Ten on Tuesday - 4

It’s time to say bye to winter, and welcome the spring with warm open hands and hug. 

That's when I thought why not write about winter….    Winter itself reminds us of short day light and long nights, which is a great excuse to be lazy :D

10 things I love about winter

Extra layer of clothes:  I like the winter accessories like scarves, boots, wrist warmers, fuzzy socks, and boots.  I do enjoy wearing extra layer of clothes to get the nice warmth throughout the day and night.  

Need of warmth: Come winter, the gas and electricity always soar high.  The need for heat, getting into the comfortable warmth is the primary need, especially when you just came from outside. That is such bliss to sleep tight hugging each other under the warm rug on the chill winter evening!

Love for hot food:  Hot food reminds me of maggi noodles, masala chai, masala vadai, a cup of hot pepper or garlic rasam.  The taste and satisfaction it gives is totally inevitable.

My birthday: Needs no explanation.  The kid in me still loves birthday, and keeps counting the days when the next one will come :)

Snow: The fresh flakes of snow and playing with snow in building the snowman, getting drenched in the snow with small flakes all over the hair is fun. This is the season for ski lovers.  Much to my regret, I had leg sprains every time I try my hands on skiing! But I totally enjoy doing snow-tubing and sledging like this!

The unplanned leave: How much I long for heavy snow so that we get paid leave.  This DEC was the best. I would go to office at 9.00 just to know that the office is not yet opened, or that it will be closing at 10.00 due to heavy snow forecast…How much I enjoyed those days of OB adichufying at appice..

Festive decorations: Come winter, it brings along lovely aroma of candles, colorful lights and decorations for Christmas and looking forward for a new beginning.

Lots of holidays / Vacation time: Should I say more on this?? Just taking 1 or 2 days of leave will give us a bulky 15 days of holidays, fun and frolic.  Most of the memorable holidays are planned during this time.

Boxing Day sale and shopping: I love shopping.  But that does not mean I wake up at 4.00 AM and wait in the long que and do shopping on Boxing day…nay..that isn’t my idea of holiday shopping. There is generally good sale on clothes, handbags, shoes, electronic gadgets. I love going around shops to just see the crowd that looms around, that simply reminds me of crowded shopping streets in India.  

View of naked trees and Nature: They say that trees without leaves are lifeless.  I don’t accept that.  There is still subtle beauty when the trees shed their uniform. The rivers and lakes that gets frozen is yet another beauty to watch.

Although I like so much about winter, I equally dislike it.  And I pretty much have contradictory opinion on some points mentioned above.


1.Wearing extra layer of clothes can be as irritating as ever.  Now this means it takes nearly 15 minutes to get dressed and undressed at any point of time.  Even to buy some milk from the nearby shop or dropping the bin bags demands full clothing.  This totally annoys me.

2. Itchy skin - That deserves a eeks...Yes...it does become itchy during winter because of wearing too many layers, and getting exposed to artificial heat.

3. The dryness in the skin is yet another annoying factor.  Applying loads of loads of moisturizers consumes a lot of time. 

4. Dry hair and dandruffs are yet another common problem in the winter. Regular hair bath does control dandruff, but it increases the dryness in the hair. 

5. Snow and the aftermath - ice! I have a horrible sense of balance.  It totally scares me to walk on ice for the fear of falling.  


6. Traffic chaos and delays because of snow.

7. The chillnes that get into your veins.  

8. The unpleasant wind               

9. Sickness, running nose and soar throat

10. Shorter days that leaves us just to spend most of the time at home.

Glamor filled Day!

Think of Valentine’s Day, I relate it to just one word “LOVE”. 

With V’day around the corner, I see all pretty flowers popping out here and there.  Every shop beckons you to buy something or the other for your beloved ones.

The culture and celebration pattern has been an evolution – good or bad - that’s the truth! Let's see how the changes have evolved over years!

Love Era:

Although Valentine’s Day celebrations differed from country to country, they all had one thing in common – to share love!  There were gifts, self-written poetries and letters, and flowers.

In few countries, this day is observed as a holiday.  Some countries treat this day as a start of spring. In few countries it is celebrated on a different day, but the essence never changed.

