Chandigarh／チャンディーガル

My first trip to Chandigarh was in 2005, when our Urdu drama troupe of ‘Hiroshima Ki Kahani’ toured over India.  As our tour schedule was so tight(10 cities and 11 performances in a month!!), we didn’t have time for sightseeing. Yet, I had still remembered that Chandigarh was a modern city, gridded, planned and with stylish architectures. And here I have come after 14years.

チャンディーガルを初めて訪れたのは、2005年のウルドゥー語劇インド公演の時でした。当時の公演スケジュールには、観光の時間がなかったのですが(1か月で10都市11公演!!)、チャンディーガルがオシャレな建築物を誇るモダンな計画都市であることは覚えていました。そこで、14年ぶりのチャンディーガルにやってきました！

Capitol Complex- where the both Haryana and Punjab state assemblies meet (Chandigarh is one of the union territories of India) One of the most beautiful view points for the architecture. I happened to have met two architects from Germany at the tourist information centre and had a guide tour together. They seemed to have been quite impressed by the architecture, which made me to feel the value of the building.

This is wisely build. Air comes from different directions to the shade. Felt very cool in the shade after the walking tour in the striong sunshine.

Open Hand- signature symbol of the city. To receive all. 

High court- I liked the colour. We went up to the rooftop from the concrete steep behind the colourful walls.

Front side of the high court. Pretty design. It reminded me of Esther.

This entry-free centre next to the Lalit Kala Kendra Chandigarh displays photos, letters, documents etc. related to Le Corbusier.

Entrance of Lalit Kala Kendra.

Small Eiffel Tower in front of Art Museum.

Gandhi Bhavan in Chandigarh University. In front of the building was used to be filled with water but, for some reason, it was dry... photos of the tourism information centre show something different from what actually is, which was quite disappointing...

Nek Chandra Rock Garden - brought me to Alice in Wonderland. Wish I had someone to walk with!! 

Another view of the rock garden. 

There were swings(above) and Disney Land’s It’s-a-small-world-like activity(of course Indian rural version!!), too!!(below)

There was a rose garden near the hotel stayed at.

As I had a plenty of time, I visited Tagore Theatre, the auditorium where we played the Urdu stage drama,  ‘Hiroshima Ki Kahani’. 

I met the director of the audi and was told that they renovated the building. I hardly remember how the audi was 14years ago, except the front shape of the stage was very rounded and difficult to place and space.

Chandigarh was the first city of our three-time tour to India, Pakistan then again to India over three years. It was our very first performance, and I still clearly remember the day we performed: how difficult it was to get our props arranged with the local theatre staffs with our poor Urdu and how much we were excited and nervous about the reaction of the Indian audience. This trip brought me nostalgia.