Bangalore Summer

Winter has fled, Bangalore style, leaving no real spring but a sudden burst of pre-summer heat. Everything around has responded accordingly - bare, dried branches sprout buds overnight, butterflies re-emerge from nowhere and squirrels go crazy, shrieking and rushing up and down trees.

The trees themselves look greener but drier, as if trying to accomodate all the changes that have taken place almost overnight in the earth and air. They burst with birds and bird song. A pair of parent kites sit by the empty nest on a fig tree and screech while the sky is filled with their babies precariously catching the air currents and making wobbly circling motions, learning to fly.

Mauve jacaranda and scarlet silk cottons cover the roads. The tamarind hangs high up on the trees, slowly ripening. Football like elephant apples grow in size, hidden away amongst leafy branches.

In the garden, lilies are budding and blossoming.

It's time for pruning, turning the soil, watering and watching - a small respite before the summer blazes its way in.