by Jayasankarankk
“Life is like an onion: you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep” – Carl Sandburg, writer
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
For one thing, my wife’s finally back from Singapore, and my daughter’s home for the holidays.
Then my brother’s family is down from the US. So are various cousins and their offsprings. They will be at our place for Christmas Eve as I am the only Catholic in my family: the rest are either nominal Hindus, serious ones – those who actually understand the philosophy – and those who’ve read too much Richard Dawkins for anyone’s good.
But Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind. Which most people instinctively grasp: my family is no exception.
They like and appreciate the scene: the tree, the carols, the pineapple tarts, the wine, dinner, the atmosphere. And don’t forget the beer: that’s why there are carols like “It’s a Wonderful Time For A Beer”.
As for us, we’re doubly secure because we’ve assuaged our consciences by going to church first thing in the morning.
But the ones who most love the season are the children. Raisa, my daughter, bought presents for all four of them and they will believe that it’s from a bearded, jolly, fat man with a limited dress sense living somewhere in the North Pole.
Raisa had no trouble believing the same thing until she was almost seven. Then an embittered cousin whose belief had been shattered by a Grinch-like priest decided to spread his disillusion and Raisa suddenly found out that Santa was, actually, Daddy.
I was furious with the said relative: he was clearly a Rebel without a Claus.
On an ecclesiastical note, Satan can metaphorically be described as the “scarecrow in the religious cornfield”. Pity the dyslexic devil worshipper then: he could end up worshipping Santa.
The season makes you reflective. I look around and I realise I’m a lucky fellow, to have family and friends in a reasonably happy and secure environment during a period of intense upheaval and suffering in other parts of the world.
So, I think, OK, maybe I don’t deserve any of this. Then I think, I have food allergies that I don’t deserve either so maybe, what the hell, that’s just how the cookie crumbles.
That’s just life. As the Jewish author and humourist Sholom Aleichem wryly observed: “No matter how bad things get, you’ve got to go on living, even if it kills you.”
Or as Dr Mahathir Mohamad might have noted: “It’s good to be here…but at 99, it’s good to be anywhere.”
But I digress, and to get back on point, it‘s good to be here during the Christmas season. My daughter said she began perspiring the minute she stepped out of the airport’s air-conditioned chill into the humidity of Sepang. It had been 7 degrees in Amsterdam when she left.
I’ll take the equatorial swelter any time. The rains ensure December’s the coolest month in the year, which helps.
Not quite a White Christmas but a Right One will do nicely, thank you.
At the end of the day, perhaps we should just count our blessings, touch wood, and cross our fingers. Because it could be far worse.
As comedienne and actress Lily Tomlin predicted: “Things are going to get far worse before they get worse.”
Merry Christmas everyone!
WE