Page 107 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

HAR Y ANA & PUNJAB  105

Festivals of Haryana
& Punjab
Surajkund Crafts Mela
(1–15 Feb), Surajkund.
Craftsmen from all over
the country gather with
a selection of their wares,
from fabrics to folk toys.
Rose Festival (Feb),
Chandigarh. The city’s vast
Rose Garden hosts flower
shows and a weekend of
Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex, typical of Le Corbusier’s functional style dance and music.
Hola Mohalla (Mar/Apr),
schools, while modern art of Chandigarh’s prettiest areas, Anandpur Sahib. The high light
includes mountainscapes by especially in the evenings, when of this fair, held the day after
the Russian painter Nicholas visitors can enjoy dramatic sunsets Holi, is a spectacular display
Roerich (see p132). and views of the twinkling lights of fencing and tent-pegging,
Lying opposite the Capitol of the nearby hill station, Kasauli as the Nihang Sikhs show off
Complex, the Rock Garden is (see p117). their legendary martial and
one of the city’s most popular equestrian skills.
tourist spots. Spread over E Museum and Art Gallery
1.6 ha (4 acres) in Sector 1, Tel (0172) 274 2501/0261. Open 10am–
it was created in the 4:30pm Tue–Sun. &
1970s by an ex-road
inspector, Nek Chand, Environs
and is a refreshing The Pinjore
contrast to Le Gardens, lying 22 km
Corbusier’s severely (14 miles) north of
symmetrical Chandigarh, were
cityscape. The area designed in the 17th
encloses a unique Ceramic figures at Nek century by Fidai Khan,
“kingdom”, a labyrinth Chand’s Rock Garden foster brother of
with hills, waterfalls the Mughal emperor Skilled swordsmanship at the Hola
and caves, and serried ranks Aurangzeb. They are terraced Mohalla festivities
of sculptures crafted from such in the Mughal style and dotted
unlikely material as discarded with domed pavilions, fountains
neon lights, fuse switches, and water chutes. Sanghol, 40 km Baisakhi (13 Apr). Several
broken crockery and glass. (25 miles) west of Chandigarh, gala processions, dancing
and feasting take place all
A short distance away is the has an excavated site of a over Punjab to mark the
man-made Sukhna Lake, where 2nd-century Buddhist stupa spring equinox and the
a pleasant promenade attracts with an interesting museum beginning of the harvest.
joggers and walkers. This is one of Kushana sculptures. Lively melas are held at all
the major gurdwaras.
Le Corbusier’s City Qalandar Shah’s Urs
(Jul/Aug), Panipat. This
In 1950, India’s first prime minister, festival honours the Sufi
Jawaharlal Nehru, commissioned the saint Qalandar Shah with
French-Swiss architect Charles Édouard qawwali singing and a
Jeanneret (“Le Corbusier”), to create colourful fair at his shrine.
a new capital for Punjab, as the old capital, Guru Purab (Nov).
Lahore, had become a part of Pakistan Celebrated across Punjab
after Independence in 1947. The result on the first full moon night
was a city of concrete blocks and straight after Diwali (see p41), the
arterial roads, projecting Le Corbusier’s birthday of Guru Nanak,
philosophy of functional efficiency, free the founder of Sikhism,
of unnecessary ornamentation such as
The “open hand”, domes and arches. Without any crowded is particularly spectacular
Chandigarh’s emblem bazaars, Chandigarh lacks the typical at the Golden Temple at
bustle and vitality of older Indian towns, Amritsar. Thousands of
and some of Le Corbusier’s buildings now look weather-beaten. lamps illuminate the
Yet it remains one of the country’s cleanest and most orderly temple every night from
cities, and this, perhaps, is Le Corbusier’s lasting legacy. Diwali onwards.

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