The International Florishow was held on 14th to 16th March 2008 at Saramsa Gardens, Gangtok. It was inaugurated by the chief guest, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of National Planning Commission.
Exhibition stalls in sync with the environment
Several high profile guests included star footballer and Sikkim’s own national football team captain, Bhaichung Bhutia as well as the Chief Minister of Sikkim, Dr Pawan Chamling accompanied by his cabinet ministers, MLA’s and senior officials from the state administration.
My favourite red
The theme of the event was “Sikkim: nature’s own garden”. Accordingly, Saramsa Garden was decked up with over 50,000 varieties of flowers like Cineraria, Petunia, Pansy, Aster, Primula etc other than orchids. Apart from the Flower Exhibition cum competition, the three day event also hosted an Internal Conference, Buyer-Seller Meet and various cultural Programmes.
Sikkim: Nature’s own garden
Hundreds of coordinators and equally numerous volunteers, including students contributed to make the Florishow a success. Paintings of students from their respective schools adorned the walls of the 7-acre garden.
Classic orchids
Four Wi-Fi systems were placed in four different corners of the garden and internet facilities were provided free of cost to all media persons. Sound systems were camouflaged in all corners of the garden that played soothing music for the entertainment for the general public.
Amazing yellow
Internationally acclaimed flutist Shri Hari Prasad Chaurasia performed an enthralling rendition on the final day much to the delight of the audience present who were left spell bound by what was indeed an experience of a lifetime.
Dont know whats it called but look at the thorns!
Photograph courtesy: Tenzing Dorjee Pradhan, ATTC
WOW! BEAUTIFUL! My aunts were all praises - no doubts. I def missed it!
Send in more pics if you have.
Hey doesn’t this remind you of Flower Show in White Hall? I used to go there almost every weekend ya. And guess what used to be my fav activity - catch tadpoles and get them home in Sikkim Milk plastic bags.
I wonder if that Flower Show still happens…
Have more pics, will send them yes. Actually, I’ve recently scripted for the visual documentary for the same show. Thats how I know that the annual Flower Show at White Hall was found to be constrained for space, so they shifted the whole thing to Saramsa Garden.
Its going to be an annual event statewise, once every two years north-east wise and once every five years for International shows.
Catching tadpoles in Sikkim Milk plastic bags!!! Wow, thats brought back nostalgia at full blast
Nice!
Neat photgraphs. I remember that the flowers in Sikkim where extremely colourful. Higher the altitude the brighter it got and everybody took pride in placing beautiful flowers on their porch/ balconies.
I presume there might be hell lot of orchids
I’d like to sit on the thing (BTW, it is called cactus) on the last picture.
A throne of thorns.
Yeah - right about the flowers on the balcony thing
Cactus!!! Thats what it is… hahaha, throne of thorns indeed
Beautiful! Thanksssssss much for the visual delight Angu. Everyone was raving about it but NO ONE actually bothered to mail pics.
was soooooo looking forward to seeing you and Dadul. 
:(
We missed you during Chaaya’s big day…
Just joined work after more than a month of merry making.
Lots of love to you and tummy tickles to winky baby.
Wow. That’s a good blend of nature, technology and mind! I can imagine someone reaching heights of peace sitting among these beautiful flowers, taking in their fragrance, listening to the soothing music and also clicking on stumble-upon once in a while. Heaven!
@Jaya: I missed the wedding too
The Florishow was a delight to watch. Reminded me a bit of Ooty’s botanical garden but with much more exotic flowers. Was a fascinating event!
@Priya: Yeah, very well blended. We had a great time visiting it.
my goodness, GORGEOUS!!! i’ll forward this link to friends. gorgeous gorgeous photography!! im sure the show must’ve been great but you captured it rather well.
gotta visit east next trip to india for sure!!
Yeah, the photos are quite something, arent they! Stupidly, I didnt take any camera with me when I visited so I coaxed my colleague to give me some snaps he’d taken-for which I said I’d give him credit
oopsie i missed Tenzing’s name. after those photos and hariprasad’s name, everythng else is fine print. hehehe
Oopsie daisy
(This always reminds me of Hugh Grant trying to scale a wall with Julia Roberts laughing at him saying only little girls in pink frills say these words, in Nottinghill)
Hey Rinchen! nice snaps !! send me if you have more.. i remember you took us to the flower show last year. it was fun
Hi Gauri! Yeah, we had fun during the last time you guys visited Gangtok. I still have the flower show pics
I’ve set up an album in picasa, its at the end of the blog. Do take a look. Will upload more pics soon.