rock on

i try to recycle my broken ceramics into jewelry or mosaics, but have fallen way behind with several large boxes and a trash can now full of shards. i only wish this guy lived in my neighborhood.

thirty-six years ago, nek chand, a transport official in chandigarh, india, began to clear a little patch of jungle to make himself a small garden. he set stones around the little clearing and sculpted a few figures from recyclable materials he found and carted home on his bicycle.

chand worked at night, in total secrecy for fear of being discovered by the authorities because he did not own the land where his creation was growing. The once-tiny garden soon covered several acres filled with hundreds of sculptures in a series of interlinking courtyards.

when chand's garden was dicovered, local government officials decided not to demolish the work, instead giving chand a salary and a team of fifty laborers so he could concentrate full-time on the site. now more than twenty five acres of several thousand sculptures set in large mosaic courtyards linked by walled paths and deep gorges punctuated by waterfalls, the rock garden of chandigarh hosts 5,000 visitors a day.

(top photo from koshyk's flickr site)