Random Ramblings of a Reluctant Blogger

The signs are very much here.

Yes, Chennai’s winter is coming to a close. Now if you are not a thoroughbred Chennaite, you can be forgiven for seeing it as a sarcastic statement. For a Chennaite, though, it is one of gloom.

For it is in its winter, that very, very brief period between December to mid-January, that the place is most habitable weather wise. 

The mercury ‘dips’ to about 22 (centigrade i,.e.) and at 19 it is akin to snowing. The air conditioners get a breather and fans too are switched off! (the mosquitoes, however, don’t let that happen much).  

There is a nip in the air, and not to mention music too. Though one could argue that there is far more music than the nip.  This is the time when you will find people  more welcoming, friendly, less irritable and less stressed out.  The mufflers and monkey caps are out, and occasional sweaters too.

Those living in colder climes do not dare laugh. Remember Chennaites do not go jumping into water fountains and swimming pools screaming “it is hot ” when the mercury just hovers around 25. It is not hot even at 30, certainly not for those who classify their seasons as summer, hot summer, even more hotter summer, hot summer and summer, with a brief rain interlude. 

The winter then, with all its glory, is that time of the year when one should be here. Ask any Chennaite. The foodies, who extol the winters as the best time to give in to temptations can too have their fill. The Margazi concerts will satiate the soul and stomach too. Whether you dig in the music or the piping hot dosas and vadas, you will be well served. 

It is that time of the year when the sun, in its feather-touch mode, instead of scalding and piercing through your bones, just about caresses your skin as gently as one cuddles  a baby. 

The sun, of course, is biding its time. Hibernating and endearingly it waits for the Pongal, Sankranti feast that is prepared for its welcome. Officially, though oldtimers would vouch, that winters bid adieu post Shivratri, sometime in early March, for Chennaites winter ends with Pongal. It is as if the sun, having had its feast, wants to get working, conscientious as it is. Maybe all the mad running we do has given the sun a complex and it feels compelled to join in the rat race. 

Would Chennaites want the winter to last? Yes of course, but as they say all good things come to an end. 

And till the next round of winter it is smouldering time in Chennai.