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Christmas was always a breathless season of expectations
Where all worries about school
And holiday homework were drowned
In buying Bata shoes,
Getting clothes stitched and
Seeking an appointment from Dunno Bakery
For baking the family cakes
Christmas was also a time for
Counting eggs, dry fruit packets,
Cake essence cans,
Ghee tins, sugar boxes,
Butter containers
And rum bottles
Against the all-consuming anxiety of a thing well done.
Christmas was about Christmas Eve,
Festoons, buntings and heralding stars,
Pretty well-behaved girls,
Snacking on pilfered condiments,
Visiting grandparents, great aunts,
And all those mysterious, rare folks
Whom we hardly ever met
Christmas was also about getting money,
Eating family dinners,
Remembering the fragrance of
Biryani and mutton roast,
Christ in the manger,
Girls in navy blue skirts
And the drudging retreat of a nativity sermon
Christmas was all about the senses entering faith
And searing the consciousness
With nameless sentiments
Apologetic, angelic, olfactory,
Transforming the mundane into the magical
And baptizing us
In the community of our credence.
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