Walking in Twilight

Pride and Prejudice is a book filled with love advice, quotes for a romantic life, tall, handsome men and a single quote that resonated with me so much that I use it whenever I wear my FitBit.

As Elizabeth Bennet once said, ‘I’m very fond of walking.’

Pune City is what I call a nature-centric metro and while the traffic can fly off the handle sometimes, there are many places where the pedestrians can enjoy solitude in the midst of nature as Pune has held on to its greenery despite modern development taking the city by storm.

Channelling my inner Elizabeth Bennet, Imma take you on a walk through the Pune-Okayama Friendship Garden, all on a Saturday evening. This post is a sort of a sequel to my earlier post called “Walking in Sunshine” which you can find here. Spoiler alert, this post might contain encounters with vampires since we’ve got Twilight involved, hehe.

Before I begin, here’s a bit about the Pune-Okayama Friendship garden. The garden is inspired by the Koraku-en gardens in the Japanese city of Okayama. It was built as a symbol of friendship between India and Japan and I feel the concept is a lovely way of celebrating bilateral ties. The garden is built on a natural canal and is extremely well maintained and spotless clean. It is one of the top ten hangout places in Pune which is a huge milestone considering Pune has a trendy spot at every corner.

So without further ado, let’s get strollin’ 🙂

This is a Sun-Salutations sculpture at the entrance of the garden. I’ve never really seen sun salutations expressed in art and I found the idea very unique and brilliantly executed. It is quite a popular exercise in India where it is called ‘Surya Namaskar’ and the people who practice it in its authentic form even have small prayers that they say before performing each pose. The exercise is actually an act of homage to the Sun God and is ideally done early in the morning when the sun is rising but as time has passed, we humans have normalised Yoga to fit our busy schedules and a lot of people do it at other times too, and it doesn’t disappoint the Sun God cause he still comes out every day, hehe.

However, there’s people like me who have only done Sun Salutations like seven times in their lives and that ladies and gentlemen is why I prefer the rain.

Hehe….

No honestly, it is a tough exercise and requires a lot of commitment and breath and I have known people who can do like fifty in a single sitting which is very impressive.

Is it funny that I took this picture on a rainy day? hehe….

Here we have the the opening courtyard of the garden, marked with a coconut tree. The garden is divided into two areas, one is for walking, exercising and has a children’s play area while the other one id the Japanese garden which is a tourist spot. This here is the walking and exercising part of the garden which has such a serene landscape that cardio becomes welcoming, hehe.

Where my cardio peeps at?

🙂

Flowers in her hair….

Hehe….I literally found the exact flowers that are used as a hat for ducklings in that Instagram reel and it made me so happy. I wish there was a duckling I could try it on:)

The garden provides a lot of opportunity to play with one’s camera’s features:))

When life gives you lemons, you toss them into a fountain. Your wish is sure to come true!

The fountain here was so refreshing as it sprinkled cool water in the humid weather and woke the drowsiest of visitors to a rush of water and distant birdsong. The whole vibe was so peaceful and gave me major cottage core feels.

The last part in the “Exercise Garden” is the red palatial sit-out that is an ideal place of recovery after an evening workout. Inside, there’s a small stream and fountain where one can cool off and it’s also a cool place for kids to run around and splash about. The sit-out is also a popular spot for couples and the view of the trees and the lawns really set in a vintage romantic mood.

Now, we’re gonna head to the Japanese garden which, I believe, is one of the most beautiful places ever.

This is the stone with a plaque at the entrance. I love the purple colour combination with the surrounding earthly tones and the little white flowers on the surrounding bushes add just the right touch. I visited the garden on a rainy day but the little peeping sun rays add a beautiful tint to the picture:)

As we’re talking about Twilight, here’s a bit of dusk-time spook to spice things up.

“Trees are our guardians against fire and flood,

They are also a haven for mosquitoes who thirst for blood.

You think you’ve had them conquered by blinding them with light,

You’ve only won a battle, not the entire fight.

You’d think a creature so small is no big deal,

Until you end up as an anopheles’ meal.”

Poetry is the food of love.

hehe….

Here we have a traditional Japanese hut which is used as a sit out or a shelter for the rain. There are so many of these around the garden and each one of them emanated a vibe of relaxation and reminiscing with all the happy conversations going on:) All we needed were cherry blossoms and we’d all be right in Japan. I don’t think Pune is the best place for cherry blossoms to grow but the garden compensates supremely with the other trees.

These cylindrical cut trees look so aesthetic. It reminded me of Big Ears’ toadstool house in Noddy, hehe:)

And this is the overview of the sprawling Japanese garden. I love how much effort has gone into making this, right from the flower bushes to the trees to the fountain to the garden toys, it’s all so perfect.

Besides, the dusk makes the scenery look like one of Monet’s masterpieces:)

The flower beds and the pebble stream. Or as I like to call it, the Fairy Garden. The streams in the Japanese garden are surrounded by a number of miniature gardens and this is one of them. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would question me if I said I saw Tinkerbell here:) Besides, orange and white mingle so well with the purples and greys, it gives me ideas for a cottage core Princess outfit. In fact the whole garden is so cottage core. I love it!

This is a mini Cycas garden. I love Cycas trees and I even have one in my house garden. They have a very mysterious vibe to them and I feel that those pointy leaves have a lot of personality, hehe….I also like the fact that Cycas plants look like trolls. Maybe they walk when you’re not looking, who knows?

Stairway to Heaven or Highway to Hell?

I’ll say it’s the end of the Yellow Brick Road.

hehe.

Rock music has a place everywhere in the world. Even in this serene little pathway heading to a hillock from where you can get a sort of a bird-eye view of the garden.