Dr J S Sarkaria joined the army shortly after outbreak of the Second World War.  He was a Captain in the I.M.S. (Indian Medical Service) and was in the frontlines during the entire Burma campaign.  His field hospital was once virtually bombed out of existence by the Japanese, with very heavy casualties, and he was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery under fire. Sometime after the end of the war he joined P.C.M.S. (Punjab Civil Medical Service), and post-1947 his first posting was in Palampur.  He served subsequently in a number of stations: Amritsar, Rewari, Simla, Sirsa, Ludhiana, Simla again, Bhatinda, Nangal, etc., etc.

When he sought premature retirement he had been Medical Superintendent of Rajindra Hospital, Patiala for 2-3 years. Previous to that he had served in Chandigarh as Assistant Director of Health Services and Drug Controller at Chandigarh for some years.

He had obtained M.S. (Master in Surgery) early on in his service, when he was posted in remote Rewari (Haryana), a feat in itself because (at least at that time) this degree was very demanding even for people posted in medical colleges.  My father was acclaimed as a brilliant surgeon and had a fantastic amount of energy and drive.

Single-handedly he converted — through donations that he sought from the public directly — the ramshackled and run-down civil hospital in the desert town of Sirsa to a really good facility.  This was during the Chief Minister Mr Kairon.  He was quite impressed when he came there for an opening ceremony.  It is a great pity we now have very few (even in those days such people were rare) government officers with this kind of dedication and drive, which Dr JS Sarkaria had.

The biographic details of Dr Sarkaria, that are directly relevant to the Cactus Garden pertain to the years after he took retirement from P.C.M.S.  Quite a lot about these is in his book on this garden. The book can be accessed via this Link.

More will be written about Dr JS Sarkaria later probably with photos, if I can get from his family. I have written this as extracted from the e-mail sent to me by Mr Karanbir S Sarkaria, son of Dr JS Sarkaria.

I remember the days vividly, when I used to accompany my father on bicycle from our ancestral village Kanthala to Panchkula area, at that time Panchkula was not even a village. Panchkula derived its name from the five irrigation canals known as `kuls’, making it `Panch Kul Wala’  thus Panchkula. We used to come from our ancestral village Kanthala (now The Tribune building, one of the most well known landmarks of Chandigarh) to Panchkula, about 5 kms, to buy plants from the plant nurseries to be planted in our farm.

Chandigarh was developed as the most well planned city of India, post independence. But it engulfed many villages and swallowed the rich regional cultural heritage. It displaced so many families by paying them pittance as compensation, most of which could never regain their lost paradise and are fighting futile legal battles, withering away. The poor families of these villages had to bear the brunt of this forced displacement. Which proved a point, we often discuss, in India only rich and powerful have their way and lead life the way they like, commoner suffers as they did for centuries. In spite of the right to equality, we are not equals.

Anyway, Chandigarh was forced to grow as expected and it was a sleepy modern city till about 20 years ago, considered as a nice city for the retired and working class; in spite of being capital of two states and having status of Union Territory.  There is no city in India, which enjoys this unique status like Chandigarh does. Now, its teeming with materialistic life. It has become business  capital of northern region. I strongly believe, city of Panchkula is the product of political agenda. The Haryana government speculated that Chandigarh might be transferred to Punjab, as there have been many attempts in the past. Which lead to some violent protests in Haryana, in last four decades. The think-tanks of Haryana government opted for Panchkula, as the best suited site for the contingency. It’s next to Chandigarh and still in Haryana. If suddenly government decides about Chandigarh to be handed over to Punjab, then Haryana will have its own capital ready in place and fully operational. In fact, Panchkula has reduced the congestion of offices in Chandigarh.

Dr JS Sarkaria, had good collection of cactus and succulents. As he was growing old and he worried about his treasure of cactus. He decided to donate it to the ones who will care. He had given adverts in newspapers about it and at that time HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) came forward and offered land. The present Cactus Garden was started here and Dr Sarkaria devoted most of his time at site, working under the Sun, even the younger lot could not keep pace with him in the field. He is admired and revered all the time by the staff of the Garden.

MORE WILL COME HERE ABOUT THE CACTUS GARDEN SHORTLY.

I live at Panchkula (Haryana, India) and consider myself very lucky to be living near its famous Cactus Garden, sadly not very well known amongst the denizens of even this modern city, as it should have been. Thanks to all the moronic superstitions, which had some reason to come into practice, people do NOT grow any kind of cactus or succulent at home. Most Indians believe that its not a good omen to grow cactus at home. I may agree with a logic for not growing cactus at home, where there is small space and kids are around, cactus thorns being a safety concern. Lest they get hurt by the steely strong thorns of cactus. But some obtusely brains have created a superstition -`since cactus grows in desert and arid place, it brings unhappiness like desert in the house and the family’. How silly ! On the contrary, cactus gives me immense inspiration – it grows in harshest conditions, needs no extra care, still smiles with flowers, fights hard life all alone (sort of alone, otherwise ecosystem does support them to live). In fact, cacti and succulents are great plants to grow for decoration, need far lesser space (not much of spread slow growth) and abysmally scanty water supply. If you are away for a holiday, most of the cactus varieties can survive for a month without water.

During my last three four visits to the Garden, I have been viewing only these tiny flowers (not more than 5mm wide) through my macro lens, which grow in bunch. This cactus bush is thronged by the bees and the work starts with daybreak itself and that’s why the phrase `busy like bee’. I find this place teeming with small insect life also, sometimes I get to see insects moving on flowers only through the lens, otherwise too small to get noticed. Its always very satisfying.

You will see some nice photos of cactus flowers here, often. I hope you will enjoy and start looking at cactus differently, also hoping locals will change their superstition towards cactus.

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