Sunder Nursery: A garden, an escape, and a mirror to Delhi

Opened in 2018, the 90-acre Sunder Nursery, with its many gardens and monuments, has become Delhi’s great escape. Created and managed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, it has quickly grown to contain the multitudes of Delhi and has become a little city of its own; and like all cities, it has its landmarks, neighbourhoods and communities. There is the 30-acre Wilderness zone. The air is full of birds and butterflies, and of secretive lives scurrying about in the dense undergrowth. There are 150 people who tend to the park; gardeners, masons, stone craftsmen, cleaners, and guards. The women employees wear saris with glowing colours. At 1pm sharp, they all open their lunch boxes in their working areas, turning the whole garden into a canteen. There is also a tiny amphitheatre at the edge of the Wilderness that has been the meeting point of the so-called Silent Book Club. Members go there with their own book of the day, and where they all sit together, reading.