BANDRA (10) : T'is The Season

I had initially planned to write this and put it up in early December, but I needed to get into the Christmas Spirit to get motivated. So I now sit in Aberdeen Airport writing this on Christmas Eve, waiting to go to London to spend the long weekend with some friends.

No matter how Christmassy it feels here, with the shop windows overflowing with decorations, the High Street all lit up with huge glittering flashing lights, marching bands playing carols in the malls and streets, Winter Fairs selling crackling pork roasts, real Christmas trees, ginger bread biscuits, hot roasted chestnuts and hot chocolate, people bustling around with bags filled with gifts shopping till their wallets run dry…(Recession, what recession?), since it isn’t HOME, i.e. Bandra; my Christmas Spirit doesn’t feel that complete.

So, what are those small, quirky yet humble facts that make up Christmas in Bandra for me?

·The kids from the colony/neighbourhood getting together on weekends from early December to make up a huge Star made up of long flexible bamboo shoots and colourful crepe paper to be hung up in between the buildings.

· Aunties causing chaos in the material shops in Elco Arcade and the tailors all around Hill Road and Bazaar Road.

· College kids sitting around one Catlick bugger with a guitar singing Christmas carols in the canteen on a slightly cold and sleepy Saturday afternoon in December.

· Listening to the ‘Boys’ (who are actually men well into their 40’s and 50’s) from Mary’s Clan, coming around with their acoustic guitar and the occasional harmonica and accordion doing ‘sort of’ in tune but very warm hearted versions of all our favourite Carols.

· Guys buying bad jewellery or perfumes for their girlfriends as Christmas gifts.

· Girls buying bad ties or deodorants for their boyfriends as Christmas gifts.

· Wives buying short sleeved polyester shirts for their husbands as Christmas gifts.

· Husbands giving the kids some extra money so that they can sort Mummy out with something for Christmas in his name.

· All the men from the building society who never speak to each other except at the Society meetings ,trying to synchronize together to put up the fairy lights on the trees in the compound with long bamboo sticks sticking out from each of their respective balconies.

· Mothers staying up late at night stirring the thick, creamy milkcream sweet in the copper-based aluminium vessels and then pouring it out for their mothers to mould it into various and designs.

· Fathers taking leave during the last two weeks in December and then going on a DIY rampage to get the walls and window grills painted, the front door and the furniture polished and new curtain rods and curtains put up all before Christmas Eve.

· The rush of people to Pinky/Parry/Deepaks Wine shop at 8pm on Christmas Eve and 11am on Christmas morning to stock up on the booze for the days to come, often meeting people you only meet at that same place and that same time every year and act like you’ll been best friends for years.

· Doing the last minute dash to Cambridge or Check-Up to get a shirt and a tie to match for the suit for Midnight Mass.

· Waking up on Christmas morning with a slight hangover from the couple of drinks you had with the boys after Midnight mass to the smell of Stuffed Roast Chicken, Pea and Raisin Pulao, Sorpoteal and Vindaloo wafting through the house.

· Standing out in the balcony after the heavy Christmas Lunch, enjoying the silence on the roads, anticipating the blissful afternoon nap to follow and the commotion soon to start when everyone starts getting ready for the Christmas Parties and Gymkhana Dances in the evening.

· People getting totally confused towards the end of the Christmas Dance especially after a few drinks of whether to wish someone ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Compliments of The Season’, because ‘technically’ Christmas day has passed and if you do say Merry Christmas past 12am on the 26^th, you will be corrected by a young snooty woman wearing a tight silky golden brown ‘frock’ elegantly covering all her naughty bits while staring down at her mousey boyfriend who is wearing a ugly cartoon tie, has been forced to ‘jive’ all evening and is still recovering from the previous night’s hangover.

I hope this ‘Christmas Special’ Blog warms your heart and fills you up with as much of the Bandra Christmas Spirit and Cheer as it did me writing it all these miles away.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!