Gurgaonwallahs create a desi version of Brussels’ flower carpet

GURGAON: In an attempt to replicate the floral carpet made in Brussels, Belgium, using around a million flowers every alternate year, a few Gurgaon residents made a 40 feet long and 18 feet wide flower carpet, on the occasion of Basant Panchami. DCDP Bengali Cultural Society, one of the oldest socio-cultural organizations in New Gurgaon, recently completed its 25th year. To kick off its year-long silver jubilee celebrations, the members made the flower carpet.

The idea was mooted by Srijnan Sanyal, newly-elected president of the society. He said, "The first flower carpet in Brussels was created in 1971. While I was posted there, I had the chance to see it closely and thought that something similar can be made here. This time, we kept the design simple and avoided curves. Next year, we will go for a more intricate design," he said.

It took about five hours for 40-odd members to make the whole carpet out of 25,000 flowers. The assortment of flowers included marigold, white and yellow chamomile, dahlia and red gerbera. "We went to buy flowers from Ghazipur mandi at around 2am and came back at 5am. Then from 7am, we got down to making the carpet. The sorting, cutting and arranging took us five hours," said Kasturi Roy, a member and a resident of Sohna Road.

The society is not only for Bengalis and among its 450 members, there are many non-Bengalis as well, like Priya Beri, a Punjabi who volunteered to make the flower carpet. "It's not for a community or society, but this is an identity and an idea of Gurgaon, where residents just gave the event a cultural look. With the cultural boundaries blurring, such an event also gives the kids an opportunity to understand the specific ethos of a certain community," said Beri.

The society orgainzes annual events like Durga Puja, Banglamela, and Saraswati puja, which are attended by people from across NCR. "Now, we are 25 and we don't want to restrict ourselves only to only Puja celebrations. Starting this year, we are coming up with Hobby Planet, in which we will conduct sessions on book reading, photography, culinary and gardening skills to bring in more," informed Sanjay Chakraborty, the treasurer at the society.

Resource: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com