New Delhi, Dec. 21 -- In her contemplative book, The Gifts of Winter, Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald, a clinical psychologist and award-winning author recalls how a season she once feared became a source of quiet solace. "It may seem surprising that I now love winter," she writes, reflecting on a transformation she never expected. Gardening, she explains, offered a way back; a reason to step outside rather than watch the world through a fogged-up window, waiting for the cold months to pass.

Back home in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, 35-year-old Priti Chaudhary finds similar solace in her terrace and ground-floor garden. "On long winter days, tending to my plants brings warmth and purpose," she says. "After fast-paced workdays full of deadlines and pro...