The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art by Barb Rosenstock (review)

The 1947 partition of India caused Nek Chand's family to leave the Punjab region that became Pakistan and resettle in the new planned city of Chandigarh, India. Gone was his intimate village, with its slower pace and strong tradition of community storytelling; Chandigarh was "a sharp-edged city of colorless concrete. . . . Where were the curving paths and flowing streams? Where were the singing men, the swaying women? Where were the stories?" Actually, there was much left to be resurrected from the rubble of the villages bulldozed for Chandigarh—shards of pottery and tile, crushed pieces of metal, plenty of clay for sculpting and construction, and plenty of half-dead foliage to be repotted and nourished back to life. Clandestinely squatting on an area of land outside the city proper, Chand spent years creating a kingdom of his own, populated with sculpted figures of people and animals arrayed along winding, terraced paths. When the inevitable discovery by local authorities took place and the kingdom was targeted for demolition, art lovers rose up in protest and the government accommodated Chand's whimsical vision. Rosenstock's narration gracefully integrates Chand's early village experiences with their embodiment in his multi-acre built world, and Nivola's airy illustrations are complemented by a closing double foldout photomontage of Chand's wonderland of found materials. An author's note offers further information on Chand, and a bibliography and link to the Nek Chand Foundation direct readers to more on the artistry and controversies of the Rock Garden site.