famous Dal lake.

This garden was conceived, conceptualised and created by Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2006-07 with the aim to boost floriculture and advance tourism in Kashmir Valley.

In the month of April, this year I got the golden chance to visit this vast valley of tulip in the Jammu and Kashmir trip. The morning started with the scorching sun, and it was the day for sight-seeing around Srinagar. Tulip Garden was the first destination and so excitement was on the highest peak!  The famous film Silsila, where the suave Amitabh Bachchan and the ever-glamourous Rekha thrilled us with the song sequence "Dekha ek khwab" ; it was a song before my birth but thanks to my parents, I got to watch the film and the song of course a numerous times. Every time my mom would say how exquisite the tulip garden is and how she wants to visit the valley. So obviously it was in my travel wishlist too and here I was visiting this garden, with my parents!

Okay, so we entered the garden after taking tickets 40 rupees per head. AND as soon as I entered, I was like OH MY GOD! the valley is stretched faraway and you will wonder where it ends. You will find yourself encircled by tulips and tulips everywhere. I started clicking immediately but the I remembered that the ticket is valid for only half an hour, so I had to hurry otherwise I could not complete the full garden. I headed forward and was amazed to see the burst of colours all over. No, not a red carpet to welcome you, but thousand coloured carpets are spread by these tulips to welcome you whole-heartedly. I was confused about which one to click and which one not! rows after rows of flowers were tossing their heads as if to welcome to their region.

A number of  gardeners were there to plant the saplings, water them, cut the weeds, and take a lot of care of the bloomed flowers which are the center of tourist attraction. they do not notice the tourists as they are always busy caring the large garden. 

One of the surprising thing was that none was tearing the leaves or plucking the flowers. The reason may be that they wanted to show respect to the heavenly creation of nature OR may be that they did not want to give 500 rupees as a compensation/fine for tearing or plucking flowers-leaves. Well, while roaming about I saw a baby running towards a tulip flower to pluck it and his mother (who was busy talking with her sister before)  came running and screaming at him not to pluck that flower. It was so damn funny to see how people are so afraid of giving fine LOL :)

There are green grass carpets spread in the middle of the rows of flowers. People roamed about there, some entered inside the rows of tulips and got clicked (of course with tender care so that the flowers don't get affected). Couples, school children (class-bunkers!), honeymoon couples, families and also some crazy-minded people like me were roaming, clicking, some even asking for clicking pictures of them. It was the pick-season of flowers and so huge number of tourists turned up. The garden remains open only for 2-3 months, because after that the flowers get dried up, the monsoon sets in and before that period the snowfall does not allow flowers to bloom. I noticed that some flowers had already started to dry up. Even the travel guide Raju told that in his career of about 10 years, he saw the tulips for the first time. So no doubt I was very lucky to catch a glimpse of the great valley of tulip flowers. 

   

The different flower shrubs beside the tulip-rows accentuated the beauty apart from the tulips. Besides Pine, Deodar, Spruce, Willow, Maple trees give shade by the rows of tulips. The Apple trees were in full bloom, fully ornamented with white flowers. There were rows of table-chairs and cement slabs where the tourists and visitors were taking rest, some taking food. As it was really scorching heat, so I stood under a Maple tree, it felt soothing after roaming and clicking under sun. There is also a floriculture centre beside the garden which provides saplings, seeds, fertilizers etc . One gets to know a lot more about how to plant Tulips and grow them from there. The Palm Swifts, Barn Swallows, Himalayan Bulbuls kept fluttering over the flowers and Golden Eagles and Shikras kept flying above with sharp look beneath.

Every year, Spring Tulip Festival is held here at the Tulip Garden. This year it was held from 12th to 14th April. it was a grand fest, where celebrities turned up and made the Spring Tulip Festival 2014 a great success. 

For reviews you can check the link: http://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g297623-d1220203-Reviews-Indira_Gandhi_Tulip_Garden-Srinagar_Kashmir_Jammu_and_Kashmir.html

You can check the following links for videos of the tulip garden: