Daily Archives: December 25, 2004


The whirl this week

Life has again been a whirl, this week. Clocking late nights in office so that I could take leave *at least* in the last week of this year, was a part of it. It took my maid to remind me that today is christmas. That awareness keeps slipping out of my mind. She asked me if today was “bada din”. It took me some time to gather all those hindi synonyms for Christmas et al. Those hindi hymns featuring “Yesu”, that we sang as kids came rushing back.

This week, Delhi has finally seen the “first day, first show” of “Dhundh – The fog”. Now I can say that winter is here finally. Somehow gradually, over the years, the winter season has been shifting further down the calendar year. But when it arrives, it makes sure you know that it has. I have been driving down late at night with some fog (or was that smog) blurring my vision. Constant dew on the windshield makes matters worse. My sympathies go out to all those who are stranded at airports at these times. Last night at 11 pm, when I had to leave from the office, the fog was literally flowing like thick smoke. Thankfully, I chose the office cab service instead of driving myself. I would not be exaggerating when I say that I could barely see the driver in front of me, from the backseat :-|. The fog required a whole lot of daring to drive straight (or wherever) ahead without knowing where you are heading!

Inspite of the foggy season, there was one exceptionally clear, dark and inky black night, few nights back. The place where I stay now, has a much clearer sky than Delhi. I could see *so* many constellations when I looked up. The sky looked much different from what I knew it. There were zillions of clusters visible to the naked eye and so many hazy stars which didn’t twinkle as brightly but were there nevertheless. I felt like I was in a planetarium. It dawned on me that the “artificial” sky that planetariums have (and which I found so unnatural) are actually closer to the real thing. I almost wished for a blackout so that the few street lights would also go out. With Haryana govt who needs to worry about these kind of wishes. My wish was instantly granted in an hour. I got adventurous and headed out into the cold at 12 in the night, with my handycam in tow. The sky was amazing. I just kept gazing at it. Sadly and as I expected, my handycam could not capture a single star. (I wish to click a snap like this someday). A few minutes later, I realised that the constellations had shifted majorly in the sky. That was quite a whirl, which I barely felt!

Here’s wishing everyone a merry xmas and a happy new year! Have fun snowballing, skiing or maybe imagining these activities, while I get myself a hot cuppa coffee.