31 March marks the end of the floral season in these hills, a two month period when parks and gardens of this hill station present a virtual kaleidoscope of the vivid pinks, reds, blues, and yellows of flowerbeds, contrasting with the verdant green of lawns and shrubberies.
The essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson is known to have remarked that the Earth laughs in flowers, and we and Clean Coonoor wondered as to whether a Waste Management Park could do the same, and perhaps waltz with them as well.
Thus was born the garden around the facility, the labour of love of many a volunteer, which turned a wasteland, into ‘a lovesome thing,’ as described by the poet Thomas Edward Brown ; of rose plot, fringed pool, fern’d grot and the veriest school of peace.
It is hoped that this lovely garden will help in de-stigmatising the waste management facility and change the way about people think about garbage disposal and help in ensuring that our waste does not make it into ecological sensitive areas such as forests.
Quoting Kipling, it is our hope that the ‘Glory of the Garden,’ shall never pass away, for the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.
