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The first thing that strikes one the visit of Chandigarh city is the expanse of resplendent Blue Mountains. |
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The other distant element that catches the eye is the faint profile of the old temple dedicated to the Goddess Chandi, from which the city of Chandigarh takes its name. If one perceives Chandigarh city in terms of color, then the
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dominant hues of Chandigarh city are red, gray, green, and blue. The brick and concrete buildings of Chandigarh city impart the red and gray; the green is painted by its lush landscape; and blue is the gift of its vast open sky and the mountains.
The city of Chandigarh awakens to a changed mood of color, texture, and aroma with the varying seasons. If in winter the roses are in bloom, then in summer the flowering trees planted along the roadsides create a riot of colors. Blossoms of jacaranda, laburnum, and gulmohar (Delonix regia) trees, arching over the roads, create vertical tunnels of flowers in the city of Chandigarh. In autumn, when the trees shed off leaves and fall beneath, they crunch under the footsteps of people. In winter, when fully naked, the leafless trees become natural sculptures in wood. The panorama and pace of nature in Chandigarh city varies form the placid to the picturesque, but is never still. Naturally so, one of the favorite pastimes of people in Chandigarh city is gardening. With a good number of retired persons settling down in Chandigarh and fondly tending their gardens, a common saying is that it is a city of "green hedges and gray beards"!
A city takes hundreds of years to develop a district personality and character of its own. But Chandigarh city, barely 40 years old, an infant compared to other cities, has already come of age, and assumed an ambience of its own. This fact has help promote tourism in Chandigarh city. Situated in the northern part of the country, Chandigarh is the capital city of two states-Punjab and Haryana-besides being a union territory in itself. Built in the tradition of historic "new towns" of India like Mandu, Fatehpur Sikri and Jaipur, Chandigarh, too, is an act of faith and daring.
Chandigarh was born out of the anguish and drama of the country's partition in 1947 when it lost Lahore, the erstwhile capital of composite Punjab. To fill up this vacuum, Chandigarh was conceived to be a symbol of India's freedom; symbol of faith and confidence for the resurgent republic unfettered by the traditions of the past. Today, after four decades of its inception, Chandigarh is an effervescent city of half a million people, famous for its architecture and landscaping.
The famous French architect Charles Edouard 'Le Corbusier' Jeanneret, who was truly a multifaceted 'Renaissance man' with the vision of a philosopher-thinker and the creativity of an architect-painter, planned the beautiful city of Chandigarh. He conceived Chandigarh as a city of "Sun, Space and Verdure" to fulfill four basic functions of living, working, circulation, and care of body and spirit. The master plan is a chequered mesh of rectangles called sectors, which are intended to be self-sufficient neighborhood units, enclosed by fast-moving traffic roads. In fact, a salient feature of the city plan of Chandigarh is its novel movement system, which has a hierarchy of streets for different types of traffic.
Before Corbusier took over, two American town planners, Alber Mayer and Matthew Nowicki were assigned the job in May 1950. But, unfortunately, in August 1950, Nowicki died in an air crash near Egypt, putting an end to the work initiated by the US team.
The Punjab Government lost no time and very soon E. Maxwell Fry and his partner and wife, Jane B. Drew, were given the assignment. Fry and Drew suggested the name of Le Corbusier for the prestigious task of designing the capital city, Chandigarh. The new team of architects led by Le Corbusier and his long-time associate and cousin Pierre Jeanneret assembled at the PWD rest house near Pinjore Gardens and, without losing time, got on with the work.
In 1954, the then President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad inaugurated Chandigarh, after basic infrastructure and accommodation on a temporary basis to start the functioning of goernment were provided.
Fry and Drew left soon after the inauguration having completed their three-year term. Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, assisted by an Indian team, continued to work for the completion of the capitol complex and earlier phases of Chandigarh. Jeanneret retired in 1965 and the same year Le Corbusier died in a swimming accident. Soon Mr. M. N. Sharma, who was assisting Corbusier, was asked to take over as the architect of Chandigarh. It was an enormous task and a challenge to complete the unaccomplished works of Corbusier. The new team strove much harder not only to come up to the expectations but also to go much beyond in finding new expression in architecture while meeting the needs caused by the socio-economic changes.
The Institute of Line in Paris gave Chandigarh the coveted award for creating the best environment for the common man and Mr. M. N. Sharma was also invited by the Rockfeller Foundation in the USA and other countries to share his experiences. Today a visit of the Chandigarh city reveals its neat housing clusters and the broad tree-lined avenues. No wonder Chandigarh is often called the "City Beautiful" or the "Garden City"-both fond epithets given to it by its residents.
Best Season, Climate and Clothing
Chandigarh enjoys an extreme climate with hot summers and chilly winters. The monsoon season, though pleasant in the evenings, is very humid during the daytime. The best season to visit Chandigarh is autumn, i.e., from mid-August to November, when the weather is pleasant, neither too hot, nor too cold.
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