December has that distinct Christmas flavour. In school it used to come with the winds that knocked the windows shut loudly.Those little shopping sprees for christmas cards, the whole 'christmas friend' excitement, school carols, the crib making competition.... Later, thanks to Philip uncle, the best part of my christmas became the carol competitions across Thrissur.
I don't wanna write about the beauty of four part singing here. You've gotta experience that yourself. Around a month before christmas we start practising. With the famous chaya and parippuvada combo up in the church balcony or library hall.
This is where the 'V' club(just for valips) was born. With wonderful members including Linu Babu, George Immatty, Joseph Abbey, Abhijith Charles and yours truly...Either we open our mouths to sing, or we open it to let out the next big valip of the year.
How we managed to practise in the midst of valips, cackling laughter sessions, food adi, discussing the uniform etc remains a mystery. But we did. Though I doubt if Mr George Frederick Handel is pleased with our renditions.
Here on the Lavale hills I miss christmas. It has the wintery feel, chilly breeze etc, but my dear warm Thrissur seems much christmassier than here. I miss the infinite number and varieties of cakes that amma would bake back home. I miss those little glasses of wine we sip when each guest comes in. I miss going for endless practices on my Flikky. I miss going to each new stage and the tension before each performance, the anxious wait before the result, the joy of winning, the gloom of losing, the food therafter...
Christmas might be a holy religious day for some. It could just be another international holiday for the others. It could be the family get together time for yet others. But for me, the whole of this season speaks of harmonized notes and mellifluous sounds. And all of the sheep.
