WHEN P. Dayananda Pai, 50, got his mechanical engineering degree from Mysore some 25 years ago, he only had one dream. To buy 200 acres of land outside Mysore, cultivate it and become an agriculturist. Pai got only one-tenth the amount of land he wanted, gave up the idea, moved to Bangalore and set up a real estate business. But his obsession remained and is today an extravagant reality on the outskirts of Bangalore.
Pai and his family today live on a farmhouse built on a 14-acre plot—a barren patch of land when it was first sighted. Pai bought it and built on it one of the finest personal gardens in the country. Barely 30 minutes away from Bangalore on the Bellary highway, Pai's Madhuvana is a labour of love. Groomed painstakingly over five years, Pai's green venture cost three times more than the bungalow on the premises. The last cost him a cool Rs 1 crore.
Tall silver oaks and palms line the stone-paved 1,000-ft long driveway. Ornamental bridges lead to half-a-dozen smaller gardens on the plot—a rose garden, a bonsai garden, an annuals garden for seasonal flowers, a kitchen garden and a spice garden. The rose garden has as many as 20,000 plants in 500 varieties. Marble benches in Mughal style add to its allure.
Elsewhere on the landscape, tuberoses, toddy palms and creepers like English ivy and stone ivy lend an exotic touch. Zenias, marigolds, dahlias and golden rod add colour to the annuals garden. Pai's vegetable garden more than caters for the family kitchen while his orchard is teeming with abundant fruit: from carrots to cauliflower to papayas to oranges and grapes. Pai's ecosystem at Madhuvana goes beyond that: a forest that has plants imported from jungles in the northeast; a bonsai garden with a tree-house, bamboo bridges, and a waterfall; two other waterfalls—one modelled after the Jog Falls, India's tallest waterfall; a jogging track, a mini-golf course, and fountains.
"Ever since I was a young boy, I was interested in gardening. In fact, while doing my engineering in Mysore, I had bought some land near Srirangapatna and was farming there," says the MD of Century Building Industries Pvt Ltd, Bangalore.
Most of Madhuvana was conceived and executed on a turnkey basis by Mericlone Landscapes Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based firm whose client list includes Ramada Resorts, Goa; Raheja Jade Garden, Bangalore; and DCM Daewoo. Other firms like Prakruthi and Black Roses helped develop smaller sections like the artificial forest. "It's an outstanding garden in that there's no such other exotic and elaborate personal garden in the country I know of," says Gururaj Pagad, director of Mericlone. "Pai loves variety and wanted both formal and non-formal flora.
The requirements were very personal and heavily design-oriented. It is one of those very unique things we have done." That was just the beginning. Tending to it daily are a team of 30 gardeners and three supervisors. Fitness-freak Pai, who spends at least an hour savouring the sights and scents of his garden every day, says he personally ensures all sections of the garden are tended to equally. Three borewells and five open wells take care of the water requirements and two electric generators ensure constant power supply. Monthly maintenance cost: between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, part of which Madhuvana recovers from the fruits and flowers it sells in the market.
Pai's dream, however, is nowhere near completion. Coming up is a tea garden on a small hillock where spices are already being grown. He plans to build a mini zoo by enclosing a section of the forest and releasing deer, rabbits and peacocks there. An aviary with more than 25 species of birds; a floating guest house in the artificial lake where children can go boating; fish breeding; a two-bedroom Japanese-style cottage and a health club with a fully-equipped gym with sauna, steam and jacuzzi to complement the existing swimming pool and Pai might be satisfied.
Meanwhile, he admits his wealth has helped a lot in creating Madhuvana. "There might be other people with similar dreams, but they may not be able to afford them. God has been kind to me and it was possible to implement whatever ideas I had by the best in the business." God's 'kindness' seems to have been boundless for Pai. One wishes He was equally kind to the rest of Bangalore, once India's Garden City.
