Strong wind💨, sheets of lightning and distant rumblings of thunder with sudden downpours of slanting rains🌧 mark the evenings now in Bangalore city; leaving cool crisp air for the night and waking up to fresh clear mornings. And speaking of mornings, who has the prettiest leaves in the sky ? Well there are many contenders for the top slot; but let’s just narrow it down to this time of year in particular !?

It’s only middle of April, still going with summer but the scenery outside has changed dramatically. For one, the Yellow Caribbean trumpet trees are done with their flowers and the trees are growing back their leaves; the Pink trumpet trees are in their last leg of bloom with branches becoming bare of both flowers and leaves; the tecomas too are done with their yellow flowers for now. But the jacaranda in violet and the yellow copper pods are still in the thick of their bloom.

But we are talking about leaves; glowing pink leaves on a blue background, the most beautiful sight in the sky now! The shades vary from baby pink to mauve to crimson to light reds; shiny tender new leaves! The tree was bare last month and now bursting with life and pretty colour👇; we are looking at the Peepal tree !!

The leaves of the Peepal tree are recognised from its heart shape and more importantly the long pointy tips. They pink hues of the new leaves darken to green soon after and the transformation is breathtaking.

And this just the beginning of the Peepal’s vibrant rebirth; as the leaves abound the display will become more multicoloured and vivid. The brilliant spectacle only reiterates its importance among the world of trees and the reverence it has earned from the people of different faiths.

” Sanskrit texts dated to around 600 CE, known as the vratas, contains a hymn that describes the peepal tree as a symbol of the trinity of Hindu gods, with the base of the tree representing Brahma, the creator, the centre of the tree representing Vishnu, the preserver and the periphery of the tree representing Shiva, the destroyer.”

” Gautama Buddha is associated with the Peepal tree, under which he is believed to have meditated when he attained nirvana in the 6th century BCE.”

Nature in the City by Harini Nagendra

The Peepal tree is a fig tree and as its just starting out with its new leaves, there are other fig trees in the vicinity already laden with fruits. The mornings have just become more colourful with the beautiful leaves of the Peepal tree 💓. Magic is in the air and more to come…

Till next post, take care !!