As I drive around now, the landscape is suddenly bare, devoid of any color that had draped it for so many weeks. The temperatures have suddenly dipped to freezing in the past two week and I realize that I’m still not feeling depressed even when the day already ends by 4.30pm. That’s because I’m listening to “Have a holly jolly Christmas, its the best time of the year” and many other songs by Burl Ives, Nate King Cole and Bobby Helms’, “Jingle Bell Rock” . Wow! it feels so exciting, even if the song is being repeated so many times on the New York’s FM station. Even the version of “Jingle Bell Rock” by Rascal Flatts young and flowing voice, sounds so beautiful. Not to mention the commercials on the radio this Christmas had felt so emotional too..I had stopped to listen to them, while I had never cared to hear them earlier.
Surprisingly, I am hearing the kids hum..Whams’ “Last Christmas I gave you my heart,..” The fall that passed was one that happens once in many years. It was the most beautiful I had ever witnessed. It was a spectacular display of colors.
Every leaf had taken its time to come to its ripe color before it took the fall from the tree. The wind had been so generous with the trees. it had let the leaves cling to them..for some more time, making the life of amateur photographers like me a little more miserable and little more enjoyable at the same time! Tired, that this just continued for 2 long months now..but enjoyable because it was so beautiful.
I didn't want to miss out on the shots that my mind was envisioning. I would start to compose frames, as I drove past locations, scenic spots, to drop R to her school. Then, on my way back I would try to capture these beautiful frames into my camera with the hope that I would be making these scenes immortal. I know, these are a far cry from that, but a sincere try at that, I did give. For 2 months I did this. The data on my computer was filling up at the rate of GB’s / day but, how could I miss out on the opportunities.
The colors ranged from yellow to red, blushing pinks to plums..got to see to believe.
The skies were a site to watch too. Some days it would be draped with clouds with the sun trying to peek through here and there, making sure everything is ok on the earth. If the clouds moved a little more, I would have missed the scene. On one such day, when I saw this sky, I had immediately parked the car to the side and made sure that I was a little distance away from the vibrations of the passing vehicles..and clicked the shots. There was so much drama in the sky.
Now the leaves are all gone. and its turned so cold. On the weekend last, my kids had checked this new gizmo that is called the phone. It had proudly displayed the weather of the region desired. They had all shouted out with glee...
"Mama, its going to snow tomorrow!! Can you check if we have school?"
I had tried to calm them down saying it would just going to be a flurry. When time came to go to school, they had clad themselves warmly for the weather but, as they stepped out of the house, they still had a little hope that some how, it would snow and they would be sent back home due to an early dismissal. Sorry kids!!..the weather god decided otherwise. It wanted you to attend your school for the whole beautiful day.
The next day they checked their trusting gizmo again by touching some fingers to it, like it was Aladdin’s magic lamp, to see what magic words its going to spew out...that would make them have a good day or a bad day. Well! that’s how they express their opinion of what they did at school.
“Mama, I was having a bad day at school, they didn’t announce that tomorrow would be an off”
The magic machine refused to say "Tuesday, Snow for the whole day". They were so disappointed. Maybe that is one thing on their list of stuff they want for Christmas. No school for the whole of winter and a generous snow fall so, they could make enough Snow Mans. One for each yard in the neighborhood.
This is one man, the popular winter man we all know of. But this morning R introduced me to another man. She had colored him red and green. She showed me the colored paper and said..“Mama, this is the Christmas Man”, which the rest of the world knows as Santa. I could already hear the triplets enlightening Richa, contaminating her non materialistic, uncorrupt mind saying
“R, he is Santa. He brings us gifts for Christmas. You can write down what you want and put it under the Christmas Tree”
When I had asked them to finish up the box of chocolate chip cookies that have been lying in the cabinet for sometime now, K had answered,
“No Mama, we are saving that for Santa to offer it to him on the night of Christmas Eve.”
As we talked about him, the triplets popped the question that had been bothering them for sometime now. “So Mama, Is Santa really there?” I could almost hear all the discussions they would have had with their friends at school about Santa, if he really existed or was just a figment of imagination.
P answers “There is no such thing as Santa.” and N re-iterates.
K asks..”Then how did you get all the gifts you got last year?”. Still wanting to believe in miracles and not ready to believe that Mama and Papa would want to give her a gift. Can’t blame her because this Mama and Papa, they are so full of handing out timeouts for free, how could they even want to give her a gift. So, now starts the period of hoping for snow, hoping for a white Christmas, hoping that Santa really exists and would bring all the gifts that my kids desire and in return would be happy to have those month old cookies that are going to be offered to him with a glass of milk.
