Strolling past hedges of Bandra cottages laden with vermilion gulmohar, burnished laburnum and pastel-perfect bougainvillea, even the beastly heat and dug earth at my feet seem less irksome. Dreamy clouds of peach mussaenda bushes sway enchantingly outside my window. It’s the time of year when Bombay is bedecked with the last beautiful summer blooms. Too bad these seasonal flowers will soon be swept away by gusty rain.

“Summer, to me, is synonymous with a profusion of golden blooms entirely covering the canopies of copper pod trees (Peltophorum pterocarpum) that are the cynosure of all eyes,” says naturalist and author Katie Bagli. “In Dadar Parsi Colony where the lanes are lined with these grand old trees, they seem to roll out golden yellow carpets under my feet. And in the evenings while I sit cooling my heels in one of the gardens, the blossoms come wafting down gently on my head and all around, like yellow snowflakes. Parakeets delight in plucking off these blossoms and sucking up their nectar, flower after flower.  It amuses me no end to watch this little performance.”