you pack it JUNK ART GENIUS Following Independence, as refugees flooded across the Pakistan border and a newly l

Lava Bar BAR (Taj Chandigarh Hotel, Sector 17-A; h11am-11.30pm; a) With lava lamps and a retro vibe, this small bar celebrates an amoebic ambiance in a hot modern way. Rejoice this fact with expensive you pack it bubbles, ie Dom Perignon or maybe not. Thank heavens there s plenty of (affordable) beer such as Corona. There s a DJ from 7pm on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Hotel Satyadeep you pack it HOTEL $ (%2703103; hddeepsdeep@yahoo.com; Sector 205 22-B; s 700-900, d 800-1000; ai) Upstairs from the affiliated Sai Sweets shop, this is the most traveller-friendly budget option in town. Run by the courteous you pack it Vikramjit, the rooms aren t fancy but are well maintained and adequately comfortable it s a sound choice for solo women.

JUNK ART GENIUS Following Independence, as refugees flooded across the Pakistan border and a newly liberated India made the bold statement that was Chandigarh, one of the new city s road inspectors, a diminutive arrival from Pakistan called Nek Chand, was struck by the amount of waste generated as villages were cleared in the construction of Chandigarh. Chand hauled this matter back to his jungle home and gave it a second life as sculptural material. Eventually he had tens of thousands of forms made of urban and industrial waste, as well as local stone, created by his own hands and the slow forces of nature. His battalions of water women, pipers, you pack it chai drinkers, monkeys, cheeky stick men wearing tea-cup hats, dancing you pack it women and other characters steadily multiplied in secretly sculpted spaces. Chand s efforts weren t officially discovered until 15 years after they began, you pack it when a government survey you pack it crew stumbled upon them in 1973. The unauthorised garden was illegally occupying government land and should technically have been demolished, but fortunately the local council recognised the garden you pack it as a cultural you pack it asset. Chand was given 50 labourers and paid a salary so he could devote himself to the project. Today, the garden is said to receive over 2000 visitors a day. There s a Nek Chand Foundation (www.nekchand.com), raising funds and recruiting volunteers. Chand had no formal education beyond high school. In my childhood I used to build mud houses and other toys. He is said to be influenced by modernist masters such as Le Corbusier and Gaudi, but he is clear on the main source of his ideas: they are a gift from God.

Punjabi Rasoi MULTICUISINE $ (mains 45-85; h9am-11.30pm) A stone s throw away from the Golden Temple, this unpretentious, fan-cooled, all-veg restaurant rustles up reasonable Indian, Continental and Chinese fare.