A historic landmark... lost in time

While the name suggests it is a place where lilies bloom, it’s anything but that. Tucked away in the heart of Sector 9’s residential area, the place, at first seems like any other garden with cemented paths and towering trees. There’s nothing here — no boards or signages — that gives you a lead regarding its importance. This, until you literally stumble upon a huge cuboid-like structure housed just off the middle of the garden. Made from cement, it boasts of two dilapidated plaques that have certainly seen bad weather.

The iron bar circling it on the ground along with a thick undergrowth make it difficult to take a closer look — you can squint and just about make out what it reads. ‘Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, saw the layout of Chandigarh from this spot on 2nd April in the year 1952’ it says across a black granite slab.

That’s how important a place it is!

Circle the square and there’s another plaque, in an equally regretful state. It reads: ‘This memorial was inaugurated by M S Randhawa, Chief Commissioner, Chandigarh on Februrary 27, 1967.’ Finally, you realise that Lily Garden actually houses a memorial to Nehru’s vision of planned urban development.

Interestingly, a hundred metres or so, you notice another structure. This one is tall like a tower and has huge iron frames surrounding it from four sides. Here too, there is no mention of what the tower is or its significance. As one enters the area, you notice something’s amiss.

“There were plaques here too. See the missing spots. They’ve been gone for a long time,” says the neighbourhood dhobhi from across the street.” All you see now are empty spaces with moss all over and broken steps. With no one to fill us in on the place, we turn to M N Sharma, former chief architect of the city, who has worked closely with Le Corbusier and M S Randhawa, former Chief Commissioner of the city. “It’s called Lily Garden?” questions Sharma as we quiz him about the place. “Is there a pond now?” he asks us and we tell him there isn’t one.

“Did you go up the tower? There were wooden steps I remember,” says Sharma as he remembers being at the garden the day Pandit Nehru surveyed the city that was to be Chandigarh. “The tower had steps leading to it. It had four sides and Pandit Nehru looked around from each. This is a very important place for the city and needs to be highlighted,” he says. Strangely, while the garden itself looks cared for with its wrought iron benches, cemented footpaths, flower beds... the sites of importance are in neglect.