“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.