Brrrrr.... winterrrr!

The slight nip in the air, the urge to stay inside the warm blanket for a little while longer, the eternal bliss of the warm tea... ummm... the winter’s here! The big mouthfuls of the steamy soup, the piping hot parathas laden with butter, the yummilicious trademark Mommy-special laddoos.... ummm... the winter’s here! The early darkness in the evening, the sun refusing to shine brightly, the warmth and coziness of the house... ummm... the winter’s here!

Winter season is my favourite season, minus the cold and cough. Give me my Allegra and allergen-free woollen wear and stoles, and voila.... I am good to go! It is also the time when women dodge their waxing schedules, under the pretext of being covered most of the time, as if they are going into hibernation themselves. No complaints here. The cold creams and moisturisers can be found overstocked in any household this time of the year. One will be amazed to see the variety of Vaseline lip balms available in the market and wonder whether they are buying winter care products or candies!

The sweater weather also gets us lazy with our exercise routine. We can literally feel every calorie burn with every muscle move that we manage to make during the cold season. Going to the kitchen to get a glass of water feels equivalent to a mile’s run. Seriously. Add to it the warmth inducing, calorie laden, ghee and sugar overloaded goodies. Hibernation doesn’t sound that bad an idea now, right?!

My children are at the receiving end, though. The Dabur Chyawanprash intake goes up in my household because, of course, all the germs of all the world are against my children only! They say that a mother’s love is inversely proportional to the amount of cold her kids actually feel. Hence, it is directly proportional to the layers of warm clothing that she drapes over them. 

And a remote hint of a sneeze or a slight mini-cough.... and God save them! The ‘I told you not to remove that sweater’ tag line gets overused. So what if you were sweating? It is winter. The trusted, ancient but dreaded turmeric milk comes back in fashion. And it is here to stay. The eternal fight between sending them for a shower and then dragging them out of the warm bathroom becomes an everyday scene.

The most beautiful sight is the nature’s bounty around this time of the year. The mainland Indian winter offers a variety of colours around. Since Spring and Autumn are not that pronounced in India, Winter provides that vividness on the canvas of nature. The flowers are in their full bloom and glory. 

Being a vegetarian, all I can think of are the abundant colourful vegetables. It immediately transports me to the aromatic spreads of ‘carrot halwa’ and ‘matar kachoris’ and ‘vegetable pulav’ and ‘badaam ka halwa’ and ‘gond ke laddoos’ and other ‘dry fruits delicacies’. It is amazing to realise how the nature gives us remedies, too, against the harshness of the weather conditions. The traditional ‘til laddoos’ and ‘peanut laddoos’ containing jaggery are a treat for the taste buds and also provide the much needed respite from the cold.

In contrast with the good-old traditions, the sad story is the evolution of a new phenomenon in today’s world. It is infamously known as the ‘Smog’. It is disheartening to see the advent of a new league of holidays, in addition to 

Summer and Winter holidays. Schools and colleges remain closed on account of ‘Pollution holidays’. The reasons are a mix of industrial dump and domestic manhandling of resources. Steering clear of the pinning of the blame, the harmful results are for all to see. Hopefully, we awaken before the damage becomes truly irreversible.

Coming back to the feel-numb cold; Winter, in many places around the world, paints a white landscape of snow all around dotted with black overcoats. It does look gloomy except for the carrot-nosed snowmen and a few over-enthusiastic early Christmas decorators! The struggle of unlocking your smartphone with your gloved hands while balancing your composure to avoid that embarrassing fall on ice after you have had the free-flowing cheesy meal completes the picture.

The picture in my house gets distorted with the tussle with my daughter (earlier, it used to be my Mom) who needs the fan even in the winter. It’s like we can’t coexist in the same room. We need an intercom to survive under the same roof.

Well, the biting cold weather is going to be around for a few more weeks. Stay warm. Stay peachy. Stay quilted. Get that book and that cup of coffee. Happy winters, folks.

And don’t forget...’Woogly woogly woosh’!