Of leaves and flowers
By M. ABUL FAZL August 4, 2008 I saw the kusum the first time in the Nepali Terai. Over a hundred feet tall, its white trunk goes up and up until it reaches the leaves and the lovely red flowers. The latter the tree sheds in one go, like the cherry, before the fruit appear. The earth all around the tree is chalk-white for tens of feet, its vitality having been sucked by the imperious tree. So nothing grows anywhere near it. It stands in solitary splendour. As to the earth, well, I suppose the nature pays heavily for beauty.
