Delhiwale: ‘Summer burns, but petals stay’

Amaltas flowers bloom in Delhi, offering a soothing golden glow amidst summer heat, with iconic spots showcasing their beauty throughout the city.

No doubt, the street lamp’s glow is brighter. But these tiny lamps emit a more soothing light, casting a cool, calming glow over the faintly smoky midnight air of this central Delhi neighbourhood.

An Amaltas in Green Park Colony. (HT)

These are amaltas flowers, in the first flush of their great annual blossom. Some of the flowers have already completed their life cycle and fallen on the lane, shrivelled and smashed. Among these pile of corpses, a lone flower has drifted toward the middle of the road, resembling an inverted star. It has five petals.

Delhi is an arbour of very many blooming trees. There’s the red of semal and gulmohar, the purplish-blue of jacaranda, the pinks of bougainvillea, the white of frangipani, the pale green of saptparni… The golden-yellow of amaltas tends to be more consoling. Perhaps because these blossoms grace the city during the most difficult time of the year—when Delhi reels under terrible heatwaves. As the daytime air burns with sweltering heat, amaltas trees grow dense with their blossoms. The best way to experience the bloom is to stand under a tree, and look up at its golden-yellow canopy. The flowers fall all day long, carpeting the roadsides in thickly padded layers. And yet, the trees show no consequent loss, remaining stubbornly covered with flowers.

These are early days of the amaltas season, but here’s a bouquet of classic Delhi destinations that spectacularly showcase the blossoming trees, together or alone: Amrita Shergil Marg, Second Avenue Road — near Jorbagh Head Post Office, the front-end park in BK Dutt Colony, the rear-end municipal park in Lajpat Nagar Central Market, a Mathura Road urinal — close to Subz Burj, Friendship Park in Green Park Colony, Hailey Road, Bungalow Road, Buddha Garden—beside the bench near the rain shelter, Nicholson Cemetery — the corner near the grave of Rani Tara Devi, Shanti Path, Akbar Road, parts of Shakti Sthal, Humayun Tomb, the car park in Hauz Khas Village, the traffic island at Gurugram’s Sukhtali village, and the banks of the Hindon river in Ghaziabad — the stretch close to old railway bridge.

Places apart, very many city poets have penned verses on the so-called “golden shower.” Here’s the ever helpful ChatGPT responding to a cue on “a four line poem on Amaltas in Delhi.”

Golden showers in Delhi’s glare,

Amaltas trees spill yellow air,

Summer burns, but petals stay,

A soft, bright hush on a searing day.

PS: The photo shows an Amaltas in Green Park Colony