Wasted and forgotten

The Rock Garden in Chandigarh gets ready to celebrate its 50th anniversary "" without its creator.

Nek Chand Saini, a road inspector by profession but a prolific sculptor by choice, wrought similar magic at the Rock Garden in Chandigarh, in which he used recycled waste to fashion pieces of extraordinary beauty.

The monument will celebrate its 50th anniversary in November this year, and two Nek Chand Foundations based in the US and the UK have decided to celebrate in style.

There will be a gala ceremony and a colourful procession in Chandigarh as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations to be held from November 4. But not a single Indian is a member of either of these foundations. Even the creator of the Rock Garden, Nek Chand, is not a part of these foundations.

"I did not create Rock Garden to earn international acclaim. It was a clandestine endeavour to fulfill a spiritual urge that was discovered accidently by the authorities and made open to the public. I abstain from any activity to publicise my creation," says Padam Shri Nek Chand.

The octogenarian, media-shy Nek Chand laments the apathy of Indian visitors who come to visit a masterpiece like the Rock Garden. Foreign visitors, on the contray, try to an gain insight into the concept behind the Rock Garden.

"I got the opportunity to recreate the same at Bayreuth (near Berlin, Germany) and Sheboygan (Winconsin in the US). I receive many invites to hold workshops on waste management in the developed nations, but unfortunately there is an acute lack of awareness on this subject in India," says the artist.

Nek Chand gets nostalgic as he recalls the invitation by President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy to work in the Rastrapati Bhavan. The project was called off with the change of guard at Raisina Hill.

The versatile artist has now concentrated all his energies on expanding and conserving his maiden project. Nek Chand interacts with school-going children in phase three of the Rock Garden to enlighten them on how they can explore the artist in themselves, by using abandoned things surrounding them.

The artists also likes interacting with the few international visitors among the 4,000 to 4,500 visitors who come to the Rock Garden every day. "We learn from each other," he says.