Mumbai Mania

I felt like a 6-year old on entering the lush green Hanging Gardens, on the slopes of Malabar Hill in South Mumbai (that's also the reason why its called Hanging Gardens). My mom use to get us here to play in the park and see the hedges shaped into animals. This time looking at the vast expanse of greenery (a rare sight in South Mumbai) my eyes lit up.

A lot has changed since then, Hanging Gardens or Ferozeshah Mehta Gardens Gardens is much more cleaner and well-maintained with variety of colorful flowers growing in the park. I was amazed looking at the vibrant colors, there were some plants which I had never seen before. Hanging Garden is quite huge, although Malad Mindspace Garden is bigger than this, and is a popular attraction among tourists and people from outside Mumbai.

The animals made from hedges greets you on entering the garden. One of my favorite plant sculpture was of the Hindu god, Hanuman holding the mace in his right hand and Dronagiri mountain in the other, and his tail had flowers growing on them.:) The beautiful red flower with multiple petals, it looked really pretty! There were rows of such flowers, unfortunately I don't know the name, but I was spellbound by its beauty. Next to these were yellow-coloured buttercups gleaming in the sunshine. Moving on from there were attractive bunch of Canna (Italian Group) called 'Yellow King Humbert' I din't realise the giraffe was eating grass until I saw this picture, wonder how long it took them to grow hedges and then shape them into different animals? I really envied those who stayed around here and had the privilege of taking a walk in such a lovely park. Evenings it does get crowded though as lot more people come, but am sure its possible to find a quiet spot. Pink and white daisies added to the visual treat. After seeing half the park in the hot sun, Clyde decided to rest under the bougainvillea tree. Someone else who was having a nice time hopping around in the garden was the squirrel. Caught you! One of them got into the giraffe through the hedges, he sure knew his way around. Another nice sculpture of a man seated on an elephant. Statue of political leader and activist Pherozeshah Mehta, after who the garden has been named, and a shield, which we thought was a map of the garden. Hanging gardens also has bit of history attached to it, it was laid out in 1881 over Bombay's main reservoir, which were extended to hold 30 million gallons in 1921. No wonder the foliage has grown so well here:)

Casuarina tree trimmed into layers. You will find sunflowers too here. What you about to see is unbelievably gorgeous, some rare plant that has such vibrant colours. I was speechless when I saw this, am sure you will be too! Red, orange, purple, yellow, green, an absolute floral delight.
A thick reddish maroon bush growing in the middle, under the blue sky this one looked like the flame of the garden.
A sundial that measures time by the position of the sun. This one was flat surface on which the sun casts a shadow to indicate the hours of the day. If you look closely at the picture, you can see it was 20 minutes past 11. Next to the sundial at the center of the garden was the clock tower. There was a message engraved at the bottom of the tower which said, "Experience confirms that friends who regularly meet and walk in the garden have remained healthy and fit for the day. Spread the message of good health through friendship for generations." This was by far the best of a man ploughing with two bulls, wonderful work. Here's another one of camel trying to sit, while the crow eats from a used tetrapack. There were lot of crows around, as they had built nests in bushes. A plant shaped into a mushroom growing in the middle of a trimmed path. A garden trellis to give some shelter in the scorching heat. It was a short walk which led to a dome-shaped structure with creepers on it. While walking towards the exit, on the periphery of the garden was the Jackfruit tree and Cannonball tree. In the image below you can see a giant-sized jackfruit waiting to be removed.
Pictures of animals plastered on the fence of the gardens, that's become a symbol now to recognise this place. Just opposite to Hanging Gardens is Kamala Nehru Park that has the famous Old Woman's Shoe, we plan to go there on our next visit. Since its on the slope, right outside Hanging gardens you can get a stunning view of Chowpatty beach and entire Marine Drive. You can come here either before noon or evening, you can get a good view of the sunset. We were extremely delighted with the outcome of our impromptu plan to visit Hanging Gardens, if you close by and haven't been there, you know how beautiful the place looks now.

How to reach Hanging gardens?

If you stay in the suburbs then get off at Charni road station, take a cab straight to the gardens from Walkeshwar road to Malabar Hill. There are many buses as well that operate in this route.