The show goes on

Mona

Something that started back in 1985 has managed to hold City Beautiful’s interest 33 years on. Hundreds of varieties, new entrants, competitions and flower-decked animals – Chrysanthemum Show opened to a pretty, sunny day!

A riot of colours is what Terraced Garden was bathed in as visitors, young and old, made the most of Day 1. “We come here every year on Fridays, as it gets crowded on the weekend,” shares entrepreneur Sameer Sharma, happy clicking his son Satyam with a colourful butterfly for a backdrop. We catch Lalita giving instructions to her husband clicking their children in school dress next to another prop, “We ensure to enjoy the beautiful displays every single year.” 

Like its previous outings, this year too there are winners taking a proud place as the Prince or Princess of the show. With as many as 269 varieties on display, there are newer names added to the list – New Sweet Jubilee, a deep spider yellow bloom. Simkim yellow attracts the anthophiles, who cannot but go gaga over the broad shiny petals.  

Rows and rows of pots, flower arrangements, the familiar Spiderman and Monkey reading a book, a marigold shikara full of flowers pots – there is something soothing in familiarity itself. There are camel rides  right outside the garden, candy floss vendors at the gate and park full of tiny tots running around and parents after them. We hear more than once, mothers threatening their wards to stand still for pictures or no more outings for them. However, there are many youngsters clicking selfies against the pretty backdrops. We catch friends Simran Kaur and Sunita Kaushik enjoying the sun, “We love flowers and these lovely blooms are rather delightful,” says the duo, who has maintained their annual ritual of visiting the show. 

We bump into a group of firangs ‘soaking the sun’, lazily lounging in the greens, but not all are happy about the show. Rohit with his blond hair and colourful clothes is  jumping around to music rather morosely, “We are Tik Tokers,” he explains. “Usually we have all the garden to ourselves, today so many visitors are disrupting our dance practice,” he rues. Amod Gupta, a retiree,  is rather embarrassed, “I come here every day, today I feel little under dressed with so many visitors thronging this park,” says he brushing his kurta creases. But then this three-day show has the fountains dancing to music, stone sculptures acting as make-shift slide and Bouncy Castle standing tall to give young visitors time of their life in the lap of nature, literally!