Winter in Delhi is something that we eagerly wait for the whole year as in north India, we have a long, humid and annoying warm weather. In North India, we have colder and dry winter as compared to the other part of India. Around the end of December and beginning of January, the temperature could fall under 5 degree centigrade in Delhi.  Sometimes, there are heavy fog which cover whole city and it is hard to see even over 20 feet.

For us, the coming of winter season is also the coming of festival season. The biggest festival of India, Diwali is consider as the onset of cold weather in north India. By mid- November, the weather gets cold in morning and in nights and people start pulling their warm clothes. In most of the schools, the students have change to the winter’s uniform after Diwali festival.

As winter is not long and very cold, we don’t have the center heating in our home but many people use electric or gas heater to warm their home. For other, a traditional brazier, Bonfire or Angithi (अंगीठी) is a way to help themselves to cope the winter’s cold.

During winter, we enjoy many cups of our traditional Chai (चाय) and crispy hot Pakoras (पकोड़ा) with Chutney (चटनी) during the day time and maybe mouth watering, Gajjak (गजक) or Rewri (रवड़ी) which come with many varieties with our family in the evening before going to bed and sinking into our warm Razai (रज़ाई).

Vocabulary:

Chai (चाय) = a traditional brewing tea (In north India, Chai is usually cooked with black tea with milk, sugar and occasionally ginger flakes or Cardamom)
Pakoras (पकोड़ा) = fried snacks having any of these onion, potato, spinach, cauliflower, tomato, chilli, bread etc
Chutney (चटनी) = a condiment which usually contains a spice and vegetable mix.
Gajjak (गजक) = a traditional dry sweet from north India
Rewri (रवड़ी) = a traditional candy with sesame seeds which is usually available in winter.
Razai (रज़ाई) = a kind of bedding similar to a duvet which usually have a cotton, silk or velvet cover and stuffed with cotton wool