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“Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets” by Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan, and Shilpa Ranade

By Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan, Shilpa Ranade | Jan 28, 2025
trees shed their leaves in which season

Trees Shed Their Leaves In Which - Season

For an hour, I watched the shedding. The oaks clung longest to their rust-colored armor, releasing each leaf only after a long, whispered argument with the wind. The maples, already half-bare, let go in sudden, breathy sighs—whole twigs’ worth tumbling together like a flock of small, startled birds. And the birches, slender and pale as candles, scattered their gold in a constant, gentle rain.

I stood at the edge of the birch grove, collar turned against a sky the color of old pewter. The first leaves fell not with urgency, but with the slow deliberation of a letter slipped under a door. A single yellow coin spiraled past my cheek, landing on the damp moss without a sound. trees shed their leaves in which season

This was not death, I realized. It was trust. The trees were loosening their hold on everything they had made in summer—every broad leaf that had drunk the sun, every green promise—because they knew something we forget: that letting go is not a failure, but a preparation. The bare branches, stark against the gray, were not empty. They were resting. They were remembering how to be still. For an hour, I watched the shedding

In the season of , when the world holds its breath before winter, the trees begin their quiet performance. And the birches, slender and pale as candles,

By dusk, the last leaves of a late-blooming cherry fluttered down like a final bow. The trees stood naked and unashamed, their skeletons etched against the fading light. I understood then: autumn’s true gift is not the color, but the courage to undress, to stand vulnerable before the coming cold, and to believe that spring will know the way back.

A child ran through the grove, kicking up a swirl of crimson and amber. Her laugh scattered the leaves higher into the air, where for a moment they became a second canopy—a fleeting, upside-down autumn. Then they settled again, carpeting the earth in a patchwork of seasons past.

trees shed their leaves in which season

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