- Monty enjoys his first visit to exotic, history-conscious India. In the north, he compares the majestic, yet rather austere Mughal gardens in Agra's imperial capital area, especially the unique Taj Mahal, with the maharajahs' more exuberant lust gardens in Rajasthan. Next the gardens and plantations in Kerala, the ancient home of spice and tea growing, and British parks as in Delhi, with special admiration for a living man's vast recycling park.—KGF Vissers
- Monty, in his first ever trip to India, will be overwhelmed in all his senses as he visits three regions of the country. He first visits the garden associated with the most iconic building in the country, and arguably the world: the Taj Mahal. With the building itself a tomb built by Shah Jahan for his wife, the associated garden is, as is the building, meant to be an eternal paradise. Monty will also learn more about the Shah as he visits other gardens associated to tombs that were precursors to the Taj Mahal. Unlike those gardens, gardens associated with Hinduism are meant to celebrate life. Life and by association gardens in this region of the country are affected by the extreme heat and dry mixed with the monsoons, which not only brings some relief to the heat, but vast amounts of water. Monty next travels to the south of the country to a region most associated with the spice trade, he visiting a garden dedicated solely to growing such plants. Remnants of the British colonization of India can also be found in this region, not only in gardens which mimic those in Britain, but the growing of one specific plant of great importance to Brits: the Chinese camellia, which provides the vast majority of the world's tea. He ends his travels back north in New Delhi and its vicinity, the relatively short history of the city, built in the early twentieth century by the Brits as the new capital city for the country, which makes its gardens new in the country's terms. As such, he makes as his last stop what he sees as the possible future of gardening in India, a garden that was originally built in secret and was almost bulldozed upon its discovery by authorities.—Huggo
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