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 Sadaklike” 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 acres 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 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 (Zoo).

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?