Colours are a treat to the eyes. Without them, we would be seeing the world differently. The flower show at Lalbagh, as always, was nothing less than a feast for the eyes. Colourful flowers arranged in a classy fashion attracted plenty of lenses. People, both young and old, poured in with their families, from all over the city to witness the 199 edition of the show. The show, which commenced on January 17, had nearly 43,000 footfalls on Sunday.
People queued up outside the glass house to see the flowers on display. A large part of the crowd was fascinated with the varieties of flowers. “This is the fourth time I am at the flower show and it keeps getting better each year. There are more varieties this year and it is all so beautiful,” gushed Suhas, a VFX designer, before he bolted off to buy orchids.
Not everyone shared his view. “This was very disappointing experience. The glass house is very noisy. In my opinion, flower shows should happen in the open. Also, the plants look a lot less healthy than those in flower shows in New Delhi,” complained a discontented K.B. Verma, a tourist from New Delhi.
Vendors all over the botanical garden were kept busy by the public. The crowd, after snacking, lacked the basic civic discipline to use available waste bins.
“On weekends, people come with their families. We rarely have serious buyers during the weekends. On weekdays, the sales are much better,” said Rejin Jayarajan, owner of an orchid stall.
“People are littering this place with paper, chocolate wrappers and plastic. I can understand the need to snack; but I don’t understand why they can’t use the dustbins. This is a beautiful place and people come from all over the city. You can also see many tourists. We are sending a very wrong message through such actions,” said Tajinder Walia, a resident of Hegde Nagar. Parking hassles were the flip-side of the show with policemen outside the garden frantically trying to control the traffic caused by lack of parking space.