Gifting and Glamour Era:

Things have changed gradually and gifting has taken priority over love.

Plenty of gift ideas darted in – flowers, mushy cards, chocolates, CDs, romantic movie collections, personalised jewellery, glass souvenirs, cuddly teddy bears, hugging dolls, heart pillows, red hearts, cupid dolls and all!!

Commercial Era:

A day to celebrate love is not a new concept in India!  Had they not, we wouldn’t have had the beautiful khajuraho temple, or a book called kamasutra.  Did you know, in olden days, people adored Kamadev.  As decades went by, people started sulking on this “public display of affection” and exchanging gifts. 

But now, it’s commercial baby! So much that even a girl from rural village or women in her 90’s recognises valentine’s days! Thanks to the media – their fully dedicated Valentine’s Day TV and radio programmes, contests advertisements and discounts! And how can I forget “cards and Hallmark”!

This day is the most lucrative moment of the year - time for manufacturers to make mammoth revenue out of chocolates, jewellery, restaurants, and of course cards!

Political Era:

Things did not stop at this juncture! Political parties started to comment about this day, and made their campaigns against V’day, making the young crowd more furious - yes The pink chaddi campaign!  

And there are some that just blame this on western influence! Some countries ban celebrating this day, and they ban the selling of sweet cards, red hearts et al.

If you closely evaluate the recent eras, there is one point which is very clear.

The real idea of expressing love has taken a backseat! The new definition for Valentine is “You and your love is measured only by what you buy”.

Is this what love is all about?  

Isn’t this meant to be the day to give and receive love?

Isn’t it much more beautiful and lasts longer than these flowers and chocolates?

Shouldn’t love be expressed more often than just on a single day in 365 days! 

Is this day meant for only lovers?

Aren’t there any people who are longing for love?  

I’m certainly not against Valentine’s Day, but it just leaves me to ponder, how things have changed now!   

I do celebrate V’day, buy gifts, get gifts and surprises.  I’ve had the best V’Day celebrations since I met S.  But all I’m trying to say is love should be expressed without the need of any prompt!   

Writing a post like this does not stop me from celebrating love, or writing a post about how I had heart attack or how simple, short and sunny my V'Day was!

But this V-day, I’m going to make someone feel real special!  Are you in?  then go ahead and do these!!!

Make a call to someone who is alone, and shower your words of love for them!

Talk to someone who is sad and bring a smile on their face

Share your happiness with someone

Give the hope that someone had lost

Send an email to someone you neglected so far

Give a hug to someone who is depressed!

Share your love to those who need it. 

Valentine's day greetings from A&S.

Update on 14th Feb: The links are working now!

After the rain!

The alluring smell of the sand,

When the chill entering my hand

The gushing sound of rain

That faded away all my pain

Mind scouting for a warm place

To get warmth on the face

Wishing to have a hot cup of tea

And to stroll beside the shores of sea!

As I sat on my couch

It was blissful that I can vouch

To watch the rain from window

And the wide spread green meadow!

I sank into my favourite book

Giving the rain another look

Seconds moved into hours

And then I remembered to scour

The vessels I left in the sink

But I thought of having a drink

When I returned back with my glass

I found something shining on the grass

Ah! Rain has decided to stop    

And I saw the water plop

From the trees that stood high

I wouldn’t question the rain why

Because the sun was peeping out

And it decided to scout

The lovely dew drops shining

But I couldn’t stop whining

My laziness to take a photo

That was long back my motto

Took my toy machine

Decided to break my routine

The fresh smell of leaf

Is something no one can beef!

Its pleasing lustre and hue

When the sky was all blue

I started to click my shot

Until I realised that I have had a lot!

See for yourself the result

For it’s more than a reason for me to exult!!

The rain drops that is seated on all the naked stems!

I should have used my macro lens, but had no time to change the lens, and took this with maximum zoom

I've blurred the background here intentionally, but still the shot could've been better!

PS: But I have to say this - the rain today was awfully windy and stormy :(  

Goes without saying, I did not take these pictures today, but on a nice, calm rainy day!