New Delhi, Dec. 15 -- Amid the hustle of Connaught Place, an uninvited tenant has quietly taken root - literally. In cracks, on parapet walls, along the corridors, Ficus religiosa - the peepal tree - has woven itself into the bones of the city's most iconic marketplace. Sacred yet fiercely opportunistic if left unchecked, it has become an adversary for traders and the NDMC. Experts stress that this invasion is not random. The peepal is among the most resilient lithophytes on the subcontinent, a species evolved to grow on stone. Its roots, thin as thread at first, search relentlessly for moisture. When they find it, they expand, drawing water from the soil beneath and shrinking the ground. Traders, alarmed by the slow-motion spread, have bee...