Season's greetings...and memories

It's that time of year again.

That time of year when I so yearn for Calcutta and my childhood that I forget to see what Delhi has to offer. Missing Park Street has become something I look forward to now. Never attended midnight mass at St Paul's Cathedral in all my years at Calcutta. But managed to score on that count last year by ringing in Christmas at a crowded Sacred Hearts Cathedral.

Miss seeing the lights of Park Street, the Christmas trees peeping in from windows and balconies, wishing the sisters at Carmel a joyous festive season and much much more. Miss the Christmas party at Latha aunty's house, the pleasure of all us 'kids' raiding the phuchka shop at Lord's More on the pretext of celebrating Christmas together.

Miss the gulp of a much diluted vodka surreptitiously downed years ago on this day and the sip of wine that followed soon after. Miss some friends who got me drunk with their mere presence, some who brought cheer with all the fights we had, the smiles, the arguments, the making-up-after-huge-fight sessions, the badminton matches played till the halogen bulbs at the para court started flickering and the shuttles started begging for mercy.

Miss the plum cakes my mom would get ritually every year for me and my brother, the New Year, the book fair, the annual picnic and Saraswati Puja.

Yes, it's that time of year yet again and I am missing my past, the city of my childhood, the city where I grew up, the city where I first thought I fell in love.

This city isn't bad either. At least this Christmas I have lots of plum cake on which to feed my nostalgia. Along with it I have some yum gajar ka halwa... a labour of love of sorts made painstakingly and with single-minded focus. I have the chilly winter breeze to look forward to. So what if I still have to discover the Park Street-like warmth here, so what if I don't have Carmel to go back to.

I miss my mommy, but she, hopefully, will be with me next Christmas if I manage to move to a bigger warmer house, cos where I am right now, is pretty much freezing my soul, not just my body. Looking forward to the warm Christmas sun to un-freeze my heart...

Best wishes of the Season to one and all! May it fill us with cheer, peace, forgiveness and love!