Christmas Diaries

Christmas is just one day away. Tomorrow is the day of celebrations for Christians all over the world. I, being a Hindu, do not celebrate Christmas as in I do not decorate my house with Christmas tree and invite guests over. But the festival always ends up being a warm holiday, thanks to winters. The chill and the holiday give one ample excuses to cook something delicious and then snuggle inside the quilt for a good nap. When I was a child, I always looked forward to Dec 25 as it meant the onset of winter vacation. The prospect of enjoying a “no-school” routine used to fill my heart with joy and I always looked forward to Christmas and the days ahead.

Another thing that fascinated me about the festival was the Christmas cake. It used to instigate me to make a funny wish. It would make me wish to be born into a Christian family so that I could savor the delicacy 🙂 The look of the cake enticed me a great deal but more than the look it was my family that made me crave for the cake. We being strict vegetarians never welcomed cakes in the house and if at all, pastries were ordered, they had to be eggless. So, the cake was a subject of deep fascination for me. I also used to wish for our Hindu Gods to be offered cakes instead of sweets.

As I grew older, the cake fascination went away and was replaced with something different. In class 10th, I read Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” It was part of our English literature syllabus and it made me understand that the real meaning of Christmas lay in compassion. The story of miser Ebenezer Scrooge and how the spirits from the past, present and future give him a chance to redeem his ways touched a chord in my adult heart. The tale brought forth the values of generosity and kindness in a very fine way. It not only highlighted the importance of compassion but also underlined the theory of good karma through the ghost of Scrooge’s dead partner- Jacob Marley.

Another very fond and inspiring Christmas memory that I hold in high esteem is that of a serial or rather telefilm that I watched on TV many years back. It narrated a very touching story again highlighting the value of kindness and compassion. It revolved around a boy, the son of a single mother, who had lost his father. He was kindhearted and innocent and was very eager to participate in the Christmas drama that was being staged in his school. So, he asks his teacher to be given a role but the teacher is not confident of his acting skills and turns him away.

After much pleading, the boy does land a role but the role is completely opposite to his nature. He is given the role of the heartless innkeeper who refused shelter to a pregnant Mary and her husband Jospeh. Nonetheless, the boy prepares hard and gets all the lines and expressions right. But when he has to do the same on stage, he is unable to do so. He gets so immersed in the play and is so moved by the pregnant Mary’s pain that he forgets his dialogues. He freezes and despite his teacher’s prompting from the sidelines, lets Mary and Jospeh in, ruining the entire play. Everyone is in shock, especially his mother who is sitting in the audience but after a few seconds the slow claps begin, slowly turning into loud cheers, overwhelming his mother and teacher, who are seen shedding tears of joy 🙂

Well, the festive spirit is in the air and Christmas is here again. I am quite grown up now and it is neither cake nor winter vacation that I wish for at this stage. All I wish for is a kind and warm heart for everyone just like the boy in the telefilm so that all of us can see the pain of others and be generous enough to offer them help.

Merry Christmas 🙂

The Farewell Letter

Dear Winters,

I think you have made up your mind about leaving. It is going to be in February only. Spring is almost here and your another sibling summer is waiting for its turn and though I do not like it, I cannot do anything to stop its arrival. So, I have to pack your bags. I have already packed the razai (quilt). It is inside the trunk but I must tell you that I did it with a heavy heart as it was the best thing you had brought with yourself. As I sat on my bed, removing the cover that I had put on it, I felt like postponing the deed. As I moved the scissors to unlock the stitches, it felt as though I was cutting all ties with you. After all, I had put them up so fondly in November, when you had arrived.

I knew the cover and the razai had issues. They did not fit each other. So, I stitched those tiny thread circuits on the edges so that the razai does not slip below or sideways and what great obedience the razai showed 🙂 It stayed in place all these three months and I do not know why, but I frequently felt as though it wanted to stay like that for longer. Sadly, the stay was not meant to be. The mercury kept rising and though I wished hard for the rains to come and bring the temperature down, there was no such signal to be found.

