Then again, there are those who have dedicated their entire lives to creating heritage, some of it fashioned out of rubble, even. Nek Chand Saini, the creator of the globally feted Rock Garden in Chandigarh, is one such soul. Displaced during the partition of India in 1947, his family moved here at a time when the City Beautiful was being envisioned as India’s first planned settlement. Not much later, he found employment as a roads inspector with the Public Works Department. Thereon, he began picking up the pieces. Quite literally.
He ferreted through refuse material at construction sites and discarded waste mounds to collect broken china, bicycle 
parts, bangles, rusty coins, electrical plugs and used bottle caps, in order to create his ‘kingdom for gods and goddesses’. Working in complete secrecy, amidst a hidden forest clearing, this self-taught artist sculpted life-size figures of men, women, animals and birds; using stones, cement and an assortment of waste.
Following the chance discovery of his sensational albeit unlawful work in 1975, a good quarter of a century after he had commenced with it, he was appointed the Director of the Garden. Additional staff, and acreage, was provided to him so he could direct all his attention and energy towards further development. Even today, the sprightly octogenarian can be found strolling around his vast artistic domain – comprising thousands of sculptures, mosaic courtyards, walled paths and waterfalls – supervising amongst other things, and by sheer force of habit, the collection of litter!
A recent invite for their inaugural event by Child and Youth Friendly Chandigarh, a students’ initiative spearheaded by siblings Divjot and Harsimar Singh, resulted in an insightful interface with Mr. Nek Chand, too.
Equipped with a keen sense of humour, evident through his exchange with the children from the SOS Village, Rajpura, he, justifiably so, displayed a great deal of pride in his amazing handiwork.
He also took the subsequent photo-opportunity to encourage his eager young audience to adopt eco-friendly habits. Later, over tea in his den – a veritable cornucopia of memories – he regaled a somewhat older audience with countless stories from a life full of ‘wasted’ interests.
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, travel enthusiast and the author of Adrift: A junket junkie in Europe is the youngest of four siblings born into an aristocratic family of Punjab. Dogged in her resistance to conform, and with parental pressure easing sufficiently over the years, she had plenty of freedom of choice. And she chose travel.
She was born in Shimla, and spent her formative years at their home, Windsor Terrace, in Kasumpti while schooling at Convent of Jesus & Mary, Chelsea. The irrepressible wanderlust in her found her changing vocations midstream and she joined Singapore International Airlines to give wing to her passion. She has travelled extensively in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and SE Asia; simultaneously exploring the charms within India.
When she is not travelling, she is writing about it. Over the past decade or so, she has created an impressive writing repertoire for herself: as a columnist with Hindustan Times, as a book reviewer for The Tribune and as a contributor to travel magazines in India and overseas. Her work-in-progress, the documenting of colonial heritage along the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road, is an outcome of her long-standing romance with the Himalayas.
