Making Lalbagh Greener
There would hardly be any body in Bangalore who has not heard of, or been to Lalbagh, at least during one of the two flower shows held annually. In fact, Lalbagh and Cubbon Park have become virtually synonymous with greenery in Bangalore. The public garden which it became from a private garden of Tippu's time, soon was designated as a botanic garden over a century and a half ago. Since then, Lalbagh has been visited by a multitude of people, with even vehicular traffic being stopped from going through it from the nineteen-seventies. It is thus a walkers' paradise locally!
As a designated botanical garden, more is expected out of the place. Its very designation as a botanic garden implies a respect of use which it is perhaps not getting today. A botanic garden is a museum of sorts, where living plants are maintained for study, research and education. It is a serious place for learning, where at least the bulk of the people getting in should be coming out more enlightened and better informed. But unfortunately this is not happening. It has become an exercise centre for the people and a profit centre for the powers that be.
Lalbagh could have been better maintained. There is too much of 'civil works' happening. From existing paved and tarred roads to newly constructed pathways and car parks, it looks as if constructed structures vie for space with the trees and the plants themselves. Hardly can any one take a photographic snapshot of the landscape without a road or a paved pathway being boldly visible. This open visibility itself exposes the lack of tall shrubbery and hedges in a botanic garden. Shrubbery has been on a consistent decline right from the eighties, when it was systematically removed to serve the needs of 'security' for a visiting Prime Minister.
The shrub layer in Lalbagh is rather poor today. The drastic reduction in the shrub layer and hedges in Lalbagh over the past couple of decades, has resulted in a consequent spectacular drop in the numbers and populations of shrub and hedge dwelling birds. This needs to be remedied. Extensive planting of understorey shrubs and hedges needs to be undertaken. The hedge lines should at least equal the total length of roads in Lalbagh. Out of the nearly thirty 'lawns' or plots in Lalbagh, very few have hedges and shrubs higher than a meter in height. And almost none have non-grass 'ground cover'. Even the grass needs to be allowed to flower and seed now and then, to support the small animal and bird communities that feed on these seeds. Leaf litter under trees and plants should be allowed. Leaf litter acts as a mulch, insulating the soil and preventing evaporative losses of soil moisture. It also supports a multitude of soil fauna and flora, which could have supported life higher up in the food chain too. Rainwater runoff would have turned to soil seepage with leaf litter. It has been said that forest leaf litter is a thousand six hundred times more efficient at controlling runoff than even cropland.
Regarding design and aesthetics, it has been pointed out that Lalbagh lacks a consistent style that one sees in most of the botanic gardens of the world today. We have pathways which at various times have been laid with gravel, or paved with laterite or tiles, or have been not paved at all. There are wide roads, so wide that they being in a botanic garden should raise eyebrows. The type and colour of the kerb stones vary from place to place. The old benches are mixed with styles starkly contrasting with a place of antiquity. The name boards are not consistent. And the distributional ranges on the names of the trees are outdated and not verified with good information accessible through the world wide web. In short looks as if each administrator has chosen what ever pleased him during his tenure.
Waste and Water Management issues have plagued Lalbagh as any other. Innovations have been suggested which would perhaps do good, but have remained suggestions. The lake lost its sloping shoreline some years back, and along with it the birds which waded into the shallows. The open wells could have had an educational value. Volume for volume, less power is required to pump water from an open well compared to a bore-well.
Enhancing the Educational Value: Right from the early Seventies, amongst all the non gardening hobby groups that have been at Lalbagh, it is perhaps the birdwatching hobbyist community of Bangalore which has been most consistent. In the recent past there have also been priced or charged for programmes run by different NGOs and individual people to expose the public to the tree and historical heritage of Lalbagh. Somewhere around 2003 perhaps, the department put up notice boards depicting the birds found in Lalbagh (on a list which I provided). In addition there are descriptive boards for select species of trees.
But the question is, is this enough? Or is it all? There are many things that could be done for enhancing the educational value of Lalbagh.
The opening hours of Lalbagh are from 4:30am to 7pm, all days of the week. But the staff responsible for Lalbagh are duty bound only during working hours and that too not visible to the public during this time. For the millions of people visiting the place every month, there is no officer level/professionally educated level of department staff well informed to talk to people or answer queries about the place during the entire opening hours all through the week. So Lalbagh badly requires an information centre right at the entrance, at the gate, like many of the botanical gardens around the world have, which is open from early morning to 7pm all through the week.
There should be easily accessible information sheets which people can pick up (and return if they wish-to after their walk), giving a map, the important things to see that month (because it is a botanic garden and there is seasonal fruiting and flowering happening). A mere board may not do good for the serious since a leaflet in the hand can be used for ready reference since it is carried, and perhaps taken home for the seriously inclined.
The defunct rose garden in the Darwinia Plot could be effectively converted to a shrub garden showcasing the shrubs that could be grown in restricted spaces (when compared to the space required by a tree) for the public. Not everybody has space for a tree, but many people should be able to manage planting shrubs in their homes. This could be developed as illustration plots.
We could do justice to the historical wrong of a study centre and herbarium being destroyed to make way for a rose garden (remembering the Darwinia herbarium!). And for all that, the rose is not even a plant suited for the tropics which bears flowers without pruning and maintenance, and is hardly as spectacular as it is in its native cold climates. The allowed to go derelict buildings near the plot could be restored and historical notes added to it there. Apparently, INTACH and other agencies dealing with history and architecture were keen on the conservation of these buildings, the ex zoo-aquarium and 'canteen'.
If these things could be done, then a unique education programme could be launched where senior citizens with a personal experience of history could come, talk and interact with school age youngsters, passing on their valuable experience and knowledge. This could go well beyond horticulture and touch larger issues like economics, urban development and the environment, while retaining a focus on urban greening aspects. The seminar hall near the Siddapura gate could be integrated into this educational programme. If there is an information centre, a lot more programmes could be integrated with it.
Lalbagh as an Urban Biodiversity Hotspot/Centre: Given the urban location and the age of Lalbagh, and the richness and age of the existing flora and fauna there, it should be seriously considered as an Urban Biodiversity Hotspot. Given the flora and fauna that it harbours (many falling under the purview of the Wildlife Protection Act too), it would perhaps be better for the whole area to be put under a larger department which deals with biodiversity. The forest department is entrusted with biodiversity and trees, and should be the best department to safeguard this biodiversity.
Krishna MB, Thursday, 10th July 2014.
[Not formally edited]
Published version in the Times of India
