If a year was the wedding of a long-lost relative, winter to me is the favorite cousin I’m looking for amid all the acquainted unknowns. After bidding adieu to the pumpkin spice lattes and brightly colored leaves, the season of grey skies and warm sunshine brings that feeling of peace when you come home on a rainy night where a gentle chill in the air can take no time to turn into biting cold. It is that time where the further you go up north, the colder and thus the better it is. Getting up every morning to step out of the warm cozy house feels worth it when the frigid air hits you right in the face, even taking your breath away. To me personally, this air smells different, feels different.
As incredibly ethereal as it is, the season of winters is also the time where the cold and the dark make the days mysteriously short for the population to properly function. Students, in particular, watch the day go by within moments from starting early with the school to sunset at around late afternoon. The anxiety they experience to complete the day’s work before sundown is augmented when they see it elapse subconsciously. In all, winter chills feel like being transported to a different world.
Both charming and suffocating in its way, Delhi winter is the perfect example of a toxic relationship, pun intended. It starts with love at first sight and ends with both the parties parting ways, for good. The season here is all about love, fashion, and of course, a steaming cup of garam chai where behind the curtain of dense fog lies the fresh lease of life. Music and poetry embedded in the city’s soul reverberate all around making winters an eternal infatuation. It is an experience no other ‘big’ city could offer, starting from the luminous NYC to our very own aamchi Mumbai. At a temperature of 20 degrees in the former city, the light makes things glisten and the steam rising from the manhole covers gives a back-lit atmosphere to the side-lit streets, with winters not being much into effect other than the plain cold or occasional downpours. As for Mumbai, the tropical climate does not give the seasonal variations much time to cause extreme conditions other than a drop in the temperature and strong gusty winds.
Both men and women of the 21st century are getting increasingly fashion-conscious all over the world. Marked as the season of short days and long nights, winter gives us a wide range of things to plan even in our day-to-day outfits as you wear all your clothes at once. Covering your body from the top of your head to the toes demands clothes that are both comfortable and fashionable. Fortunately, in response to the increasing demand for these garments, they are abundantly available in all the markets.
Winter clothes need not be made out of woolen material only, any thick material can serve the purpose like leather, denim, fur, etc. One may wrap themselves in fuzzy mufflers and slippers or with thick, sturdy boots that make the ground crackle. Speaking for the people with thick hair out there, the hats help us tame the giant mess in the coolest way possible, thus saving us from a classic bad hair day. Along with fashion, the culinary industry also seems to flourish in the chillier months of the year, with returns almost doubling with the influx of capital. That being said, it is safe to advance that winter has defined comfort food with warm soups, roasted chestnuts and all types of ‘carb loading’ per se, with carbs getting the certified entry back into peoples’ lives.
How great is it to increase your winter productivity by just laying in your bed cocooned in the warm and cozy embrace of the comforter? With the new season arriving, comes the responsibility to accept new beginnings and maybe learn a thing or two. Keeping our energy levels up is no less than a Herculean task during the drawn-out dark and cold months of winter. Indulging in blanket activities like using a flashlight to read books or building forts helps us from crossing the line between passivity and calming silence.
What would be the perfect option is to get a couple of knitting sticks, pop a YouTube video and crochet a long bulky sweater or to maintain a journal, taking up online courses or even audio books. The list could go on forever but maybe this time an itinerary does not have to be included to feel the value this season holds in our personal growth.
Happy Winter!