Pictures narrate a story, don’t they? Around a month ago, most of us witnessed some great effort put in by few halls in the Inter-Hall Gardening competition and the fresh pictures of lovely gardens were enthusiastically shared. It was the culmination of months of hard work of staffs and their perseverance in nurturing the flowers. It also took a fair share of Hall’s fund so as to buy the seeds or saplings of flowers and pay for other miscellaneous expenses. As per the sources, the budget goes as high as fifty thousand rupees or even more than that! The judgement day came and went, giving some halls the pride of winning the competition while others took pride in participating in the competition. But what after that? Have a look.
Unfortunately, or rather habitually, the gardens haven’t taken long to topple off the peak. One might argue that it’s impractical to maintain the decoration but no excuses can cover up for the withered leaves, the growth of weeds or the faded marigold.
Talking to the people who’ve been around, we can easily find out that this is not a new story. Investing money and labour in nurturing the flowers, taking care of them till the judgement day and then just forget about the garden as if flowers loose their essence after the results of the competition are announced — this cycle gets repeated every year.
The miserable condition of plants in halls is hardly taken care of. Time and again, instead of the plants and flowers being taken care of, a new set is bought and planted which then go through the same. It is another reminder of how first funds, efforts and hype is pumped into things for the sake of glory-hunting and then the responsibility is quickly forgotten.
Given that lot of effort and considerable money goes into preparation for this Inter-Hall Gardening competition, the current scenario of the gardens suggest that it’s not worth it.
The real essence and motive behind organising this competition was to have a well maintained garden in all the Halls but it has now merely reduced to just a one time showdown of gardens!
Probably, this tradition which has merely reduced to a one time showdown should be stopped immediately. But we love gardens, right? So, would not it be better if we take the onus on us to maintain the gardens throughout the year? We should, rather we must! In an era when the rift with nature is becoming wider than ever, it is needless to say that we must play our part in preserving and conserving the natural gifts.
A very nice article to spread the awareness around. I was not aware of this before and definitely, it saddens me as a plant lover. I hope to take some action in our local area and discuss with the community members to spread awareness and curb such practices.