We have long known that signals received by our senses are interpreted by our brains to call up recollections from another time. It is common knowledge that sights, sounds, tastes and smells (especially smells!) can all trigger emotional memories from long ago. For some reason, the sense of touch seems to be least associated with evoking the past…
For me, it is always the feel of the first winter chill on my skin that conjures up my most magical connotations. During our school years, in a Himalayan boarding school, the cold of each approaching winter signaled the advent of our long winter holiday and an escape from school; it spelled a release from the classroom, the discipline and the wake-up bell that always rang too soon. Eventually, the same hilly region became my home and then the cold weather meant roaring bonfires, steaming soups and beds prepped with old-fashioned hot water bottles! To this day, after so many years spent in North India’s plains and Mumbai’s unchanging climes, I am inexorably drawn to the mountains – for their scenic beauty, for their eternal majesty and for their cold breezes that sing atop the cedars and touch my skin to unlock a treasure trove of associations.
Last week, as I walked out into gently falling snow, North America’s wintry weather reminded me that this cold also heralds the season of festivity and celebration for a big part of the world. This winter chill allows us the opportunity to seek warmth with family and friends and those we love.
