Fleurs d'été

Summer has come, with all its neck-burning glory. A step outside means being charred to death and inside, the slow moving fan makes a whirlpool out of the hot, dense air. Bonjour, l'été! But the hot sun also brings down sudden outpour of rain, which I don’t care for in normal circumstances, but now it gives a few hours of bliss. Also, Summer means most of my favourite fruits're in season too! Also, its weird but I see prettier and more numbers of flowers blossoming in Summer vis a vis Spring. Wasn't Spring supposed to be the season for flowers and all that jazz?

There're these two trees in front of my apartment building and they currently fall under my most beloved trees' list. The building has just 6 flats and is a relatively intimate affair. Also just opposite to it is the colonial-era Circuit House building. Once upon a time, the world's first Polo Club was established in a place 1 minute walking distance away from me, down the road, and the world's first competitive Polo match was played in this huge Polo ground. Then Independence happened, the ground was covered up with roads and shops and houses and the glory was, well, lost.

I get off topic so much but what I wanted to say is that the Sahibs and their Memsahibs used to live in that lovely house (I’ve a thing for all things old), and from what I can make out now, they used to be the only firangi people living in this area and their nearest neighbours were some 100 meters away from them. Sadly, their neighbour's mansion was torn down a couple of years ago and now an imposing housing building stands in its place. But the one I'm babbling about still remains, having been conferred the 'Circuit House' title, which I guess means something. So, coming back to the topic, the whole road is lined with these big, old trees which're quite distinct from any in other parts of the town. These may well be the oldest surviving cluster of planted trees in this place. When it’s Summer, a few of these trees're ladened with flowers red and yellow, and when its winter, a few become full with flowers of the silk cotton tree.

Amaltas

Simul

The bigger of the two trees in front of my building is Bombax, a cotton tree, locally known as Simul. This really exquisite red flower blooms on it which falls down like fruits when it gets too heavy and a few weeks later, everywhere you can see little handfuls of cotton flying whenever the wind blows. The other, skinnier tree, Amaltas, which almost has no identity of its own in other seasons, blasts with yellow in Summer. Beautiful yellow flowers fill its branches and when they fly about in the wind, haye Allah, its gorgeous! And one can see the flowers up close from the terrace. But it sure means extra hard work for the sweeper to clear the flowers off the driveway every morning!