Some Chill and A Warm Evening


Yesterday it seemed as if Mr. Winter suddenly woke up from his lazy slumber and realized that he has not yet pressed the chill button for Delhi. This is my fourth Delhi winter and it has been a huge disappointment so far. It has been mostly sunny and heavy fog was experienced only on a couple of days till now. Reports said that it is the hottest winter in Delhi in five years. And then suddenly yesterday happened. It was the season's coldest day at fifteen degrees Celsius. Chilly wind has been blowing since yesterday and Mr. Sun is nowhere to be seen. The weather turned from cold to chilled two days back and finally Delhiites are getting to use their heavy woolens. Thank you Mr. Winter. You have been lazy but better late than never.
Last season, Delhi winter was at it's best. Mr. Winter started work early (late November) and lasted long too. More of it in "Warm Winter" which I wrote around the same time last year.
One foggy December morning
This winter, too, I couldn't go home. On 14th and 15th January, it was the harvest festival which is celebrated across India with different names. In North India, it's called Lohri, South India-Pongal, East India-Makar Sankranti and in Assam it's called Maghor/Bhogali Bihu. More about the festival in "Bhogali Memories". I was working on the said days and I became terribly upset by 14th evening. It was the night of the community feast. I pined to be home for the festival. Similarly, my sister was alone in Bangalore and so were my parents back home. I started cribbing to Az that I don't get to celebrate any of my community festivals, nobody is enthusiastic about them here and went on say other illogical stuff which I do when I am upset. On an impulse I told Az, "Let's go out for dinner". It was almost 9 p.m. and next day we had to work. I actually did not believe in the idea's feasibility.  

But Az didn't leave it there. Without my knowing, he went to talk to rest of the family members to execute the plan. We were going to have a Northeastern dinner. Yayyyy! Happy me. Reservations were made at Rosang, a Northeast cuisine restaurant. At 9.30 p.m., seven of us loaded into the car and on the motorbike and set off. We had a lovely dinner with the warmth of food, love and happiness. The place was full of North-easterners, mostly the Assamese and I got pretty excited. So excited that I dropped Az's wallet on the floor, which I was supposed to keep in my purse, and forgot about it. Thankfully he asked for it when we were leaving and I realized I didn't have it. On the way back home, we had ice-cream. It was well past midnight when we got home. Thanks to my dear husband, we celebrated Bhogali Bihu. Also I learned that instead of cribbing, I should take matters into my own hands.
Well I can't say the same about winter. I can crib that it's not cold enough but can't make the weather turn. Just hoping that we have this chill a few days more.

Labels: , , , , ,