India, Sept. 21 -- Traffic is circling the Sabz Burj roundabout on Central Delhi's Mathura Road. Auto-rickshaws clog the road, some people are gathered around an ice-cream cart, and others are walking towards a bazar. Such is this forgettable scene. And suddenly you see it. Above the people and traffic rises a tree almost overtaken by flowers; see photo. Its upper branches hold hundreds of very light green clusters. Nobody is looking up. The ordinary evening is being conducted beneath an extraordinary crowning of saptaparni flowers.

The saptaparni season is beginning in Delhi. Its flowering marks the end of summer and the rains, and the city's anrrival into autumn. The change is imperceptible. While we Delhiwale continue to sweat beneath...