This story appears in the May 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine. A few years ago I was on an assignment in India. I had a day off, so I went to the Mullick Ghat flower market in Kolkata.

Just when everyone was trying to put the pandemic nightmare behind, the Agri-Horticultural Society of India (AHSI) has dashed all hopes of nature lovers enjoying Kolkata’s much-loved heritage flower ...