Five Points

India · nature

A single white pinwheel jasmine catches the rain on glossy green leaves. Five petals, one yellow eye, the calmest geometry in the garden.

Pinwheel jasmine — locally called 'chandni' — flowers all year if conditions agree with it. The blooms are small, no bigger than a fingernail, and each one has exactly five petals arranged in a slight asymmetric spin. You don't notice the asymmetry until you photograph one closely. Once you do, you can't unsee it.

This bloom was on a hedge after the kind of pre-monsoon shower that arrives without warning and leaves everything dripping. Drops were still beading on the leaves around it. I went in close because I wanted to lose the hedge and let the flower hold the whole frame. It did. Five petals, one yellow centre, a wet green halo. There are forms of order that nature does very, very well, and this is one of them.

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