CHANDIGARH
Situated at the foothills of the Shivalik range, the city is one of the most significant urban planning experiments of the 20th century. In fact, it is the only planning scheme of Le Corbusier, the famous French architect-planner, to have been executed. Chandigarh is also the site of some of his greatest architectural and urban planning all over India. It is as famous for landscaping as for its architectural ambience. Most buildings are in pure, cubical form, geometrically subdivided with emphasis on proportion, scale and detail.

GARDENS
Changing seasons cast varying hues here. For instance, in winter when roses bloom, the city is fragrant and alive with their smells and sights. In summer, the flowering trees planted along the roadside create a riot of colours. Imagine blossoms of jacaranda, laburnum and gulmohur trees arching over the roads, bowing to welcome you. Autumn sees the trees shed leaves, carpeting the city's broad avenues. In winter, the leafless trees become natural sculptures in wood.

The panorama and pace of nature in Chandigarh vary from the placid to the picturesque, but is never still. Naturally so, gardens flourish in the city and one of the favourite pastimes of its residents is walking in them. With a good number of retired people settling down in Chandigarh and fondly tending to their gardens, a common saying is that it is a city of green hedges and grey beards. Chandigarh is home to several gardens. Adjacent to the city centre, in Sector 16, is situated the famous Zakir Husain Rose Garden.

Home to nearly 1,600 rose species, and spread over 30 acres, it has the distinction of being Asia's largest rose garden. Like the culture zone, which is just across the road in Sector 10, the Zakir Husain Rose Garden was planned by Dr M S Randhawa, a keen horticulturist. Every year, either at the end of February or beginning of March, a big festival known as the Festival of Gardens is celebrated at this venue. Other gardens include the beautiful Garden of Fragrance, Bougainvillaea Garden, Shanti Kunj, Garden of Five Senses and Terrace Garden.