December 21, 2006

And it snowed!

I will never forget the day I saw snow for the first time in my life – 7th December, 2006. Well, I am talking about real snow falling from the sky and not the ice in the refrigerator. I stay in India, but have not been fortunate enough to visit Shimla or other hill stations where it snows. I always used to wonder how it would feel to see snow everywhere. I always yearned to see snow. Well, God granted my wish and I landed in the US.

I came to the US before the winter season. The trees decided to change their dress in October. I saw the beautiful autumn colors of the leaves. The trees were dressed in breath-taking hues of yellow, orange, red, and maroon. It is a sight that will always stay in my heart. Later on, the trees decided to shed their leaves. Everyday, the ground was covered with more leaves. It was a bit sad to see the bare, naked trees. But then, they have a charm of their own.

The temperature started dropping day by day. Often, it went below 0 degrees. We covered ourselves from head to toe when we went out. The cold air coming out of the mouth, gave the feeling of smoking, without the cigarettesJ. With each passing day, I hoped to see snow. Once, snow was predicted and it did snow, except that it was so windy that I hardly saw any real snow. I think I wanted to see snow falling peacefully on the earth below.

I woke up on a beautiful morning, and I knew something was different the minute I woke up. I opened the curtains, and there it was, falling in front of my eyes. It was like beautiful, cotton-like flakes tumbling straight from the sky. It covered the cars, the grass, our windows, and everything else that fell in its path. I was mesmerized by its beauty. Though I know all the science behind snowfalls, I felt as if it was cotton candy falling out while the fairies were eating it. I called my husband and we both watched it. I went out and spread my hands to catch some snow. It felt funny when it fell on my hands and melted.

I watched it till it promised to come back to bring another smile on my face.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I still remember my first snow fall experience - it was in November 2003, we were in California before moving to Illinois - and both, my husband and myself enjoyed the first snow fall. Infact we used to get up every morning anticipating some snow and it happened one day! We had lots of snow fall during 2003-2004 and it was damn cold! But we started hating snow & winters ever since!
Scraping the car everyday, driving in those weather conditions, having to dress up in layers if we want to get out, or just stay indoors all the time! How disgusting!....we wanted to move out at the earliest possible, that did not happen and this is our 5th winter here! And yes, I still hate the winters here!