Mini rock garden builder shows his creativity again

PANCHKULA: Prabhu Dutt Gauri (81), a resident of Sector 12A here — who is known as the creator of a mini-rock garden in front of his residence — has now completed another creation in the Topiary Park of Sector 6, after the local administration allowed him to use the park.
He had requested deputy commissioner Vivek Atray — who came to see his mini-rock garden last year — to provide him vacant land near his house, so that he could create more structures, but due to some problem with the land in front of his house, the DC — on February 25 this year — allowed him to use his creativity in the Topiary Park.
He started work from the first day itself in the park, and has almost completed five big structures. He had gone to Singapore two months ago, where he liked the large-sized statue of a tiger, and when he returned, he used the same size to create a man wearing a cap, besides some other interesting structures like a 20-feet earthen pot, one inspector's statue, and a temple. He is currently working on a 20-feet high railway engine. Gauri uses waste tiles, marbles, toilet seats, and many other unique stones collected from various construction sites to create his art. "I am working to keep alive the art of Nek Chand, and to give Panchkula a different identity through my art. I am going to visit some foreign countries soon to discover more ideas from there, and will complete work in other parks too," he said.
Gauri retired as a senior manager from a government bank in 1994, after which he shifted to Panchkula in 1996 with his family and two sons, but both his sons do not live in Panchkula now. "I have requested the superintendent engineer, Horticulture, to provide some fencing and beautiful lights, so that people can see the park at night too," he said.
He has created all the structures without the help of any engineer, labourer, or construction instruments. He has designed a church, gurdwara, mandir, masjid, and various south Indian temples, which add beauty to the mini rock garden. "Once I complete my work here, I will start working in other parks of Panchkula to give my city a unique identity," he added.