New Delhi, Sept. 20 -- The ground was a black, pitted surface and a white mist touched it with an old familiarity. A little drizzle lay on the proceedings: suspending rather than falling on petals, eyelashes, bark and skin. And through the mist, there were flowers-tens of thousands of flowers: blue swishing against white, dark pink with light pink, purple nodding against yellow, masses of electrifying pink on pink. The colours ran over the dark lunar-like slope in a frenzy, candy swirls melting into the ground.

We stood there, taking in the scene, trying to fold in our bodies to avoid damage to the flowers. Impatiens lawii was all around us, the flower pink with a purple throat-the colour of a rich, syrupy cocktail you have with friends ...