Bengaluru: Summer blooms, colours of hope

Flower carpet

Summer blooms

Summer blooms

Tabebuia

Summer flowers

Summer flowers

Pride of India

Come summer and cities and countrysides burst into a riot of colours. Not finding better words than D V Cowen, the author of Flowering Trees and Shrubs in India, I quote: “Every year from March to May, when the air is at its hottest, the ground is parched and cracked, and a film of dust covers every leaf and branch, one watches in awe that miracle of nature which brings forth from the branches of so many trees such an extravagant abundance of colourful blossoms and clean, polished foliage. From where, one asks, do these trees get sufficient moisture when no rain has fallen for months. The bright new leaves alone would be a happy sight and one’s eyes with the incessant glare of an Indian summer gladly rest on them, but with blossoms of every hue as well, it is impossible to be unaware of the galaxy of colours. It is at this time of the year that so many people feel the urge to know more about the trees they live amongst.”

This year’s summer is unique and different from the one, in almost the last hundred years.

This change has been forced on the world by the demonic COVID-19. No country on earth, including India is an exception. The city planners have luckily, for the inhabitants, taken care to sublimate the harshness of the urban concrete by creating avenues of verdant trees that not only give shade but also bear flowers. Come March, it’s springtime, when nature is ready to let these trees show off themselves in full bloom, alluring the human senses.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

Alas! This year, the fate of these trees is akin to those that flower, only to blush unseen.

So much of time hangs heavy in everyone’s life these days, but it is a barren time. On the other hand, less human intervention has helped nature, people say. Birds are chirping, butterflies are flying freely, adding colour and vibrance to nature.

Very few, however, have a chance to stand and gaze upon the charmingly shaped and attractively coloured flowers that bathe the boughs, and the life around them.

Anyone who has come out is mostly out on some errand like buying grocery, and is only waiting to hurry back to the safety of their home.

But the truth is that the beautiful creations of nature remain undaunted by COVID- 19, continuing their march of life in full glory. These flowers and trees seem to be teaching man the true meaning of life by saying, “I do my job. It does not matter whether I am rewarded for it.”

There are some lucky ones still, even during these days of social distancing. They have the luxury of enjoying the beautiful blossoms from the safety of their balconies and terraces, or a peep through the windows.

What about the majority who are packed in the narrow-laned houses and hidden flats? Luckily, not all windows are closed. As they say, if one closes, another opens.

Reading about the city blooms may be one such opening, that lets the readers travel with the writer, and walk down the memory lane, to that normal summer of the year just gone by.