The Boy Who Built A Secret Garden : Nek Chand(Dreamers Series)
My take on the book:
In undivided India, in the village of Barian Kalan in Punjab, a young boy Nek Chand Saini grew a garden. But this is not your average garden, it was made of sticks and stones, clay, shattered pots’ bits, pieces of his sister’s bangles. He drew inspiration from the stories he heard from his father and mother, from his friends in school and the animals that he saw in the fields, to create this garden.
But in 1947 when the country was partitioned, Nek and his family were forced to leave their home and moved to Qadian, near Gurdaspur. As he grows up and begins working on building the new city of Chandigarh in new India, as a young road inspector, Nek realizes that a lot is being thrown away everyday to make way for the new city.
As memories of his old home and garden keep coming up, how Nek transforms the discarded bits and pieces into a world class garden, of a different kind, forms the rest of Nek’s story.
If you have ever visited the famous Rock garden in Chandigarh or heard of it but never knew about its creator, then this book is for you. This is a short biography of Mr Nek Chand Saini that provides a brief of his life starting from his childhood and his initial interest to grow a rock garden as a kid, and how this shaped a vast rock garden in the future. The story elaborates only on Nek’s life arsound the rock garden which I felt could have been explored more.
The illustrations play a very important role to present to the reader how the rock garden was envisioned and built brick by brick, bit by bit. The book is meant for young kids but makes for a good read for kids and adults alike, as stories like this inspire young minds to hone their creativity.
My rating:
4/5.