Welcome December

My garden is looking green, the tomato plants are almost reminding me of Jack and the beanstalk standing tall against the wall and my chilly plants are doing so well. The weather is rubbing hot and cold, so fickle that I feel like a ramp queen one moment and like an Eskimo the next. Welcome December, welcome to the onset of summer, of barbecues and festivals and rain and sun. In my mind, I am still trying to get used to the idea of a summer in December as I bid goodbye to my many winters of discontent.

My morning newspapers come with many supplements on gifts and sales for Christmas, such a colourful reminder of the holiday season. The radio is full of Christmas songs but Michael Buble is getting into my nerves. My in-laws are preparing their gift list and traditional family Christmas lunch and I am thinking of my traditional New Year’s Eve party. Sometimes the preparing stage is more exciting than ready. A good time to enjoy the company of the handful of people whose friendship I genuinely enjoy.

It’s not easy to make friends when you move places. After living in a different city, in a different country for God knows how many years, moving always come with a few accompaniments such as the nostalgia of leaving behind the intimacy of close friends and family. Of course, they will never disappear from your lives but the strength of having someone just a phone call away is irreplaceable. So when I did move to Melbourne, I had a resolve to immerse myself in the place, its people, and its many mysteries and beauty. You do not move on from one set of friends to another but life has a way of filling the void. I love my new surrounds, I love my new friends and there is the man - love unlimited.   

I have not written for a while and that makes me a bit anxious, not as anxious as when I plan parties. Those things come so easy, I love to cook and I love to clean up. A good friend used to call me an MCD, which is the civic body that operates in Delhi. They are the people who clean but, well, my friend thought I could even give them a run for their money. There is nothing like looking at a sparkling floor, a well spruced up garden, a shiny bathroom and cupboards neatly stacked with clothes. It gives me such an inner sense of peace. Of course not every day is the same, the orderliness and neatness take a backseat but the obsession to clean never leaves the mind. Yes, an obsessive compulsive disorder. Wish I had the same attitude to writing and working.

But it is the holiday season and my favourite excuse for all the drinking. We have our Christmas yoga party tomorrow night and there will be more toasts as the year draws to a close and I herald the New Year with my birthday. Bless my parents for that timing! I have double reasons to celebrate :)