R and me just finished listening to our favorite, Burl Ives’s "Rudolf the red nose Reindeer'. We are now talking to each other in the same tune.
"R, where is your shoes, You need to wear them. We are getting late for your school!, C’mon hurry up" Imagine these lines in that tune :-)
Happy Holidays!!!
Surprisingly, I am hearing the kids hum..Whams’ “Last Christmas I gave you my heart,..” The fall that passed was one that happens once in many years. It was the most beautiful I had ever witnessed. It was a spectacular display of colors.
Every leaf had taken its time to come to its ripe color before it took the fall from the tree. The wind had been so generous with the trees. it had let the leaves cling to them..for some more time, making the life of amateur photographers like me a little more miserable and little more enjoyable at the same time! Tired, that this just continued for 2 long months now..but enjoyable because it was so beautiful.
I didn't want to miss out on the shots that my mind was envisioning. I would start to compose frames, as I drove past locations, scenic spots, to drop R to her school. Then, on my way back I would try to capture these beautiful frames into my camera with the hope that I would be making these scenes immortal. I know, these are a far cry from that, but a sincere try at that, I did give. For 2 months I did this. The data on my computer was filling up at the rate of GB’s / day but, how could I miss out on the opportunities.
The colors ranged from yellow to red, blushing pinks to plums..got to see to believe.
The skies were a site to watch too. Some days it would be draped with clouds with the sun trying to peek through here and there, making sure everything is ok on the earth. If the clouds moved a little more, I would have missed the scene. On one such day, when I saw this sky, I had immediately parked the car to the side and made sure that I was a little distance away from the vibrations of the passing vehicles..and clicked the shots. There was so much drama in the sky.
Now the leaves are all gone. and its turned so cold. On the weekend last, my kids had checked this new gizmo that is called the phone. It had proudly displayed the weather of the region desired. They had all shouted out with glee...
"Mama, its going to snow tomorrow!! Can you check if we have school?"
I had tried to calm them down saying it would just going to be a flurry. When time came to go to school, they had clad themselves warmly for the weather but, as they stepped out of the house, they still had a little hope that some how, it would snow and they would be sent back home due to an early dismissal. Sorry kids!!..the weather god decided otherwise. It wanted you to attend your school for the whole beautiful day.
The next day they checked their trusting gizmo again by touching some fingers to it, like it was Aladdin’s magic lamp, to see what magic words its going to spew out...that would make them have a good day or a bad day. Well! that’s how they express their opinion of what they did at school.
“Mama, I was having a bad day at school, they didn’t announce that tomorrow would be an off”
The magic machine refused to say "Tuesday, Snow for the whole day". They were so disappointed. Maybe that is one thing on their list of stuff they want for Christmas. No school for the whole of winter and a generous snow fall so, they could make enough Snow Mans. One for each yard in the neighborhood.
This is one man, the popular winter man we all know of. But this morning R introduced me to another man. She had colored him red and green. She showed me the colored paper and said..“Mama, this is the Christmas Man”, which the rest of the world knows as Santa. I could already hear the triplets enlightening Richa, contaminating her non materialistic, uncorrupt mind saying
“R, he is Santa. He brings us gifts for Christmas. You can write down what you want and put it under the Christmas Tree”
When I had asked them to finish up the box of chocolate chip cookies that have been lying in the cabinet for sometime now, K had answered,
“No Mama, we are saving that for Santa to offer it to him on the night of Christmas Eve.”
As we talked about him, the triplets popped the question that had been bothering them for sometime now. “So Mama, Is Santa really there?” I could almost hear all the discussions they would have had with their friends at school about Santa, if he really existed or was just a figment of imagination.
P answers “There is no such thing as Santa.” and N re-iterates.
K asks..”Then how did you get all the gifts you got last year?”. Still wanting to believe in miracles and not ready to believe that Mama and Papa would want to give her a gift. Can’t blame her because this Mama and Papa, they are so full of handing out timeouts for free, how could they even want to give her a gift. So, now starts the period of hoping for snow, hoping for a white Christmas, hoping that Santa really exists and would bring all the gifts that my kids desire and in return would be happy to have those month old cookies that are going to be offered to him with a glass of milk.
R and me just finished listening to our favorite, Burl Ives’s "Rudolf the red nose Reindeer'. We are now talking to each other in the same tune.
"R, where is your shoes, You need to wear them. We are getting late for your school!, C’mon hurry up" Imagine these lines in that tune :-)
Happy Holidays!!!
2 comments:
well written
beautiful pics
Thanks SM :-)
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