Another Christmas
Year after year December brings in the cold wind and the
anthems that waft through it. Gone are the days when we visited those lovely
bookshops that were tastefully decorated with thematic festoons of
Christmas, and cards of different colours and sizes lined along the shelves
that obviate age old books that invited the attention of avid readers. Choosing
the cards while humming through carol melodies was a sheer excitement indeed.
And sitting with the family, signing off the cards and stamping them in a
crowded post office - all these went along with the December routine but
relished with the anticipation of an annual ritual that unites friends and
family together. It is time to renew the contacts, say hellos, share gossip,
and air music. But of late, thanks to the technology that was meant to make
life easier, all these little sparks of domestic joy have vanished. You sit
like an animated doll in front of your system, type and blink onto a monitor
that makes you a zombie. I suddenly mumble the couplet of Wordsworth:
Whither is the
visionary gleam? / Where is it now, the glory and the dream? Either I am too old to sustain the joy of
yester years or the busy modern lifestyle has robbed me of these pleasures. I
wonder how others feel. When one of these days I mentioned to someone that we
should revive the old customs, no body spoke in favour of it nor anyone
seconded my old fashioned opinion. I couldn’t help recalling my visit to Frankenmuth
in Michigan where all through the year Christmas was alive with all the
credentials, code, chord and colour. Hats off to those unceasing fervor and
fascination of those German ancestors
who could cherish the mood all the twelve months without the least sign of boredom in
merriment.
The arrival of a newcomer has of course changed the scene considerably. You regain your vitality when you succeed in evoking a baby smile exercising all your buffoonery. May be we should tirelessly pass on the energy and enthusiasm to the next generation. Long live the artless champions of innocence.
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