The event was part of the 30-city tour of the bhangra star launched by the soft-drinks giant with MTV. The venue was an offering to them by the city's Municipal Corporation, for which the Mayor received a fat cheque from the company. As the Mayor and Municipal Commissioner were felicitated on the dais, the well-manicured lawn bore the brunt of four large screens set up at vantage points and the different barricades and chairs, some of which were on the leafy beds of tiny plants, besides the giant stage. Even some barricades proved anathema to the plants as, owing to the surging crowd and wet mud, the bars got pressed on them, spoiling many.

Daler doled out his usual mixbag, the "medley" he has adopted of late in place of his pure Punjabi fare. So, the audience came in and out of Sukhwinder's Chayya Chayya, Shweta Shetty's Deewane and even that melodious and gripping Lata number, Yara Silli Silli... But when he brought in his own, the crowd became frenzied. And more the Tara Ra Ra or Chui Mui or the Dardi Rab Rab, the more the crowd became hysterical. So what if a few plants, bearing lovely yellow flowers, got uprooted and swirled in the air? It is a matter of strange irony that Delhi's "green man" did not give a thought to the green's plight here while accepting the venue. All is fair in showbiz and "masti".

Strollers to the Garden will be treated to a fragrance of a different kind tomorrow morning as many of the bushes received "nature's first call" from the ardent fans of the singer, who did not want to waste time by going to the "loos" set up at the corner of the lawns. But as per an MC official, "People should have more civic sense." What about the MC itself? So, Daler sang Damadam mast kalandar and pocketed his worth while Fragrance Garden, inaugurated a year back at the Festival of Gardens, cried for help.