Trees weave history in harmony

Sometimes the most fascinating part of a park is the presence of trees that weave history into its harmony of nature's rhythms. Economist and photographer Rupin Thomas , returned from Paris and went to Sunder Nursery for a walk after TIME Magazine announced it was one of best 100 places to visit in the world.This image of a ruined rampart of the yesteryear's Moghuls became an important study for the show Vriksha I curated in 2019 at the India International Centre in Delhi.Thomas had studied and shot images of parks and cemeteries and Paris's scenic beauty on the river Seine and many other places.

French Gardens

History states that parks became a source of entertainment after the French Revolution ended in 1799. More people started going to parks; a pastime that belonged only to the rich but was made available to everyone. Recognising this growing need for public parks, emperor Napoleon III, Baron Hausmann, and engineer Adolphe Alphandunder created an urban renewal plan which swept France.

This undertaking saw the development of multiple parks and green spaces throughout France, which included a park at each of France’s cardinal points, and the placement of trees to line the main avenue in Paris, the Champs-élysées. In 1870 alone, the acreage of parks in France increased from 47 to 4,500 and by this time, 2,300 varieties of plants had been introduced to the country.

By 1860, the French journalist Eugène Chapus wrote: “One of the pronounced characteristics of our Parisian society is that . . . everyone in the middle class wants to have his little house with trees, roses, and dahlias, his big or little garden, his rural piece of the good life.” Anchored by scenic settings and recreation, New York’s Central Park was designed in the spirit of Parisian public parks of the same period.

Sunder Nursery in Delhi

The Sunder Nursery development in Delhi has been christened the Central Park because it has recreated New York’s central feature by blending landscape architecture, city planning and urban park management; and ever-changing notions about recreation, democracy, and the role of public space in relation to both.

Harmony in spirit

The Sunder Nursery grounds belong to India’s cultural history. It was nearly seven centuries ago, when the Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Auliya, walked these paths and shared his teachings of universal love. His message of tolerance and humanity?infused the Mughal empire and assisted by the Grand Trunk Road spread throughout the country. What ensued was the dispersing of a remarkably pluralistic and harmonious spirit.