India, Sept. 30 -- Monday's evening sky is full of clouds, with sunlight still finding its way through them. People lie scattered across a wide lawn. At its far end stands a stone edifice, its dome dark against the light. In the middle of this view is a small, unruly gathering of leaves. This is Lodhi Garden. The edifice is the centuries-old Sheesh Gumbad monument, and the leaves occupy a spot that once had a far more conspicuous resident. A dead tree had stood here for decades. Birds would settle on its bare branches, and many people would photograph it with the monument behind it. At different times, the tree famously appeared in posed portraits of writers Anita Desai and Annie Ernaux. Then, one Saturday in June last year, it fell of its ...