being in a tropical country is like being surrounded by vigorous sounds and smells. Nature seems to express herself uninhibited, unmuted. For example, In Kolkata, we were awakened, every morning, by a particularly vociferous Koel bird, singing away at 300 in the morning.She liked the jackfruit tree in the backyard. This jackfruit tree was laden with fruits and anyone who has  ever smelt a jackfruit, can never forget the aroma.  Flowers have odours too. And very unlike the soft smells of lavender in our canadian streets in summers. Walk down a Mahua tree, and breath in the  intoxicating odour of the mahua flower. literally intoxicating: they do brew a kind of alcohol from these flowers in East India. ( i didn't like it very much, but then again...)

 And  the Sheeuli tree ! Harsingar in hindi, dunno what its called in english. The trees are laden with white flowers with orange centres. What a fabulous, heady smell.And so very distinctive of  autumn. Morning finds the soil around the tree covered with these flowers; we would scoop them up in handfuls. Once, in my linguistic zeal, I asked my friend, Aung si the latin name of this wondrous plant. Aung si, who knew everything, didn't disappoint.
Nyctanthes arbor-tristis. The tree that cries at night. And the flowers on the ground are the tears.
Nice!