Christmas Has Changed Its Meaning Over The Years... #UnWrapChristmas




I thank Richa to have passed the wand of festive cheer to me. So I here #UnWrapChristmas with the flavors that this day gave me over the years since childhood.


When in school, Christmas for me was winter vacation, making greeting cards with ‘Merry Christmas’ on the top in red, buying small to tiny cards from the roadside stalls costing something between two to five rupees each, visiting the church in the school, admiring the beautiful decorations and the big red star perched atop the church, and finally, and most importantly having that delicious piece of cake from Sister Margaret before leaving. It was no Christmas if there was no cake.
In that transition between school and college, Christmas became just another holiday to pass my time home. Moving from the familiar surroundings of a small town like Keonjhar to the capital city of Bhubaneswar was nothing short of a tumultuous tectonic shift for me. It was a tough period and I had resisted the change as much as I could. Christmas didn’t seem as I had known it. I accepted that with time and in my 12th grade, Christmas meant the joy of giving, get-togethers, book-fairs and enacting musicals in school.

In college my views and perceptions were again contradicting with that of the crowd. Christmas meant after-semester-exam-fun. My friends mostly slept through the day after toiling hard for nights together for the exam preparations. Again the change was too much for me to bear. No one wanted to go to the Church, click a picture of the Christmas tree with the first Nokia handset and most importantly no one loved cards anymore. No gift exchange. Rarely anyone accompanied me to the book fairs. No card making- it was considered outdated and old fashioned and un-cool.  No musicals. No cake. No school. I missed school. Again I felt like the victim of ‘Change’. And again I tried hard to see the good in it- Christmas meant family get-togethers now, and travelling to the picnic spot in a big bus dancing throughout the journey.


Thank You Secret Santa For Such a Wonderful Gift!!!
After years, now, fast forward, Christmas has brought back all those emotions I used to feel as a child. The joy of giving is back. Secret Santa and gift exchange is cool and happening. Cake and cards are back in scene. Church going and having a good company is back too. Even the book fairs and the Christmas tree decoration in the office cubicles in back with a bang. Get-togethers are always there. ‘Change’ has finally taken a circular path, back to where it had started. And for the first time in years I haven’t resisted it.


I now pass on the wand to Reema D’souza  to continue with the unwrapping of the Christmas spirit.



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Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

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  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundhati Katju

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