The month that is..

I have always been residing in the Northern Hemisphere. So it is winter time in this half of the world and my favorite season ever. My dil goes umm umm umm...

For me, the 10 days of winter break were always more precious than the 2 months scorching summer vacations. Incidentally, ice cream which is trademark summer dessert tastes best in winters. One big reason for winters being such a special time was that my mom and dad would take their year end vacations in December last week and it would always such nice family time. The vacations would start with nice Christmas celebrations in school and no exams in January. It also is birthday month for the two best and most special people I know – Ila and Sandeep.

Bhopal can get quite cold. At least it would when I was in school with bright sunshine everywhere. One of the best things about winters is food. All those hot preparations – from sambhar to aloo paratha to methi paratha and what not. Couple that with unlimited doses of tea and it is feast time. After having that garma garam khana and idling for a couple of hours in sun outside, I would tuck myself in the razai and get a couple of hours of sleep. Oh my God! Can there ever be a better relaxation!!

December would be exam time in college. But given the fact I never studied, I could carry on the eat-food-idle-in-the-sun-and-tuck-in-the-bed routine quite well in Indore too. Even though there would be no mom-made food, but heck I was in Indore! A hot plate of garadu or steaming Calcutta roll or the awesome moong daal halwa at Sarafa, followed by a cup of coffee at Buddy’s café was the perfect recipe for perfect winter time with the perfect people in the world.

And then I was in Pune. It never gets that cold in Pune as it would in Bhopal or Indore. But still it is very very special time. A plate of sizzlers at Yana’s followed by chat at Kailash bhaiyya’s thela or paratha at Chaitanya and a cup of coffee at the Wanowrie or MG Road CCD. Or if you are tired eating outside, you could actually go to Shrijeet’s place and aunty would make some real nice sooji ka halwa. You would just eat your way to glory and tuck your self in and have fun.

But food was not the only thing that made winters in Pune special. This is the time for Sawai Gandharva mahotsava. I remember this one time I could not get tickets and I heard the program standing outside. This would be the time when there would be a lot of concerts in Pune. You could go to a Jagjit Singh show or Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma ji’s concert or the one and only Zakir Hussain saab. It was a privilege being in Pune and I cannot tell how much I miss that.

Winters in Dallas are not bad either! For one it is much colder here. Nothing compared to the rest of America. But it is cold for Indians from Bhopal, Indore and Pune. One of the best things I like is the warm jackets and coats that I can wear here. The fact that it also helps hiding all the fat you get after eating all that food is purely incidental.

I am visiting India this winter. It is going to be a very short trip, but still I am looking forward to it. Nice mom made food, some birthday celebrations, meeting all those wonderful people back there would be so nice..

The small snow flakes you see here are a small dedication to the month of December!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…