Abhishek Khan’s Fragrance Walk through Lalbagh is a lesson in botany that goes beyond textbooks

Apart from their famous biannual flower show, the gardens are popular for nature trails as well as activities such as bird watching. Did you know you can also participate in a Fragrance Walk each Sunday where you can immerse yourself in diverse scents ranging from fruity, floral, and even spicy notes? Well, this is possible due to the efforts of 37-year-old Abhishek Khan who is also the creator of Lalbagh.info, a site that serves as a free guide for this spectacular garden.

The Fragrance Walk is a narrative experience meant to tell the stories of how botany has shaped the aromatic aesthetics of the Western world. The walk features flowers and leaves which can be located in plain sight as one walks through the garden. Whether it is the fruity aroma of the frangipani vine the mild fragrance of a golden gardenia or the citric notes of the bottlebrush tree, the walk is a treat for the senses.

“At a Fragrance Walk, we traverse through the garden, all the while smelling, tasting, touching, and listening to what it has to say. This walk is always accompanied by a narrative where I talk about trees and plants that usually go unnoticed. I have curated a special set of trees, plants, and botanical aspects that have an interesting story and shared context,” says Abhishek.

Previous walks, Abhishek says, covered the Botany of Alcohol and Mafia of House Plants. “I am currently on the Botany of Psychedelics. Lalbagh has each of these botanicals in plain sight whose stories are waiting to be discovered.”

Abhishek says he weaves these narratives into the sensory experiences of the walk as he wants trees to be seen beyond their ornamental or nutritional value. During these walks, he also tries to teach people to read trees by breaking down features of their anatomy.

“Each tree has its unique morphology. For example, people are always surprised when they first taste the rain tree pod. It is sweet like dates and the fact that we are so familiar with that pod and never considered it to be edible blows people’s minds.”

The route of the walk changes by the season which again provides a refreshing perspective on how the garden is viewed.

Abhishek who is a letterist by profession and practices calligraphy, lettering, and typography, firmly believes that in the context of climate change, it makes sense to help people befriend trees. His site is an explorer’s guide and has a detailed map of Lalbagh which includes monuments and botanicals apart from a flower finder. The latter provides a list of flowers that are in season and blooming with a navigator to help find them.

“I also give away cards to help people identify leaf shapes, mushroom caps, etc. I believe once we learn to recognize different aspects of anatomy, we learn to read these trees better and it leads to a more intimate connection with them.”