It is here. It has arrived. After travelling for many months, braving the scorching summer and the deluge of monsoon, it has finally come to claim us for its own, at least for a few months. I discovered its presence while I was applying my lipstick this morning. My lips were unusually dry, and my skin felt tight. There was a kind of static electricity that hung in the air, the kind that makes your nylon clothes stick to your body and your hair cling to the comb. The sun was shining outside, hot and bright, but I felt a chill in my bones. I knew it has come, and is going to get worse.

I switched off the fan and closed the windows, hoping to escape from it at least for a while; because I know in a few weeks there would be no escaping from it no matter where you are or what you do. Today was just the beginning. You can lock yourselves inside your houses, burrow deep under your quilts and blankets and whatnots, you can try to drive it away with technology, you can try to protect yourselves from it with many layers of clothing; but it will still get to you. Because it is there in you, in your bones, under your skin. Because it is you. It will be there with you when you wake up in the morning, it will sit beside you while you eat your food, it will be there in your rooms, in your closets, inside your clothes and shoes. It will lie down beside you when you sleep, and watch your favourite TV shows with you. It will come in between you and your loved ones, it will eavesdrop on your conversations and interrupt when you speak. It will laugh with you, at you, and cry when you cry.

It will be the topic of many conversations, people will die because of it, and many will suffer. I, for one, will be one of the sufferers. I hate the short days and the long nights, the chapped lips, the dry skin, the cold mornings, the hunt for warm clothes. Yes, winter is here, and I am not exactly jumping with joy. But I will be optimistic, because "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"