Spring 2021
Spring this year has been
heartbreakingly short. It was like jumping straight from blankets to forty
degrees. The almost ephemeral spring is unfair to us as we freeze and melt
through the extreme winters and summers. Anyway, Delhi never had those few days
of Konkan monsoons and now even those fifteen days of spring are lost. So the
weather now is ten long unending months of unbearable heat and two months of
shivering cold.
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| Tree of Gold or the Caribbean Trumpet Tree has been magnificent this spring |
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| A bed of Petunias |
The effects can be seen on the flowering trees. Semals and Yellow Tabebuia came into flowering early and the imported tulips melted in a few days. Despite the short flowering period, Delhi was nice enough to treat you to some real ‘awe’ moments.
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| Kosam tree in new leaf is the most wonderful spring sight |
Let’s go Springing in Delhi!
January
Roses are the harbingers of spring in Delhi and this is first time you are catching the blooms here in Rose Garden with doggies keeping a watch on the proceedings as families spread their hampers on the grass.
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| Some varities here are of the desi kind with the fragrance of roses of long ago |
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| Dahlias are the earliest seasonal flowers in India |
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| So the Coreopsis will bloom all across Delhi in freezing cold and summer but not in your garden - nopes |
February
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| The Starry Chamrod |
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| Few days of Netherlands - Tulip Mania |
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| Moss Verbena going violet |
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| Coreopsis blooming away |
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| The Pink Poui or Basant Rani wonder - one of the first trees you fell in love with |
March
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| This year the Bottle Brush trees are quite bountiful |
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| Nemesia bed |
You are getting bolder with passing of every spring. The bunch of cyclists who have just trampled upon the Semals have left briefly leaving their bicycles under the Silk Cotton Tree wearing the reddest flowers you have ever seen. It seems God this spring has given the deepest shade of red to the Semal trees all over Delhi. This is the window you have been waiting for. And then just as ordained, two lovely ladies in red walk-in, smiling and talking and sipping on their beverages.
You are battle-hardened now. There is no case of nerves. And you make your 15 second pitch – you don’t have to face the camera. Just look at the flowers lovingly. Oh, we don’t mind facing the camera. The ladies laugh. That took like 7 seconds! Maybe it is the perfect day of Spring here in Sunder Nursery making everyone happy. All morning you have been meeting folks who just seem to be exultant to be out here in this place that seems to get better every time you come here.
Thanks a Bunch, Lavina & Surbhi for the sweet gesture!
Semal Hanami at Lakkarwala Burj,
Sunder Nursery, New Delhi
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| Some Spring Some Bubbles Lots of Joy |
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| Can't get enough of Coreopsis |
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| During Spring days you keep coming back here almost every week - Shanti Path of childhood |
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| The Ladybirds love Tecoma flowers |
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| The Path to Salvia |
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| The Pink Kachnar |
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| This was the only roundabout you clicked this year |
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| The Yellow Trumpets blew you off this spring. Caught some of them looking so magnificent and voluptuous that you just stared at them - clearly a Salbhanjika did her rounds of the parks |
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It is rare to have two perfect Sundays on the trot in Delhi
especially when winter has given way to summer and the ephemeral spring has
turned into record breaking warm weekdays.
Chanakyapuri is the best place to start the only screen-free day.
Entire Diplomatic Enclave is swamped by runners who are mostly elderly. You are
not sure if they are weekend runners or some formal race is going on. Whatever
it maybe, it is nice to see healthy elderly on a morning jog, finally out in
the open air.
The tulips are gone. But the brief respite and the cool air is
making the other flowers smile. Coreopsis and Red Linums are in the midst of a
flowering boom. Dew drops glint in the early sun.
The traffic cop stands on the Shanti Path with a camera radar.
Speeding vehicles on the empty dream like road will soon get the challans on
their phone. You are especially thrilled when a HR26 SUV is captured in the
camera. HR26 registered vehicles are the vilest drivers on the road.
The cop is in a chatty mood. He points out that the first crop of
tulips was washed away by the Jan rains and when they finally bloomed the early
heat killed them. Once he saw a woman get off a car to steal some tulips. He
points out to the Alto on the other side of the road with two gentlemen in
safari suits. He says they are from IB and usually hang around in Altos and
Wagon Rs. You had already guessed it though. They stick out like from a mile
away.
The sun is coming up. A diplomat woman is photographing red semal
flowers backdropped with the streaming sunlight beams.
These are beautiful moments.
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| Cricket at Talkatora with Yellow Trumpet Tree as the spectator |
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| The new leaves of Gab are simply unbelievable |
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| The Bhagwan Mahavir Vanasthali park is totally quiet. You are probably the first visitor all morning and the resident dogs go wild in their excitement to welcome you. This morning the park is a Bougainvillea paradise. There is a whole stretch of the white fluorescent ones while the pink one creates a monochrome after-holi celebration canvas |
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| The Silky Oak dusted with gold |
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| The shahtoot tree is one of your favourites |
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IMD predicts heavy Purple Showers in Central Ridge
The sounds playing in the background will drive any sound mixing
editor delirious. The ripples of the breeze, the chirping of birds, yelps of
excited dogs, and this incessant buzz of the bees going crazy around these
purple jewels. As the breeze picks up, the branches sway.
And for a change IMD prediction comes true. The purple gems
pitter-patter on the dry leaves below. This is the Purple Rain. Until now you
have seen the purple clouds hanging to the branches of this tree. For the first
time, you are seeing and hearing the rain. The rain soon picks up. The
petrichor of this purple rain is delicious. The sound recordist could not have
even imagined something this sweet and beautiful. Nature has a way of wowing
you in the most unlikeliest of moments and places.
Moulmein Rosewood or Jewels on a String (Millettia peguensis),
Buddha Jayanti Park, New Delhi
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| Buddha Jayanti Park - the view looked especially winsome this morning |
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| Roheda Dream in Delhi |
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| Palash Bloom |
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| This is a Jacaranda life! |
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| Don't remember catching this wonder in its full bloom on the entire stretch - the flowers are ephemeral; one strong breezy day and they are blown off - a lucky sight indeed |
This
is Delhi’s Spring!
Related Posts on this Blog
Blooming Walls of
Lodhi Colony
Garden on the
Landfill - Indraprastha Park
Photography Locations
- Nehru
Park
- Lodhi
Gardens
- Shanti
Path
- Buddha
Jayanti Park
- Rose Garden, Chanakya Puri
- Astha Sthal
- Sunder Nursery
- Talkatora Garden
- Prerna Sthal, Noida
- Bhagwan
Mahavir Vanasthal
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