Season’s contrasting phenomenon.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Across the megapolis, some trees are letting go of their leaves, while others are bursting into colour. In March, Delhi stages a drama of opposites.

Consider a peepal in Punjabi Bagh. Every leaf has fallen. Sunlight is passing cleanly through its branches. On the other hand in Malcha Marg, a bougainvillea is ablaze with new pink.

During this time of the year, Delhi’s many avenue trees stage an annual retreat, shedding foliage ahead of the long, dry summer. The peepal is among them. By discarding leaves, such trees reduce water loss through transpiration.

Bougainvillea, meanwhile, is doing the opposite. It flowers through most of the year, but peaks between March and May, as confirmed by a Lodhi Garden gardener.

These two contrasting phenomena are visible across the city.

In Connaught Place’s Outer Circle, staircases leading into the underground subways are piling up daily with fallen leaves. While, at the Mandi House roundabout nearby, a dense cluster of bougainvilleas has wrapped itself around the sculpture installation Natya Shastra, the pink blooms playfully spilling over the metallic structure.

On the plaza steps facing Himachal Bhawan, which too is at Mandi House, a young man is sitting alone this afternoon, as peepal leaves fall around him like confetti in a political rally. While a short distance away, at the Barakhamba Road traffic light, oversized pots of bougainvilleas are blazing pink.

On Hailey Road the same afternoon, a leafless peepal is casting a thin, skeletal shadow across the tarmac. A few fallen leaves lie forlornly within its outline. While in a Khanna Market by-lane, a portion of the pavement is so thickly padded with fallen tree leaves that walking through them requires effort. Each step presses into the dry mass with a soft, brittle sound. Then there’s a patch of pave along Chelmsford Road, near New Delhi Railway Station, where walls are pink with thick unruly growths of bougainvilleas.

The leaf shedding also reveals what usually lies hidden. On Asaf Ali Road, a towering peepal stands completely bare. Close to the top, a bird’s nest—hidden for months by foliage—is finally visible. Meanwhile, outside the National Gallery of Modern Art, at the corner facing Zakir Hussain Road, a bougainvillea is spilling out fire-coloured blooms over the boundary wall. A short walk away in Khan Market, the pink bougainvilleas frame the entrance to Faqirchand bookstore. Inside, a few fallen petals have been placed under the glass of the shop’s cash counter.

So the city continues its seasonal contrast: leaves falling across Delhi, flowers blooming across Delhi. In some corners of the city the two scenes stand face to face. See photo.