The Open hand

The open hand is one of India’s most prominent modern monuments. It is a huge structure with a shape of an open hand which looks like a dove. It is a complete architectural marvel build on the sector 1 of the capitol complex in Chandigarh. It was designed by the Swiss Architect Le Corbusier. The open hand is made from metal sheets which rotates according the direction of the wind similar to the weathercock. The giant hand is 14 meters high and as heave as 50 tons. The open hand conveys social message of peace and unity which also gives a hidden meaning of “open to give and open to receive”. This monument is today the official symbol of the city.

Chandigarh has an airport and a railways and the city is well connected with one of the best network of roadways. There are also several hotels and resorts in Chandigarh for tourists to stay.

Children’s Traffic Park, Chandigarh

The Children Traffic Park is spread over an area of 12 ½ acres and located in sector 23-A. The roads constructed in Traffic Park teaches the young and inquisitive minds on road safety. The model of traffic lights has been installed. This park is meant for children who are learning to cycle and is designed to teach them the rules of road safety.

The area outside is covered by grassy lawns, flower beds, plants, trees and roads constructed for training on road safety. This is one yet another effort from the youngest city in the country to nurture and groom better citizens of tomorrow.

The park is opened daily from 8:00 am to 6:00pm during winter and between 8:00am to 7:00pm during summer seasons. Though the park is significant for domestic tourism it has the potential to attract foreigners who visits the city. The city is dotted with world class hotels and resorts and the airport lies in the heart of the city.

Sports facilities in Chandigarh

Chandigarh- countries youngest city has a lot to offer the young generations. The sports facilities are one among them. The city has groomed several sportsmen for the nation. The sports facilities the city offer is of world class standards. Chandigarh has its own Cricket stadium, Hockey stadium, Golf club, Lawn Tennis stadium, have a plenty of swimming pools, Chandigarh Hockey and Football Academy. It is a paradise for sports enthusiasts. The PCA cricket stadium has been in spotlight for several international Cricket match. There are two Hockey stadiums one in sector 42 and another with grass pitch in sector 18. The 18 hole golf club located in sector 6 is the venue for Chandigarh Golf Open Championship. The lawn Tennis stadium has the seating capacity of 4000 people at a time. The Davis cup semi finals are always held here.

The numerous swimming pools in the city are used for recreation as well as sports. There are swimming pools in sector 14, 23 and in Lake Club; the Chandigarh Hockey and Football sports complex located in sector 42 have produced several talented sportsmen.

Chandigarh airport is just 11kms and the railway station is 8km away from the city. It has very good air and rail connectivity with major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Jammu and Amritsar. The city also offers affordable accommodation facilities.

Chandigarh: The Young Blood

Chandigarh is considered as one of the youngest cities in India, located in the north western part of the country. Chandigarh is the only city in the India which is a capital for two states- Punjab and Haryana, though both the state have this city as their capital, it is not administered by either of them. Chandigarh is directly administered by the central government and hence it is a Union Territory.

There are several places in the city which is worth watching, the main landmark buildings in Chandigarh is the ‘capital complex’. The capital complex is a combination of three beautiful government buildings- the Secretariat, the Assembly, and the High Court. Another city structure is ‘the open hand’, There is a 12 acres long rock garden built with disposed waste ceramics built with absolute creativity, The city also has Asia’s largest Rose Garden. This is a huge 30 acre land filled with nearly 1600 varieties of roses. Other attractions include the Geometric hills, Tower of shadows, Leisure valley, Museums and art galleries, Sukhna Lake etc.

Chandigarh has an airport 11 km from the city, and the city boast excellent road network. The accommodation facilities are also available.

Chandigarh Govt. bonanza for school kids

Come next month, and all the kids who study in the Government schools would see a new bus taking them to school. The bus service, to be launched by Chandigarh administration, is all set to hit the road from the first week of July. Incidentally, the service, which will see Government offering fares much cheaper than any private operator, is the first of its kind in the country.

According to Vandana Disodia, secretary of the state transport authority, stated on Thursday that this service is part of a facilitation scheme and not meant to generate revenue for the state Govt. This would lead to a revised – and lower – fare structure as compared to that of private bus operators.

