Wednesday, October 3, 2007

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?"

7 comments:

  1. What a great write-up, ambs. Me I like winter best. Maybe because winters are relatively mild here. Blue skies, sunshiny days, no rain, Christmas :) I don't so much like the dry skin stuff either but it's a small sacrifice that I can gladly put up with.

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  2. talented writer, well now that we saw the true colour of you... I could humbly say, "Master teach me kungfu"

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  3. Reading your posts makes me more and more eager to fulfill one of my greatest wishes: To spend a white Christmas. But alas, this is India. But at least it's cold, a few degrees below white. lolz.

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  4. calliopia: Blue skies and sunshine are always fine with me, but please leave out the cold bit. Christmas is now just another day when you dress up and go to church, it's not fun anymore.

    sawmte: thanks for the flattery, but really I am nothing but a beginner in this blogging thing.

    illusionaire: If you want a white Christmas, wear white! Have registered myself in your Mizo Bloggers Directory.

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  5. Me i like winter----while I was young, a cold season meant holidays are near, now i grow up a bit,--- i still love winter.. i love sitting by the fire, on a cold winter night, with loved ones in our arms...and more--To dress up go to church on Christmas day, baking cakes,and welcoming New yEar,--- these good times are all within this cold season..

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  6. mnowluck: I love Christmas and New Year and the holidays as much as the next person, but I just cannot love the cold that comes along with it!!

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  7. though all the above comments are writen in english i ( as for my convenient) somehow deliberately choose to pen down (pen down ??) some scribbles in a language that i'm much more comfortable with..

    Aduh.. huiz chhiar a nuam hle mai.. but we do have a little different opinion abt winter.. Kei chu he thlasik boruak vin tak leh hram ta tak mai nuam ti hi ka ti teh tlat mai a. Nipui lum huam2 kal pel a, thing hnah a tlak er2 tawh hi chuan ka tiril hi a khur ru der2 tawh mai thin.. Ber thla thla eng lawm a chhiar mai2 te hi ka nuam tih zawng a ni mauh mai bawk nen.. Lalpiang hmuhna dar leh rimawi te hian ka thinlai mu hnu hi a kai tho lo thei thin lo..a vawh vilh tak mai te hian he hun hi a hlu zual ka ti thin..

    Hmmm a sei dawn ltk.. anyway.. Thalsik hman nuam le..

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