And still it blooms.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

It is late Saturday evening. The air is smoggy. The season’s extreme pollution is causing the eyes to suffer from a slight burning sensation. Anyhow, life goes on. Connaught Place is packed with shoppers, and a particular species of trees here is packed with flowers. These trees are currently in full bloom. The most picturesque sight is of a giant tree that guards the mouth of Inner Circle’s A Block. It is covered with hundreds of green flowers.

Welcome to the blossoming season of saptaparni, which lasts from mid-October to December. Saptaparni trees are spread across the avenues of Delhi, and its surrounding regions. A tree stands near Gurugram railway station, close to a wayside temple. Its flowers fall frequently on passers-by. In Ghaziabad, a saptaparni stands on a dusty service lane in Vasundhara, next to a gym. Last year it yielded an ample crop of flowers. This time, it is bearing only a handful of flowers—at least that was the status a week ago. A notable saptaparni stands on the banks of Ghaziabad’s Hindon river, close to the old British-era rail bridge. One recent afternoon, the flowers were merrily falling on the river water.

Nestled amid the tree leaves, the green of the saptaparni flowers happens to be of a pale shade, tinged with white. These flowers are said to emit a strong scent, especially in the evenings. This reporter, however, could not discern any smell from the flowers.

As stated in the same season a year back, an ideal saptaparni sight-seeing tour must begin at central Delhi’s posh Golf Links Colony, where the tree was first introduced in Delhi in the 1940s. Scores of these trees stand on the Archbishop Makarios Marg, which runs between the grounds of Delhi Golf Club and Golf Links Colony. A stately saptaparni also stands at the nearby India International Center. The next-door Lodhi Garden too has its share. Some beautiful saptaparnis line the pave along Mathura Road, close to Purana Qila; an ice-cream seller parks his cart under one of the trees.

Meanwhile, around the aforementioned saptaparni at A block, citizens are strolling, chatting, snacking, and window shopping. No one is looking up at the tree packed with an abundance of flowers. See photo.

Around the same time, in another part of Connaught Place, close to Central Park, an electric screen is showing the pollution’s real-time AQI index. It is 255; the figure between 0-50 is considered ideal. Whatever, the screen is installed beside a saptaparni, and despite the steep AQI reading, the tree is still managing to bloom, the flowers visible in the darkness.