I went to Lalbagh on Friday evening, because a friend wanted to try out the 300mm prime lens. I’ve not often been to Lalbagh in the evening, and was freshly amazed at what one can see and observe, in spite of many more people being there than in the morning.

Apart from the sights and sounds….were the smells, that cannot be replicated, at the present state of technology. The air was redolent of the scent of the entire lane of Sampige (Champa, Shenbagam)…Michelia champaca, belonging to the Magnolia family, says the scientific mind…but my mind was thinking of how the Sampige is intertwined with my memories of Bangalore…the wonderful smell from the small bunches of these flowers that used to be plucked from roadside trees and sold at Cantonment station!

The evening light, golden and beautiful, highlighted the birds on the lake, and sparkled on the wavelets. My friend was able to photograph a Grey Heron, and several Purple Moorhens (or Swamphens….curse these changing bird-names!) walking around on the waterlily pads.

We went to see the Spotted Owlets, of course, and it was as delightful to watch them as to photograph them!

The various trees in flower now at Lalbagh made it a very special visit. I pointed out to my friend the ones that I did know, and am going to find out about the ones I don’t. I showed my friend the majestic beauty of the Monkey Puzzle trees (why are they so named? Must ask Aunty Google!) and we walked down the avenue of the Copper Pods. We saw Little Egrets fishing, pecking suddenly at their own reflections in the water.

The clouds in the sky turned to pink cotton candy as the sun sank slowly westwards…and as we came out of the Siddapura gate, I felt totally at peace, having enjoyed looking at growing, living things in one of the few public green spaces in this concrete-filled city of ours.

I’ve put up a few photographs on my Facebook album; to see them,

click here

…but no photographs can do Lalbagh justice…if you have the time…do visit the lovely park that Hyder, and Tipu, the wise administrators of the Wodeyar dynasty, and some dedicated botanists like Krumbiegel, Cameron, and Mari Gowda, have gifted to all of us!