WHY I LOVE WINTERS?

“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”
― Helen Keller

 Sunshine smiles- Google image

     
  W is for Winter.

CELEBRATING WINTER!

A nasty bout of flu, notwithstanding, I love winters. If I’s incapacitated for more than two weeks, I’ve no reason to rile winter. The fault lies with my immune system. It played me false.

 In North India where we live, we face extreme weather conditions both in summers and in winters. Yet somehow, the severity of winter is declining as also its duration. Ceaseless construction activity, congested roads, vehicular emissions, burgeoning population   all are the culprits. Let it be for another time!

Winter ushers in fun, frolic, golden sunlight, festivals and delectable cuisines. Winters are famous for providing good things in plenty, be it vegetables or fruits, sweet dishes or crunchy crisp snacking items.

Here is the list of activities, which makes winter special for me.

Early morning picture of the rising sun in the urban milieu.

SUN AND ME:

Basking in the sun is one of the greatest pleasures of my life at this stage.  As the sun rises, our back verandah is lighted up with the mellowed luminosity and sweet raw warmth. Setting aside the curtains of all rooms, and allowing the morning glow to filter through the windowpanes is the most joyful task of the day. It fills me with gaiety and gratitude for being alive amidst such loveliness. My inner being smiles and shakes off inertia. I welcome the new day.

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

I head to the kitchen for  preparing my favorite ginger tea. I itch to go out while sipping the first cup of the day. A stroll in the driveway energizes. A tentative plan for the day emerges in the mind. What to prepare for breakfast and subsequent meals is traced in the mind’s calendar. Mental assessment of other tasks ensues. Things feel doable.   

(Prior planning has helped me all along. It enabled me to strike a balance between my home and professional life. Now retired but the habit stays. Time management helps me to carry on my creative pursuits and indulge in  my hobbies now.)

BREAKFAST IN THE BACK PATIO:

The golden mellow sunshine is so inviting that to eat breakfast inside feels like a sin. Hubby helps in transferring the eatables outside on the tiled  raised platform in the middle of the open yard.  It is a private kingly domain. We linger on enjoying every bite coupled with background music of a different kind. The chirps and peculiar sounds of the members of various avian families converged on our stately NEEM tree, add to the joy.  What a blessing!

ME TIME:

I wait eagerly for this time. Some food for thought. Newspaper is waiting. I savor uninterrupted the columns, I enjoy while the sun goes up wrapping the area in its warm blanket. It is heavenly. Thank you GOD for being so generous. I solve 'SCRAMBLE' and 'SPELLATHON' next. My grey cells need some shaking up after all. ‘THE TIMES OF INDIA’ does cater to the needs of the retirees, ha ha  ha.

WHAT I READ:

Reader’s Digest and my Kindle books provide me enough reading material to be relished in the balmy and restorative sunshine. The poor KINDLE lazed on my computer table for so many days because of my sickness. Dusted and brought to life once again. I’m reading Dostoevsky’s 'CRIME AND PUNISHMENT' for the third time. It describes  tragically life in Russia before the Revolution. Winter sun transforms even dense books into a pleasure reading.

RAINY DAYS ARE WELCOME:

I’ve no complaints even on bad days in winter. In fact, one can have a great time during winter rains and foggy days. You can sit snuggled up in your quilt with a book or pursue some hobby. I’m experimenting with a crochet hook. I’ve already learnt to crochet a circle and a square with left over wool of bygone days.

Now friends, this is just a tiny part of the trailer of my life. Like every other householder, there is always a lot in the work basket to be performed in the lapse of a day.  Yet this is how I feel on my cherished days in winter.

 Friends, welcome here as always!

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THE CHOICES ONE MAKES !

 Should I share with you friends, how I’ve learnt to transcend the cynicism and despondency of our times? The answer is simple. Just by romancing the uncomplicated pleasures of life.

I dare say, I have done it all, seen it all and experienced it all. You may ask what all? Oh yes, the existential paradigm of life from birth onwards… Nothing has stayed with me, though, buried safely, stubbornly somewhere in the dark, deep alleys of the subconscious. It shows itself either by a lot of prodding or through a trigger point.

But the creative devil is brutal; it does not allow you to exist on nothing. It grills you about the inertia and sloth. It reminds you of the self commitments. Continuously pricks, and questions, “Are you deaf and blind to the phenomenon around?”

So friends, I found a way out to silence the internal policeman by merging my consciousness with the pious essence of our surroundings and forgetting every thing else. To be frank, this is what keeps me going. It is my life blood. It prepares me for the now and the morrow.

Dear young bloggers with dreams in your eyes, don’t have me wrong. I’m amazed at your felicity in penning those marvellous love stories. It is your day. Dream your dreams and reach your goals. Wish the very best for you.

As for me, life has acquired new meanings. Possessing possessions no longer holds sway. To be in shape to keep pace with the ever agile grey cells matter now. Grey matter needs stimulation of some kind and the melody of nature provides that in abundance.

Welcoming the golden hued sunny days after a long period of fog and intense cold is the most pleasurable activity these days. The priceless warmth and charm belies description. The glow of sunshine replaces the shroud of dejection by the shimmer of hope and happiness. I bask in the glory of the moment with closed eyes; overwhelmed with the thrilling sensation of gentle warmness, infusing vague eternity. What else is Jannat, I ask myself?

