India, April 20 -- Winter brings festivities, but it also evokes shades of grey and gloom. The sun sets earlier in the northern hemisphere, and snow carpets the vegetation around. In Ithaca, United States, I often see snowdrops during my evening strolls, when the snow begins to thin. Calm and quaint, they often symbolise resilience to me, with snowflakes resting quietly on their green shoots.

Making their subtle yet noticeable cameo, these little white blooms sprout at random, pushing through the snow, sometimes emerging after it has receded, only to endure yet another bout of frost. Undeterred, they rise again, embodying perseverance in the face of uncertainty; who knows when the next snowstorm might return, even though they usually blo...