India, Feb. 8 -- February feels like a boulevard in bounteous bloom. A month on the calendar fully loaded with sights, smells and sensory overloads. What with Valentine's Day vibes to Mahashivratri magic. What with a riot of resplendence at the Surajkund Crafts Mela to the spring palettes galore in gardens. Spring this time also spells flavours of fashion diplomacy. A teaser, to the resplendence and richness of Indian crafts showcased at that stage called Surajkund mela, was witnessed during the Republic Day itself. With the European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen, the showstopper at the R-Day spectacle, parading the grandeur of Indian brocades, it was but a befitting trailer to what the Surajkund Mela heralds. Fashion diplomacy found a new face. The EC head's brocade bandhgala catapulted into a Banaras-meets-Brussels sartorial narrative on the social media. Much like the style statements of earlier global dignitaries on India trips. Talking of political bigwigs inspiring style statements, the Japanese Prime Minister is making waves, too. Sanae Takaichi has been tossing the Twitterverse into a tizzy with her assortment of accessories. From a Grace Delight tote to Pink Jetstream multi-pen, her accessories have gone viral on social media. What is interesting is that it's the Gen Z that is mostly lapping up these fashion statements of the Power Girls. That the Poster Girls of Political Fashion are going viral among Gen Z is heartening for the fan frenzy that Twitterverse is driving. It springs from the appeal of Politics' Poster Girls across generations. The spring season also brings its blitzkrieg of blooming boulevards and V-Day vibes. Spring blooms have been the muse for much poetry and prose. From "A Prayer to Spring" by Robert Frost to "Spring, the Sweet Spring" by Thomas Nashe to "Lines Written in Early Spring" by William Wordsworth. Prose writers are not far behind in penning paeans to the sights and smells of spring. A heartwarming ode to flaming flowers that sparkles still in memory is Boris Gorbatov's "Delivery on Cucumber Land". A narrative about Nasturtiums. Those spring tales are long gone, so do some spring blooms look to be lost. A bloom that spelt a riot of colour in the garden called childhood is now hardly visible. The Sweet Peas. A lost sight, like so much else from the garden of girlhood. The real joy of planting sweet peas was seeing the maali play the wigwam magician with bamboo canes. He would deftly craft them into a crisscross frame or tent-like teepee. Much like a maze of matchsticks. They announced their arrival with the sweetest scent. Heady, but not headstrong. A fragrance much like old-world tehzeeb. Understated, unobtrusive. Another sight that is becoming less and less visible is that purple profusion. Lupins to larkspurs. That is why when a friend shared a picture of how she makes it a point to plant miles and miles of sweet peas, it gladdened the heart like a sprightly spring breeze. In a marketeer-mounted consumerist blitzkrieg, riding Rose Day to V-Day, that places the Rose on a pedestal over other seasonal blooms, Spring is slowly spelling a requiem for forgotten flora. The curious case of Kabhi Juhi, Kabhi Nasturtium....