[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he nip is in the air and the cheer of festivities is round the corner. The winter chill slowly slipping in is a reminder that another year is about to end. Spring, Summer Autumn, Winter can Spring be far behind ? That has oft been the way these lines are recited but now with rising temperature thanks to the impact of climate change ..the brief spell of winter is warmly embraced.
Furthermore Christmas the season of good cheer and peace to all mankind will soon follow. Weather even otherwise is all pervasive, It influences people’s moods, choice in clothes, footwear, food, music, colours and odour. You can choose to be outdoors in the morning and not get drenched or scorched. The morning cup of tea or coffee is more welcoming than at any other time of the year. Its time to dust out the closets and segregate the clothes from summer to winter wear.The season is one when the family will get together for that inevitable annual meet when the majority are on holiday.
It that time when the wonderful salad leaves and other green vegetables will appear on market shelves and dinner tables. If there is one fruit everyone associates with the season is the Orange. This citrus is now available in so many varieties but personally the sweetest ones I have ever tasted are the ones ‘stolen’ from the neighbours orange tree. Well, not ‘steal’ as in steal .The branches of the orange tree would weigh down on our side of the boundary wall so as children , the gang of us thought we could pluck them off and enjoy them ..till reprimanded by our parents for not asking the neighbours first..I can still taste the sweet oranges. Sadly, on returning to the place the orange tree no longer stands, no other tree or plant has replaced the place where it grew …instead cement covers the spot where the orange tree once stood.
Here in Nagaland the frenzy that winter ushers in is already in the air ..moreso with weddings and concerts and expos and festivals and to finish work before the government offices shut down for the holidays. Winter for some is also associated with dry and dreary surroundings when the colours of spring are absent but its worth taking a pause and breathing the morning air and reflect upon the lessons learnt of the passing year.
Winter
No more tire morn, with tepid rays,
Unfolds the flow’r of various hue;
Noon spreads no more the genial blaze,
Nor gentle eve distils the dew.
The ling’ring hours prolong the night,
Usurping darkness shares the day;
Her mists restrain the force of light,
And Phoebus holds a doubtful sway.
By gloomy twilight, half reveal’d,
With sighs we view the hoary hill,
The leafless wood, the naked field,
The snow-topp’d cot, the frozen rill.
No musick warbles through the grove,
No vivid colours paint the plain;
No more, with devious steps, I rove
Through verdant paths, now sought in vain.
Aloud the driving tempest roars,
Congeal’d, impetuous show’rs descend;
Haste, close the window, bar the doors,
Fate leaves me Stella, and a friend.
In nature’s aid, let art supply
With light and heat my little sphere;
Rouse, rouse the fire, and pile it high,
Light up a constellation here.
Let musick sound the voice of joy,
Or mirth repeat the jocund tale;
Let love his wanton wiles employ,
And o’er the season wine prevail.
Yet time life’s dreary winter brings,
When mirth’s gay tale shall please no more
Nor musick charm–though Stella sings;
Nor love, nor wine, the spring restore.
Catch, then, Oh! catch the transient hour,
Improve each moment as it flies;
Life’s a short summer–man a flow’r:
He dies–alas! how soon he dies!
Samuel Johnson’s poem: Winter; An Ode
