snow fall by......B.L Dhar

It is the month of December and time to expect a snowfall that thrills you. That is what exactly used to be my reaction as a child when I lived my childhood in the beautiful valley of Kashmir. My recollection of the event is so nostalgic, it brings tears into my eyes while remembering the soothing effect it had on my process of living in that state of being. The day of the first snowfall usually happened close to X-Mas and when it would stretch further it usually snowed on the New Year’s Day. I remember waking up in the morning and finding all the surrounding locale blanketed by snow giving it the effect of a white carpet on the muddy earth that needed a new coat of paint, while I slept through the night little knowing what the nature had to unravel the following day. And then it used to be painful watching this white carpet being trampled upon as people came out to do their daily chores. But as kids we would not forget chanting that familiar ode to the snowfall when we sang “sheena peto peto, mama yeto yeto”. And when going out at a time if the sun shone brightly after a snowfall, it was so dazzling for the eyes that it would blind us for a moment, looking at the expanse of the white sheet lying in the open fields or on the roads. And if the snow continued for the day, it was still a pleasure looking into the sky and watch those flakes dance down on earth. The birds would normally stay in groups and hang out in spaces where they found a little shelter and did not at all feel hungry and look out for some food. They, perhaps, knew it would be futile to look out for little bits of stuff in the soft flaky snow. How I miss all that stuff now – Oh Lord.

Today the things are, however, different. There is more technological hardware spread around that the effect I felt as child can hardly be experienced now-a-days. As I grew up, though, I relived the childhood experiences at Boston (USA) when I was there for some time in the month of January. But the effect of the snowfall was a bit more severe than what I had experienced as a child living in Kashmir. So much so when breathing in the open air, it felt like breathing-in the snow particles directly into the lungs. Then I learnt about something called the “wind-chill”. That is a different experience altogether and looking at the pictures below, I still get the chill up my spine when you look at the six feet of snow piled up by the roadside.

BL Dhar