Never let me go.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Such a strange sight–the tree is clad in golden yellow flowers from top to bottom. But it is mid-July, a time of the year when the sightings of these flowers become less frequent. The roadside Amaltas tree near Sukhrali village in Gurugram is refusing to let go of its blossoming. Same is the case with many other Amlatas trees in the city.

The flowering of Amaltas trees is at its greatest around mid-May, a time of extreme heat. In literature, Amaltas bloom is frequently employed by novelists and poets to evoke the consoling aspect of summer. As the monsoon arrives, the blossoming begins to fade. Naturally, every summer this space devotes one day at least to Amaltas sighting. 2024 was no exception. However, spotting the flowers in such lush abundance in July is an altogether novel experience.

In his classic field-guide Trees of Delhi, author Pradip Krishen writes that the Amaltas tree starts to flower in late April and peak by mid-May. The next line states: “The rains always induce more flushes of flowering that can last (weakly) into October.” The flush this year is turning out to be unusually fruitful.

On a recent overcast morning in Defence Colony, an Amaltas tree was making its own monsoon-time shower upon a parked car. The bonnet was covered with flowers. Another day in Jangpura Extension, following a brief drizzle of barsat, a bunch of Amaltas flowers were seen bobbing in a rainwater puddle. In Jor Bagh, an Amaltas tree near the colony’s post office failed to bloom during the summer. Now, it is clothed with flowers.

The most picturesque Amaltas vision this year was witnessed not in the summer, but during the ongoing monsoon, a few afternoons ago. For a long time, a fresh fruit juice kiosk has been standing on a Mathura Road pavement. Since it was excessively humid that afternoon inside the kiosk and no customer was present, the kiosk staffer Ali picked up a chair and sat cross-legged under an adjoining tree, hoping to find some breeze. The tree happened to be an Amaltas in monsoon bloom, and Ali’s shirt happened to be of the same colour (darker shade!) as the flowers. See photo.