India, Feb. 24 -- To be a flower is a profound responsibility. The cyclic return to bloom gives our unstable world a sense of consoling predictability. It is thus a relief to break the news that the semal blossom is back. A pulpy red semal flower was sighted on Friday evening. It lay fallen under a Khan Market semal.
And this unusually warm Sunday noon, the semal tree beside the ITO crossing is glowing in a festive bloom. See right photo. As if some happy soul had flung holi's laal gulal up in the sunny air.
Semal's blossoming marks Delhi's super-brief spring. It is among the city's 252 tree species (bechara New York has only 130). Most of the year, the tree is like any leafy tree, though distinguished by its tiered branches shooting out ...