The Memory Remains

October is here and you can smell winter in the air. It’s an old smell of past winters – of dandiya and burning Ravans, of Diwali sweets and fireworks. Of sweaters wrapped in mothballs being aired in the sun. Of small roadside bonfires, of the lightest of fogs in the hidden winter sunlight. Of holiday homework done while munching on chakli, chiwda and besan laddoos.

Yes, Bombay winters used to be cold once. It wasn’t the harsh biting cold of Pune or the hypothermia-inducing Delhi cold. It was a slight chill, just enough for you to turn up your collar, take in a nice, crisp lungful of air, blow a bit on your palms and walk away.

The cold is long gone. But the smell is still in the air.