"O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb'd Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know."
-- William Cowper

Early this morning, going to Bangla Saahib, (its Gurpurab today), I finally felt that nip in the air. Yes, Winter approacheth the city!!! Winter is a season I wait for with bated breath. Specially post Dussehra, when those intermittent discussions on "is saal sardi nahi ho rahi" start happening, every morning I wake up, go to the balcony, and wait for that nip, you know, when the first breath of fresh air hurts a teeny weeny bit? And like watching and waiting for milk to boil, it takes its own sweet time, tormenting me with the anticipation. But they are here now... the season when you hate to get out of the bed, when snuggling in quilts all day long with a book, or a cup of hot chocolate, or adrak wali chai is not a sin, infact it is the season of nothingness... when the sunshine works its magic on you, lulling you in a slumberous, langurous daze, half asleep, half awake...

Winters are the best time to be in Delhi. Ever since my childhood, when winter days were spent in a big courtyard, enjoying the warm, lazy languid sunshine with oranges, moongphali, and bhutte... and moving the charpoy around so as not to get too warm was the order of the day and evenings were spent snuggled in warm quilts, desperately trying to warm the cold feet. I specially remember the times when all cousins were snuggled together, the one who got into the quilt last would consider it his/her God given duty to make sure to touch the feet of other with his/her cold feet... sigh!!!! Good old days, eh!!!

And my favorite bit, winters have been immortalized in the song by Gulzar, Fursat ke raat din (Mausam) in which he writes about lying in the courtyard, soaking the soft sun of the winters with your beloved in a lazy,sleepy posture.

Ya Jaadhon Ki Narm Dhoop Aur, Aangan Mein Letkar,
Aankhon Se Kheench Kar Tere Aanchal Ke Saaye Ko,
Aundhe Padhe Rahe Kabhi ,Karwat Liye Huey
Dil Dhoondta Hai