I often used to visit Milton Keynes (MK) the new town in Buckinghamshire where my work head office was located until a few years ago. MK is quite unlike any other UK city as it’s laid out on a grid road system – in fact it’s famous for its roundabouts which are located at almost every junction. It’s also famous for being very green, as most of the sections within the grid are hidden from the road network by lots of trees and planting. It also has a famous sculpture of concrete cows.

Indian cities have lots of cows just casually wandering the streets. Chandīgarh is not like other Indian cities at all. There are no cows (not even concrete ones) but there are lots of roundabouts – just like MK, it’s built on a grid system with numbered sections In between. It’s also beautifully green with trees lining all the streets. And a series of big green parks called the lungs of the city, running right through the middle.  

After visiting the Rock Garden, we walked through the sections of the central gardens from the war memorial to the rose garden. It’s such a lovely central axis to the city and was being enjoyed by all sorts of people, walking or sitting on the many benches. Under the trees were a group of young women’s practicing a dance routing they were great.

The rose garden itself is enormous, apparently it’s the largest rose garden in Asia. It’s planted with hundreds of different varieties, each in a separate bed. It’s like how rose gardens in the UK were planted in the 1950s. Each bed had a plaque giving the name of the rose. It said in the guide that February is the best time to see the roses, before it gets too hot, so good timing on our part. From the rose garden itself was just a short walk under a large, well lit underpass with Indian music playing, to our hotel on the road opposite the rose garden. It might be the perfect spot for an early morning run – if I can get up early enough.