I was surprised at the suggestions made by the President of Mysore District Hoteliers' Association M. Rajendra at the 16th State - level convention of Karnataka Pradesh Hotels and Restaurants Association (KPHRA) held at Rajendra Kala Mandira on Ramanuja Road on December 18, 2010 that the Mysore Race Course be converted into a Rock Garden, as if he was making a path - breaking suggestion for attracting more tourists to our city and thereby benefit, among others, hoteliers like himself.

In this world where “I” comes first for every layman, politician, bureaucrat and also experts, it is understandable. After all, he is a hotelier himself and needs to attract more tourists to our city for his own benefit, as also for the benefit of others like him. Unfortunately, by making that suggestion, he was scoring a self - goal. About it later.

However, what shocked me was the endorsement of his views by Pejawar Seer Sri Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji who, as if overwhelmed by Rajendra's suggestion, readily endorsed it.

In the first place, I wonder if either of these two has even the foggiest of idea about a Rock Garden — what it actually is, why it is called so, what are the elements that should go into a rock garden, where it should be located or rather more appropriately, which land could be converted into a Rock Garden etc.

The question is: Just because you want a Rock Garden, can you convert a fertile piece of green land, so soothing to the eyes and so useful as it is to the citizens, into a lifeless place with collections of stones arranged in different formats, some terracotta figurines or waste metal sculptures, an artificially created running stream, etc?

The natural choice for a Rock Garden, it is said, is a barren, infertile land where already a bounty of stones and boulders are provided by nature itself. If this is the yardstick, then certainly creating a Rock Garden in the present Race Course land is height of ignorance on the part of those who make such suggestions. A Botanical Garden? Yes. But certainly not a Rock Garden. After all, we have a Zoological Garden (City Zoo) and we certainly need a Botanical Garden too, but certainly not on the land where the Race Course and the Golf Course are located.

The best locations for a Botanical Garden that I can suggest are:

1. In front of the Lalitha Mahal Palace, next to the helipad where 35 acres of land has already been enclosed by MUDA for a proposed Heritage Park — whatever it means.
2. The one in Thavarekatte area on the way to Chamundi Hill, extending from Thavarekatte upto the Indus Valley Ayurvedic Centre, where there is a huge stretch of land lying barren and vacant with a natural flow of water from the northern slopes of the Chamundi Hill.

The naivety of the suggestion to shift Race Course is imponderable simply for the reason that the idea comes from the hotel industry which should in fact be happy that the Race Course is in our city and they are one of the beneficiaries. People, who come to races from the neighbouring districts and from all over the country for the Derby, use the city's hotels for their boarding and lodging. If the Race Course is shifted, their numbers would surely come down for they would rather go for off - course betting from their own places than suffer inconveniences and extra expense for the pleasure of seeing horse - flesh in action.

Be that as it may, I had written in this column about two years ago on this subject. An atrocious suggestion was made for a rock garden in our city, but fortunately the land suggested was not the Mysore Race Course. Hoping that it might interest our readers to know what I wrote, I am reproducing the Abracadabra in Star of Mysore titled:
“Rock Garden: Drop the idea, go for Botanical Garden instead”.

Reading about the proposed or planned "Rock Garden" in our city "to add to city's glory," as one newspaper headlined it, I was taken aback.

Rock Garden is okay in Ramanagaram, especially where the film Sholay was shot or in some desert land, may be in the nearby Talkad, where plants and trees don't grow, but certainly not in our city.

I was also shocked to read that the 30 - acre land, already enclosed by MUDA with a compound wall in front of the Lalitha Mahal Palace hotel, is being suggested by the Father of Rock Garden Nek Chand Saini of Chandigarh, who, it was reported, stayed in Mysore in the month of July for four days. Well, it is a poor reflection on the scent sense of our news hounds that no one could know about Nek Chand's presence in city, including me!

I have met Nek Chand some years ago at the Chandigarh Rock Garden which was a pilot project for those days and many may have imitated it thereafter improving upon the original which is unavoidable! He was a resident of the Rock Garden, staying in the premises. So it was easy for me to meet him. A reticent and also a recluse, I felt, it was difficult to make him speak.

It was a sprawling area, work is still continuing. I have heard that in the M. S. Ramaiah Educational Institution in Bangalore, construction work never stops for fear of danger to the founder's life (!) But who can defy the law of nature — gravity and death, for example? Here at Chandigarh Rock Garden work continues. Lot of money all the time for the vested interest groups! Happy days. Probably the Mysore City Corporation may be hoping for such bonanza year after year from the planned City Rock Garden. And for all its name and fame I was not a bit impressed. Artificial construction, crude, bad landscaping and some gimmick items unrelated to rocks to attract children and because of them their parents. Ideal area for picnic parties!

Our Corporation Commissioner K. S. Raikar thinks he can make money, I mean the Corporation, by attracting tourists to the Rock Garden. Yes, of course, like the Zoo Authority is minting money in Karanji Lake. But, only when you get into Rock Garden, you will know the truth. As for Karanji Lake, it is worth a visit for there is water body, boating and the serpentine long, cool bower, "Tandi Sadak - like" walkway, aviary etc. You simply enjoy. A Rock Garden cannot be this good. I promise, unless a miracle happens. And miracles can always happen in India.

And finally for God's sake don't change the land use of that 30 - acre in front of Lalitha Mahal Palace hotel reserved for the "Heritage Park," a beautiful concept 1000 times better than the fossilised "Rock Garden" idea and more capable of attracting tourists in large numbers. There was one I saw in Bangkok known as "Rose Garden" and in the US.

It is learnt that when the MCC sent the Heritage Park project to JNNURM at Delhi for money, it was turned down for the reason the babu in Delhi wanted a one line definition of the term "Heritage Park" which our babus here were unable to provide convincingly. So the MCC (or the MUDA) drops the idea. Well, but then where does MCC (or MUDA) get money for the Rock Garden? If it can raise funds for the Rock Garden, why not use the same money for the Heritage Park where you can even get sponsors. Star of Mysore itself is ready to sponsor an item in the park.

Let Rock Garden be where it is now — in Chandigarh. Instead, for the same money, or even less, let us have a Botanical Garden to complement the Zoological Garden.

Unfortunately, our politicians, bureaucrats, Trusts, Mutts and Money Bags turn a blind eye to the sprawling land in hundreds of acres lying vacant between the North face of Chamundi Hill and the Indus Valley Ayurvedic Centre (IVAC). Reason: I see boards and boundary fences suggesting private ownership. If you don't love Mysore, how can you come up with ideas that will enrich our city environmentally, culturally, socially and economically?