Oasis among the Chaos

Recently I visited the Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden, formerly Royal Botanic Garden in Howrah, West Bengal, India. In 2009 it was renamed to honor Indian plant physiologist and physicist Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose. It is situated on the west bank of the Hooghly River, opposite Kolkata. It was founded in 1787 by the East India Company.

This garden famous for its enormous collections of bamboos, palms and many other plants. This garden is most famous  for its known landmark - the Great Banyan Tree, for its very large canopy & thought to be more than 250 years old.

This place is a total break from the pollution & chaos of the city! This is one of the oldest botanical gardens in India.It was from these gardens that the tea now grown in Assam & Darjeeling was first developed.

 This banyan tree is the largest known in India. It was damaged by 2 cyclones when some main branches were broken & some attacked by fungus. The tree now lives without its main trunk, which was decayed & so removed. It has about 3300 aerial roots reaching the ground.This tree looks more like a mini forest than an individual tree!