And then while sitting in my backyard, my attention is often drawn towards a pair of parrots, tweeting shrilly on the upper most twigs of the Neem. I keep looking at them, wondering what they are conversing about? Perhaps ruing the fact that there is nothing for them to pick and eat with their razor sharp beak. While I guess so, they fly away in a jiffy, as if suddenly reminded of some unfinished task waiting for them.

Another pair which gives me immense pleasure is the twin woodpeckers, who are sighted off and on in my front lawn, burrowing their long and pointed bills into the soil for insects or seed. The architecture of their bodies- a marvel in flesh and blood!

Some days an army of babblers or larks descend on our Neem and create a pandemonium as if resolving some long standing dispute in their panchayat. Hope there is never any endorsement of honour killing there!

All sorts of birds converge on my twin neem trees, indulge in their usual gossip sessions, sharing weal and woes and leave relieved. But not before nudging me by their presence.

Natural cycle of seasons has its own rules. Here in North India, deciduous trees are still shedding leaf in troughs. There are sheets of dry crumbling leaves around the trees and scattered on road sides by the mildly blowing wind. Nature's kingdom is incomparable.

Blooming Marigolds are enlivening my house with their golden touch and reason enough for me to seek their company and track their daily progress.

Many times during the day vegetable vendors on their cycle carts move about on the road selling the stuff, coaxing you to come out and have a look. Winter vegetable spread is hard to resist and you always buy a basketful of them. The vendor leaves happy and you share his joy by exchanging a word or two.

Well!!! The bouquet is complete as the last stem has  already been inserted. But for the time being only!

I’ll end this write up with the beautiful lines of the song sung by Julie Andrews in the classic movie ‘SOUND OF MUSIC” which echo my sentiments as well.

“These are a few of my favourite things……………………………….. When I’m feeling sad

I simply remember my favourite things and then I don’t feel so bad”

Image courtesy: Google

Pl. share your views about this discourse.

WINTER BLUES AND BOONS

We in North India are under the tight hold of extreme cold conditions. Temperature is plummeting every day, sending shivers down our spines. It is making us sit doubled up in quilts with hot water bottles or electric blankets. While up and working, we wear many layers of woolens, including leggings and socks to retain heat inside. One looks like a stuffed toy with restricted body movements because of overload of clothing. The constant cloudy sky with episodes of dense blinding fog, makes the scenario gloomy with inertia setting in. The depressive feel of the foggy days is like life sucked out of life, due to inactivity and sloth. One feels a bit shrunk.

William Shakespeare in his sonnet No.97 compares his absence from his beloved to the dark and freezing December.

                               How like a winter hath my absence been

                               From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!

                               What freezing have i felt,what dark days seen!

                               What old Decembers' barenness every where!

Winter is hard for old folks. Lack of mobility leads to aches and pains and worsens heart condition.

Yellow leaves on the branches and on the ground, leafless deciduous trees and withering flora speak of the combined onslaught of first autumn and then intense and chilling cold. Birds too go on vacation somewhere to warmer climes.

But winter has its own boons. One fine day sun wriggles out of the obdurate blue cover; its mellow warmth rejuvenates the sagging spirits by opening up the limbs, enclosed in extra woolens. Basking in the sun, munching groundnuts and enjoying winter goodies, prepared with jaggery and sesame seeds are  experiences available only in winter. Sunny days in winter lift up moods, motivate and inspire positivity. Sunshine also is a source of vitamin D, which energizes weak muscles. Winter without sunshine is like a bride without Shingar

Healthy soups:  To liven up there is ample choice of nutritious, healthy and warm foods. All kinds of vegetable soups, warm up dull, dark evenings. Watching TV wrapped up in shawls with a bowl of steaming hot soup act as welcome pick me up. Clear soups without croutons or noodles are great low caloric appetizers.

 Carrot Dishes:  Carrots contain large amounts of antioxidants. Carrot dishes (Gajrela obsequious in winter) prepared when the mood is upbeat and savoured at will, more than compensates the discomfort of cold and provides needed energy and satiation.

 Vegetables in plenty: On another level we should feel blessed of the winter gifts. Availability of fresh vegetables, mustard greens and fresh spinach, which one can use to prepare scores of simple but mouth watering dishes and  which stay fresh much longer are possible only in winter. Who can ignore the delectable sag and makki di roti with generous chunks of butter to tickle the taste buds. There is surfeit of gourmet delights in this season.

Celebrations:  Winter gifts us celebratory opportunities in plenty.With the onset of winter we have festival of lights, Christmas, Guru nanak Dev' Ji's Birth Anniversary and then Lohri, Republic day and so many others which are celebrated on low scale.

Winter Sports:  Winter season is also time to enjoy and participate in winter sports. In the western world people go for skiing, sledding and ice hockey. In India Gulmarg in Kashmir and higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh attract fun and sports loving enthusiasts.

 Winter is an occasion for romance, family reunions, renewing and affirming relationships and sharing fond remembrances, sitting cozily around fireplace.