Astro Garden: An cosmic solution

Have you ever heard of an Astro Garden?

I was a bit surprised when I read about Astro Garden in the local news paper. How much is the level of beliefs that people have? From gems to stones, metals to flowers and worshiping god on particular days, and trees. If it was anything else, I would have discounted it but when I read through the article, it felt interesting.

Kalyan is soon to get a 1400 meter plot near KDMC office which host an Astro Garden. An Astro Garden is a garden with trees that are placed in a horoscopic layout with each tree placed in the place of planet. Two and one fourth stars make one zodiac sign and there are 27 stars for which there are 25 plants. It is known to all of us that people who believe in astrology often get into chantiing or buy precious gems/stones in combination with the metal of ornament (gold, silver, copper) to get rid of doshas (weakness) or bad phase in their horoscopes.

Now they can take the trees (read saplings) that stand for their stars as well. Though the newpaper said that Saplings will also be given if someone wanted to plant the trees near their homes/buildings or society, I think even if a small amount of money is charged for each sapling, like a Rs. 5 or Rs. 10 which can go towards donating these trees to those who can’t afford it makes sense. Some times monitory value adds a bit of importance than things that come free. It should also help to keep the project viable in case of lack of funds.

Brain child of Mayor of Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corp. (KDMC), Vaijayanti Gujar, inspiration of an Astro Garden came from a similar garden she saw in Malgoon, Goa. Apart from being an interesting concept for religious, it also encourages tree plantations. The garden will be designed by Uday Kumar Padhye, president of Cosmic Ecological Trust (CET). CET has been active in Dombivali – Kalyan region for a while and I am trying to get more information on their activities.

I came across this news article in DNA Mumbai edition (Dombivali/Kalyan edition dated 12/11/2011) by Naveeta Singh.