Ghulam Rasool is the lead gardener at Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden. This is Asia's biggest Tulip Garden in Srinagar,

Ghulam Rasool has two years to retire. But that doesn't bother him. What does concern him is what would happen to the garden when he will be not around? He promptly drives off his own apprehensions.

“These are just my fears,” he told to the reporters of the WEEK.

He added, “The staff here will continue to put up a spectacular show every year, and better. But I will miss being around.”

The garden influences Rasool's thoughts at work and at home. At his home, he spends hours thinking what he has to do the next day. At night he keeps thinking about the garden and the flowers.

Once he was awake till 3 am making plans about the garden. “Then I fell asleep and woke up when the Moazin gave a call for fajr namaz (first prayer of the day).”

He said he joined the floriculture department in 1984 as a daily wager. He had worked in many gardens in Kashmir but the tulip garden has had a captivating effect on him.

He said that Appreciation by visitors is our reward and we tell ourselves that next year we will make it look even better.

When former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad ordered the preparation of the garden in 2006, the floriculture department made-up a seasoned team of gardeners and floriculture experts. Rasool was part of the team and later went on to lead a dedicated bunch of gardeners equally enthusiastic about their work as he is.

There was apprehensiveness whether what Azad wanted could actually materialize. But a year later, when the garden was thrown wide-open to people, it had exceeded the expectations of the officials involved in the project.