I love winters. Being a nature lover all seasons appeal to me, but as they say there is something about winters!. Life just seems acquire another dimension.

Winters make you think. It makes you stop and ponder about the meaning of life. For Nostalgia sucker like me, it opens the floodgates to the past. Memories old and new, of triumph and agony; of innocence and ignorance; of people and places; of a life lived and days gone by come rushing back.

My earliest memories revolve around standing in the vast school courtyard with friends and watching our breaths. While others used to study for the weekly tests on the way to school I used to watch the beautiful early morning fog covering Delhi from the school bus window.

College was a life altering. However what I remember with great pleasure are days when me and my buddy used to come together for the early morning class. We wud always decide to give the same class a miss and go for a long walk. We would end up at a construction site and with pleasure and immense relief take a piss and watch the vapors rise. Later we would buy coffee and biscuits and settle on back benches for anonymity.

Then there was her. Those flashing eyes, that smile, that warmth. :)

It is also the time when you wonder whatever happened to all those amazing people you met, but now have no clue about. The sweet light eyed girl from one of my earlier jobs, that amazing Lady who conducted my training to that girl who used to cycle with me in the colony roads.

And sometimes with people you do know, you wonder whatever happened to them. They
grow, evolve, change. Some for the better, some for the worse.

Winters also means love. Music touches new depths of soul and heart beats a beat faster.

During College money was always an issue. I remember going out with someone who had some to spare. It was a warm sunny winter day and I was late for the movie. I had to change two buses and huffing and puffing as I reached the venue I saw my friend. What followed next was one of those moments which are forever stretched in one memory. She was sitting on the stairs, staring at something in the distance. Unassuming and unaware. I smiled and ran up to meet her. 'I sorry I am late ...tickets'?

‘I already bought them’ she smiled. Life was wonderful.

There was also i time when I used to wake up early to exercise and experience the beauty of a winter dawn. The fog, the darkness, the cold, the stillness was all immensely overwhelming and calming at the same time.

And then there was the winter sun!. Me, my buddy, cigarettes, chips, cokes and the park. Lying on grass and worrying about our unemployed status was never so much fun. Gawd I miss those days.

Afternoons were all about playing cricket and gathering enough money for bare minimum petrol and a bottle of beer.

Times sure have changed. So have people, friends and circumstances. But then again nothing really has. I am still the same, the winters are still the same. Every once in while during winter no matter what, I still get up early and skip out of the house just to watch the world go by. God I love winters!