Visit Srinagar to see Asia’s largest tulip garden

Your trip to Holland next season stands cancelled. Tulips have a new address: Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. For six weeks, mid-March onwards, as spring came bouncing in, vibrant varieties of these flowers, pretty to a fault, lit up a tranquil corner in the city’s garden belt. What greeted the eye at the recently-opened Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden (earlier Siraj Bagh), a hop away from the Dal Lake, was an arresting carpet of colour. Row upon row of canary yellow, moody lavender, blushing pink, blazing orange, wine red…blossoming in the shadow of the Zabarwan mountain, which stood as a splendid backdrop to the floral spectacle.

The limited flowering spell advanced the tourist inflow and 74,421 visitors eagerly viewed over 11 lakh tulips — some of these bulbs imported at Rs 550 apiece — spread over 30 acres. The Rs 50 entry ticket, which doubled as souvenir, upped revenue to a whopping Rs 27.3 lakh, as the picturesque perspective upstaged other spots to emerge as the favourite photo-op venue for silver-haired Leelaben, Banerjee and shrine-hopper Muthuswamy.

Granted, it was but a slender slice of Keukenhof but we rejoiced, nevertheless. Be here next year to applaud the Valley’s new riot of colour.