christmas memories

christmas is almost upon me, and as i await it with increasing delight and happiness, a memory from my childhood stands out. when i was much younger, i used to stay with my grandparents during summer vacations or when my mum and dad would travel on the ship. my grandparents’ house was in a street with other, non-uniform houses on both sides. one of the houses belonged to a christian family. i cant remember exactly when or how i knew they were christians (maybe my grandma told me), but i remember how their house always had a red lighted star hanging outside from a couple of weeks before christmas. in a country where christmas trees were still not popular, the lighted star imparted more than just a festive look to the house’s porch. i always used to look at the star in the evenings and wonder just what went on within. unlike our deepavali celebrations, when everyone would be outside bursting crackers, there was no one outside the house. and a closed door can excite the imagination like nothing else can. did they stand around an altar and sing carols? did they have a huge table with loads of people sitting around and feasting away? and more than anything else, did they follow the tradition of setting their christmas pudding alight? you could say i was just transplanting my english stories-inspired ideas onto them. but i never did get to know the people who lived there, so the memory remains – with startling clarity – of a house with a red star hanging from the porch beam and a door that closed on christmas celebrations in full swing within.