Speechless!

Yet again, the last but one page of the calendar has been turned, yet again, a new year is waiting at the side-stage for its turn to begin the show. Yet again, it is time to light up the streets and the trees. Yes, yet again....Winter is back!!!

Everywhere I look, there are happy faces...the festivity in the air and the hope of the goodness, the new year would bring... is contagious and is spreading like wild fire. People have started planning on their picnic spots, boys and girls play batminton on every by-lane at sun-down...enjoying every bit of their
winter-breaks (I miss my cildhood :( I'm sure we all do). We adorn ourselves with the brightest of clothes and woollens...may be because, we unknowingly try to make it up for Mother Earth, who lose all her colours during this time of the year.

Health conscious people are not scared to gorge in spicy..."rich" food. The food is properly broken down by our system and so...no ailing stomachs...the secret again lies in the magic of the season...Ofcourse there is magic...people wait for so many years to tie the knot on a wonderful winter day...not for nothing, I suppose.

The first cool breeze, the first misty morning, the first smoky vapour in the exhaled breath, also the memory of the school-time 'Winter Vacations', of Christmas carols during Chapel Service, all coming back again...

When I was young, I used to have serious throat problems- Pharyngitis, Tonsilitis and my parents had a tough time...bandaging my Nefertiti-like neck with the entire length of the muffler, which almost always fell short and a part of my neck would still be visible...fun days those and nice memories...I had a friend who actually once took a scale and measured my neck and then compared it with her own...she used to ask-"Are you sure you have only seven cervical vertebrae?"and I reminded her about the number of vertebrae in Giraffe (also seven)...Even then she looked unconvinced...

Winter is closer to my heart for one more reason. This is the only time people get to realize that I am growing old and am considered to be an adult for at least that one day I call My Birthday...the remaining three sixty four days I am "A Minor"...

'Tis the season of giving and receiving, of cakes and cookies, of merrymaking and good cheer...'Tis the time to wish one and all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...