That time of the year

It's 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. I'm returning home from a friend's home after a lovely dinner and a spell of decorating the Christmas tree. There's a life-affirming joy in untangling Christmas lights, draping them around a tree with some sense of symmetry (however warped), and then plugging them in for the final 'ta-dah' moment! I had eaten a lot and was looking forward to reaching home and scrolling through Instagram. I am quite behind in buying gifts; everyone seems to have embraced minimalism this year. Minimalists, it turns out, are the toughest to buy for. ("Here's your 'less' gift-wrapped!")

When I got out of the building, though, there was such a beautiful cold breeze! Cold. Not even cool. It was cold (by my standards). These were not opportunities to pass up. So I decided to walk. When you allow yourself to stride at your pace, life just feels a lot more luxurious. When you walk through a city, especially parts where you live and spend a lot of your time in, you notice the different ways a suburb drapes its darkness. Bandra and Versova seem to regard darkness as flecks that need to be wiped off as soon as they are detected. Dharavi holds darkness like a sword in its sheath. Kurla conjugates night-time into a Victor Hugo-esque landscape. Vashi lays it like a comforting blanket. Colaba turns it into nihilism that brings out one of these personalities: a latent philosopher, a dormant serial killer, or a past-their-prime artist. (Sometimes, all at once.) But then there's Juhu that wears its darkness like a pashmina scarf. Yes, there is brightness that is embroidered by way of Juhu beach, but there are other lanes that are soft and silky - the lanes that have the soft glow from a temple in the distance or a fancy diner with a tony crowd waiting outside. There is luxury in the lack of light around bungalows of superstars and a 100 year-old theater.

It's as if this area takes the words from all parts of the city and makes it a poem.

So, this is that time of the year - when you allow sweet delusion to take over as you walk through the city at night.