When will Spring be over?

Delhi’s brief flirtation with spring is underway. Pink frangipanis are in blossom, and gardens are a riotous spill of daisies, poppies, pansies and phlox, blooming under the watchful gaze of hollyhocks and sweet peas. Prize dahlias are brazening out their weight with the support of helpful sticks provided by vigilant gardeners. The chrysanthemums haven’t yet withered away, while velvety coxcombs are holding their own amidst a blaze of hydrangeas. The flame-of-the-forest is basking in its unabashed glory on trees shorn of all leaves, flowering ahead of Holi. The air is lightly perfumed, the sun is out, the temperature is mild, recalling to mind Nancy Sinatra’s Summer Wine.

This is perfect al fresco weather, a brief month when the weather is ideal for sitting out amidst garden bowers with a glass of bubbly and something to nibble alongside. The few Delhi restaurants or cocktail lounges that have outdoors seating are making the most of it — and well they might, if those AWOL from offices are anything to go by. Absenteeism has shot up manifold because of mysterious illnesses that seem to ebb and flow by the day, coinciding with a spurt in the F&B business. Coincidence? Go figure.

If Delhi parties have shifted gear from late-night revels to afternoon soirees, this is the perfect time for leisurely days spent in the company of friends over lazy brunches that begin well past lunchtime and turn into sundowners before you know it. Most end with dinner — as early or as late as you choose to make it. It taxes the host to plan a menu that’s suitable for any time of the day, or night — but given sufficient liquid inducements, even the most sophisticated Dilliwallah will settle for anda-paratha sans any snobbery. The rest is mere window dressing. 

Gin is back — after decades — as the spirit most popular with the millennials. Served with a dash of tonic, a slice of cucumber, or any of several ingenuous ways devised by bar curators, it’s replaced vodka, white rum and other spirits that commanded the cocktail circuit till some while ago. Robust looking men think little of nursing their G&Ts in full view, having improved its image from effeminate to swinging in just one short season. Punch is enjoying a rerun too. But don’t waste your time on wine unless it’s the best your money can buy. And chances are, as the sun begins its peekaboo beyond the horizon, someone will order a round of shots, and another, and another.

With the weather colouring one’s mood, can love be far behind, even for the jaded? Public displays of affection — a Western malaise, surely? — are proving a tad embarrassing for observers (the observed are oblivious). The malls are full of people walking hand in hand. The shops are populated by people for no reason other than they are happy. Those fortunate to own sports cars have been spotted driving with their tops down (alas, the traffic is a killjoy). It would be better, of course, if all this romancing was not at someone else’s expense. The driver’s taken the day off, the cleaning lady appears distracted, the cook’s mooning about on the terrace instead of laying food on the table, making me wish selfishly for spring to be done and dusted — so my life, at least, can return to normal.