Neither the sky nor the wind gave any hint and so, I thought it was best to pack the razai. Your best gift could not lie insulted at the corner of the bed all day and sitting on the chair, all night. So, it is back to its place in the company of naphthalene balls. The sweaters and blankets are still outside but I know they are also in the mood to leave. At best, they would stay for fifteen or twenty more days (How I wish, this also gets prolonged). After that, fans would have to be switched on and then the callous summer would be here, testing us each day.

A complete contrast to your gentle and generous touch, it would be harsh and strict. Sleep, another of your awesome gifts that tasted even sweeter with the razai, would be gone as well 😦 The sun, which felt like manna from heaven all this while, will feel like a monster (Sorry Sun God but this is true, we human beings cannot take that much heat in hot weather). The gorgeous green veggies that I loved to look at would lose their variety, for sure. Most of all, the dhaniya (coriander) would become scarce and out of budget. Tea time would become irregular and avoidance the order of the day.

Nevertheless, I cannot stop you from leaving. I know you are the most disciplined and the gentlest child of nature and always give space to your other siblings, even more than what they deserve. So, please make some space in your heart for us as well. We might not be completely deserving of your love but we are not entirely undeserving either (we are doing our bit to counter global warming). You were sullen in 2015 but super kind in 2016. Do not become upset in 2017. Please come back in your gentle and bountiful mode on time. I will be waiting for you.

Woes of Winter

Now that I have written about the delights of winter, it is only fair that I talk about the woes as well because like every season, winter also comes with its fair share of disadvantages. Though there is no denying that it scores above summer, it also wreaks havoc in fine measure. Poor, especially the homeless, are the most affected by the cold. Many die because of the chill and it is very sad 😦 No words can be enough to express the anguish of the ones who suffer under the open sky when the temperatures dip. Winters are definitely not for the homeless and poor but even normal folks who otherwise love this season find certain things about the season quite bothersome.

Dandruff

A bane of the season, almost every second person has to deal with dandruff. One does not know when it exactly takes seat in the hair roots but when it does, there is no peace in your life. You can see the powdery flakes falling from your hair whenever you itch your scalp and the more you see it the more you feel like peeling them off. Tragedy is, no matter how long you itch or how much you shake your head, it will not go. So, you go after anti-dandruff shampoos and oils which work with very few leaving one to go after home remedies like lemon juice, Mehndi, curd, baking soda and what not. Fortunate are those who find success. The rest just give up and learn to live with it.

Dry skin

The second cousin of dandruff, dry skin or dryness is as much a nuisance as it makes your skin itchy and ugly. Applying moisturizer is a must and you have to do it every single day which would have been ok had it guaranteed softness all day long. It does not. After few hours, all the magic that advertisements promise dries up and if you have the patience you can go for a second trip but it is certainly not what many like. The only good thing is that if the body part is covered, you do not feel the dryness but what about your hands. The ones that bear the brunt of the chill and go dry like a dead leaf. One feels for them as they are always before one’s eyes and one cannot do much to cover them either because then all work will come to a standstill 😦

Cough and cold

A runny rose, temperature, cough are unpleasant no matter what the season but in winters, one feels them more acutely. The chill makes things worse, prolonging the time needed to recover. The worst thing is that it can get fatal if one is careless or belongs to the elderly and infants section. This is why one is advised prevention and preparation which is also a task. Who likes the bitter taste of Chayawanprash, amla powder, milk, ginger and other ayurvedic stuff. Even those who take these catch cold. So, why bear with the bitter taste?

