Shillong’s cherry blossom festival: 10 years of pink, music and a changing winter

When Shillong’s cherry trees bloom in November, the city’s hillsides turn pink — and the capital hosts a festival that has grown from a garden party to a four-day music-and-flower event drawing 50,000 visitors.

The tenth edition adds a conservation angle: a native-tree nursery that will replant the city’s denuded slopes.

For the musicians who made Shillong India’s ‘rock capital’, the festival is also a homecoming stage.