India, April 5 -- It is the season of lilies of all shades, sizes and surprises. Nothing announces the advent of April better than Easter lilies, bulbs that burst out of hiatus like Bollywood divas making a red-carpet comeback in over-dabbed rouge. This is also the time when the mango trees start boasting their blossoms of bhur. In the digital age when Tweeple love to show off their baby bumps, Mother Nature quietly goes about her birthing business. April sees the maternity wards of Mother Nature - groves of bhur-laden trees - bearing in the womb the King of Fruits. The King of Fruits put in a rather early appearance, personally, even before the nukkad pheriwallahs could boast of that burst of gold, or before the brown bags of Blinkit, Instamart & Co could ferry the premature mango 'babies' induced by chemicals. Those pretty pale safedas, resembling newborns low on blood platelets, hanging between a rawness and ripeness. The first taste of this season's mango came in the form of a fancy mango station set up at a recent event. The counter boasted exotic spreads of mango delicacies, from avocado mango tarts in Biscoff crust to mango basque cheesecakes. Trust the King of Fruits to parade in avatars that look so stylish, so snooty! This first taste came under rather sombre circumstances. It was a rite of passage - prayer meet - of a departed beloved patriarch. The mango treat was in a sense symbolic. The exotic mango bonanza was thus an ode to a ripe life lived well, a ripe life celebrated well with sweet memories. Talking of bhur on mango trees, it's also time to toast trees in other ways. This is nowhere more evident than in the tree-gazing tours that are trundling from a trickle to a teeming presence this season. The spring-scape has seen several trees in bloom. This is an invitation enough for teeming tree lovers to head on curated tours to explore arboreal wealth at heritage hotspots. From semal to jacaranda, chamrod to kachnar, bottle brush to palash. It is heartening to see the tree-gazing trend finding more and more takers. It is a treat to find folklore rooted in our arboreal ecosystem having a day out with tree gazers. Who doesn't remember the folktales where our trees have played protagonists! Be it the "Kalpavriksh", the wishing tree, or the Mango tree in the fable of the monkey and the crocodile. Mythology is replete with tales of the protective powers of the Ashoka tree, which provided refuge to Goddess Sita. Modern literature, too, celebrates our arboreal heroes, be it the "Great Spirit of the Sal Tree" by Ruskin Bond or the Sandalwood's Story by Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan. Even as the heart goes out to the arboreal population in war zones -- where not only the human settlements but also the flora and forests are casualties, one can only empathise with their trauma. This should spur us to value our fragile arboreal ecosystem even more. That a book launch was hosted under lantern-lit trees by the Norwegian Embassy recently was another celebration of the arboreal ambience. That the unveiling of "Voices in the Wind", edited by Namita Gokhale and Malashri Lal - a treasure trove of tales from the Himalayas which pays an ode to jungle lore and to ancient trees like the Kul Dader - happened in the lap of nature, made it a sublime stage for literature meets lantern-lit culture-scape. The value of voices from the hills was underscored beautifully by Arvinn Gadgil, Deputy Chief of Mission, and the better half of Ambassador May-Elin Stener, Espen Aasen, even as the echoes of the Ao Naga choir lent a folksy feel. More power to literature of the trees, under the trees. The curious case of Kabhi Juhi, Kabhi Laburnum....