Traces Horticulturist Krumbiegel’s footsteps at KRS, Mysuru Zoo 

By N. Niranjan Nikam

Mysuru: The six-day pilgrimage that Alyia Phelps Gardiner Krumbiegel, great-granddaughter of Horticulturist and designer of Brindavan Gardens and Lalbagh Gustav Herman Krumbiegel, undertook to Mysuru, ended on a sombre note, with the immersion of her mother’s ashes at Sangama in Srirangapatna on Aug.3.

Alyia came to Mysuru with the specific purpose of not only immersing her mother Jean Maureen Phelps Gardiner’s ashes at Cauvery in Srirangapatna but also to trace the footsteps of her great-grandfather Krumbiegel, who had designed the Brindavan Gardens and also left a mark at the Mysuru Zoo.

‘Cool Road’

“So many people on Facebook had told me about the ‘Cool Road’ in Mysuru Zoo. When I Googled, it gave a me a little bit of information but not enough. It was the picture of ‘Cool Road’ popularly called ‘Thandi Sadak’ knowing that my great-grandfather had walked along the road was the biggest pull to visit the Mysuru Zoo,” said Alyia speaking to Star of Mysore.

“I am not the biggest fan of Zoos. But I am so surprised to see how clean the Mysuru Zoo is and how well it is maintained. It is the most fascinating aspect of history that the Maharajas of Mysore and Krumbiegel were connected so well and they had great respect for his work,” she said and added, “my grandmother Hilda, the oldest daughter of Krumbiegel always used to tell me that her father was not just an employee but he was part of the inner circle of the Maharajas.”

Brindavan Gardens 

Alyia then visited the Brindavan Gardens which had been her dream for years and which finally materialised on Aug.1. 

“I was standing at the top of Brindavan Gardens where my great-grandfather had taken my mother several times. She always recalled how when he stood and signalled to the people looking after the gardens to switch on the fountains that they would start functioning in a sequence. She was never tired of sharing this with me,” she said.

“When I stood there, I just could not remember anyone standing by my side. It created an everlasting memory in me. My heart became heavy with emotions. People had told me that Brindavan Gardens was in such a terrible state. But I tell people to open their eyes wide to see the sheer beauty, architecture and magic of that place. It is simply unbelievable and there is nothing like this anywhere,” gushed Alyia.

“I was looking at the symmetry of the fountains, and the green buildings on either side of the long stretch of the terraced gardens that was in perfect alignment and stood transfixed at the sheer magnitude of the work done by the engineers, architects, horticulturists and my great-grandfather’s role in this magnificent gardens was simply breathtaking for me. But I did see the pavements in bad condition with a few of the tiles coming off,” she said.

“Being an architect myself and looking at the dam, the photographs of which I had just then seen of the construction workers at the dam site in Royal Orchid Brindavan Hotel, I wondered how on earth did they work with no computers, and other aided devices to build this marvel,” she said.