Christmas in good old Madras
The Hindu
The festive spirit would fill the air, with frantic shopping and carols played and replayed in our old tape recorder
Madras, a melting pot of culture, art and literature, has always evoked fond and beautiful memories in me, a Keralite born and brought up in the hot and dusty city now called Chennai. Though now, I have been a resident of Kerala for years, nostalgic memories, especially those associated with festival celebrations, remain.
We lived in a residential colony, where people of all religions, caste and communities coexisted. I believe that this cross-culturalism, pluralism and multilingualism shaped my personality and fashioned me into a free-thinking individual with liberal, democratic values. We celebrated all festivals with gusto, and there existed a rare camaraderie among the colony mates. Being Christian, we celebrated Christmas with fervour when the sweltering heat would give way to the cool winds of December.
The festive spirit would fill the air, with frantic shopping and carols played and replayed in our old tape recorder creating the right Christmas ambience. The curtains and cushion covers would all be brought down for a wash, the mosaic floors scrubbed clean and furniture dusted, and our home would be geared to welcome Christmas. Making Christmas cards for all my relatives and friends was a labour of love. Each card had my heart and soul ingrained into it. The glittery ones which would open up in many layers were my favourites. Decorating the Christmas tree was a big affair. My dad would take me on his Lambretta scooter to cut a good branch for the tree, which would proudly stand in a flowerpot in our veranda like a bride in all her finery. A Christmas star with a red bulb lent the right aura.
Works are under way to establish smart classrooms equipped with broadband connectivity in as many as 20,000 panchayat union primary schools and to establish hi-tech laboratories with similar Internet connectivity in 6,992 panchayat union primary schools across Tamil Nadu, the Director of Elementary Education (DEE) has informed the Madras High Court.