Woolens and thermal wear

Woolens are bearable as long as they do not weigh one down. Sadly, they do and make one feel stuffy. One is restricted while moving and it feels as though a huge weight is sitting on the shoulders and back. Things get worse when the chill forces one to go after thermals and innerwear. While woolens only weigh you down, the inners suffocate your entire body. It feels like the blood has stopped circulating but what choice does one have? It is better to stay healthy than to fall sick. Still, when one sees children stuffed from tip to toe by over-caring mothers, one does feel sorry for the poor kids. The mothers do not know that they are subjecting their kids to torture and also violating the fashion rights of the babies 😦

Fog/Cloud

Sunless chilly days make winters look like the villain who destroys the happy life of the hero. All the pleasantness of the season goes for a toss and people are seen cribbing about the cloudy days. Lack of sunlight is really a pain as clothes refuse to dry; laundry keeps on piling and the daily routine goes completely awry. Many also feel pangs of unexplained depression when the sun does not come out. There is a death-like aura around and if the cloudy days stretch for long, one feels like revolting. As for the fog, everyone knows how people lose their lives due to low visibility. There is a dangerous rise in road accidents and one has to be wary of traveling at night or early morning. All of this is upsetting as hell.

The Wintery Delights

With more than half of December over, it is safe to say this year winters are really errr.. wintery, unlike last year, when I was dreading global warming had killed it for good. There is still one month left in the season and if the chilly winds catch hold of February as well, it would be really a long winter spell and I do not mind it. Winter is a lovely season as it soothes your worn out spirit. There is a strange comfort in the air during winters and one has to give credit to the nature for devising this soul-satisfying season. It is a delight to experience and there are some very distinct things about this season that make it so precious 🙂

Quilt is the most amazing wintery delight. I know the furry blankets are in fashion and they are replacing the warm old quilt aka razai at a fast rate but I would always prefer a razai over a blanket. The cotton filled soft bedding is unbeatable and I know I am not the only one who feels so. There are many who share a close connection with the razai and probably this is why, we still see them hanging in balconies when the sun God is out in the sky.

Sleeping inside a razai is really one of the most-satisfying pleasures in life. You just have to sneak inside and you can make your little igloo. I had a school friend who would study in her razai igloo with an emergency light lit inside. I remember how happily she would recount the invention she had created. She also recommended it to me though I never tried it because I knew I would fall asleep 🙂

It really feels very secure when one is sleeping in a razai. No matter how tense or agitated one is feeling, the quilt has it in itself to send you into deep slumber. It sings the best lullalby. Just allow yourself to fall into its arms. You will never want to leave them.

Tea is another treasure. A cup of tea or chai is the perfect way to kill the chill and in my view, coffee is overrated. A hot cup or for that matter even a glass (there are those steel glass aficionados) of chai is enough to get your mind and limbs into action. Sipping chai in winters is the ultimate joy. I am saying this because there was a time when I did not drink tea. My mother introduced me to chai and I must say made me somewhat of an addict as well.

Still, I keep my intake in moderation but when it comes to the winter months, I give in. I fall for the charms of the chai. In fact, I look forward to mornings and evenings when I would have my cup and my biscuit to dunk in the chai. I love to plan biscuits like combining a salty one with a sweet one 🙂 The bakery biscuits are great but I feel any biscuit can taste good with chai. Tea is truly like a treat in winters.

Green veggies are gifts of winter as the season is best savored with food and winters provide ample variety of food as well as the digestive power to savor it. Among winter foods, green vegetables score high on the list of popularity. There is so much to choose from the green basket that one feels like taking all of them. However, I think the best among the greens is coriander or dhaniya and the peas aka matar. Both gorgeous to look at and gratifying to the taste buds.

The dhaniya chutney is heavenly and the matar dishes are delicious 🙂 Green veggies are a hit in winters. From spinach to sarson to shimla mirch, all one sees is gorgeous greenery and its fulfilling flavor. Trust me, even children who throw tantrums at the sight of green vegetables can go crazy after veggies if you incorporate them smartly in their dishes. There is so much one can experiment with. Green is undoubtedly the shade of this season.