She added that the Govt. intends to keep the fare under Rs. 400, which compared to Rs. 600-700, being charged by the private operators, would provide a relief to the parents. Christened as “Micro School Escort”, the proposed bus service would cover a major part of Chandigarh along with the neighbouring towns of Mohali and Panchkula.

Art & Culture of Chandigarh

Chandigarh is the city of multi cultural people, languages and the city with full of artistic monuments and artistic people. The artistic performance occurs almost every day in the city. There is a Cultural Complex in Chandigarh which includes an Audio-Visual Training Institute, theatres, a Museum and an Art Gallery.

Rock Garden is the best example for art work created from broken pieces of items like crockery, bangles, pots, stones, etc.

People in Chandigarh enjoy every moment of their lives by living life hassle free. Many artists, singers, dancers, writers, musicians and actors live in the city.

People of Chandigarh speak in either Punjabi or Hindi. It differs from many other cities of the region in that it has attracted people from throughout India. Most of the people living here are service oriented people. It is as much cosmopolitan in nature as any other Indian town with numerous temples, mosques, shrines and bhawans located through out the city.

Sabeer Bhatia, founder of Hotmail

Sabeer Bhatia, better known as the founder of Hotmail, was born in Chandigarh, in 1968. He did his schooling from St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Bangalore. He graduated from Caltech and went to Stanford to pursue his MS in Electrical Engineering.

After completing his Masters, his first job was at Apple computers. He teamed up with his partner to create a web-based e-mail system called Hotmail which become a hugely successful email application. Microsoft bought Hotmail on December 30th, 1997, for a reported sum of $400M. After the success of Hotmail, Bhatia in 1999, started another venture, Arzoo Inc, which however had to be shut down in 2006, later, Arzoo was relaunched as a travel portal.

Sabeer Bhatia has won several honors and awards. The major awards include: “Entrepreneur of the Year,” awarded by the venture capital firm (1997); and “TR100” award, presented by MIT. He was also named by TIME as one of the “People to Watch” in International Business (2002).

Cactus Garden

Cactus Garden is located at a distance of about 8 km. away from Chandigarh, in center part of Panchkula.

Cactus Garden is also called as National Cactus and is also a Research Centre. The main goal behind developing the garden was preservation and conservation of endangered species of cacti and succulents. The Garden covering an area of 7 acres is considered as Asia’s largest outdoor landscaped cacti and Succulents. You can find nearly 3500 different kinds of species of Cacti & succulents. The garden has a comprehensive collection of Indian succulents, the largest in the world. Some of them extremely rare and has already been declared as endangered species, which includes Genus Caralluma of Indian origin. The cacti and succulents also have medicinal values. It is also a great attraction not only for tourists but also for the botanists.

Thunder zone, the most thrilling and exiting rides

Thunder zone is located at Village Swara, Mohali, Chandigarh. It is spread over an area of 30 acres. The most thrilling and exiting rides in the park attracts both the kids and the adults alike. Thunder Zone presents the most modern and sophisticated equipments.

Thunder Zone provides an extensive range of exciting rides like Swinging Chairs, Octopus, The Octodragon, and The space buggies, Cater Pillar, Mono Junction, Columbus, Sun N Moon, dashing Cars, Baby Train, Splash, COBF Music Bob and Wet Park.

The most fascinating attraction in this fantasy park is the Waves-n-Swings, a special wave pool, which will produce fake waves as that of a real sea. This makes a delightful ride for the water enthusiasts. Most modern equipments mixed with wonderful themes, makes the park a favorite hot spot of all age group.

Jeev milkha singh, a Indian golfer

Milkha singh was born on December 15, 1971, Chandigarh. He is the son of former Indian Olympian athlete Milkha Singh and his mother is Nirmal Kaur, former captain of the Indian women’s volleyball team.

He is the highest ranked Indian golfer in the world and was the first Indian golfer to become a member of the European Tour. He is also known as Tiger Woods of India.

At the age of 13 he won his first amateur tournament, American Express Championship in Delhi.

Jeev has been a regular in the Asian PGA Tour since the mid 1990s and has bagged a number of major competitions. In 1997 he finished seventh at the European Tour qualifying school, and he joined the tour the following year.

In April 2006, Jeev won the Volvo China Open, becoming the second Indian to win on the European Tour.

Jeev has won several honors and awards. The major awards include Padma Shri, Asian Tour Order of Merit.