Having lived in Delhi all my life it may sound criminal to not like winters. Actually its not that I don't like them.....I HATE them. As October begins, and the slight chill settles in, you can see me literally shivering around the house. As time progress and winters assume their most monstrous nature, I wear 2 socks, one dirty monkey cap, 3 layers of sweaters and my hands are never out of my sweat shirt pockets. Also please add a continuous sound that I make while moving around to complete the image (its like "Oooo...hoooo.....sheeeee"). These layers don't even come off while sleeping and my husband fails to understand how can someone HATE winters. No prizes for guessing that he adores this weather. This is one more point in our list of "Opposites attract" category.
Tonight I have a wedding to attend. And a Non-Delhite must know that how much ever the temperature drops or fog descends, women cannot carry shawls or cardigans in Dilli. Its how we attend weddings. We wear heavy sarees and sleeveless blouses! Our husbands and kids will be in jackets and gloves, but we will ALWAYS be without any such protective gear. I mean if we have to cover our silk drapes and jewelry with shawls, why are you making us attend a wedding dude?
So what will we do? We will smile our best. Answer silly questions thrown at us like "Thand nahi lag rahi tumhe?". Quietly rub our hands when no one is looking. Hunt for a angeethi and force our husbands to accompany us around it hence restricting their movement. Sip on hot watery soup and then coffee. The time when we hold those heavy plates and finish food, our hands are frozen. But we go on....and on and on. If the wedding is a 'courtesy one' (like the one I will be attending tonight), we finish up with a hot gulab jaamun and make quick exit towards our car. But god forbid if we have to stay till the feras, we will put our sleeping kids on the sofas, and eventually give in to our husband's pleas of getting that shawl out from the car. Now the decision whether the shawl should cover our kids or us- is a tough one to make! But we still decide either ways and sail through the torture.
But Delhi and its weddings are best only in its signature winters. Because Delhi and its summer weddings are a punishment. Having made my family and friends endure this punishment during my own wedding, I better repent all my life by giving up on my shawls for all the wise people who have winter weddings :)
