City gets into the Christmas mood

Published in the New Indian Express, Page 3
Coimbatore Edition, dated December 20, 2006

By Francis P Barclay

Coimbatore, Dec 19: Wine pots are getting their final stir, pastries are ready and the cake dough is getting into the oven. The festival fever has gripped the city, which is now eagerly awaiting Santa's tap at the door.
``This is turning out to be a chilly Christmas. Like how it must have been when Jesus was born. This year's celebration involves much thought... focussing on the real meaning of the great day. Churches are aiming at
spreading the good news,'' Caroline Johanna, a plus-two student and a regular church-goer, says.
Take a late night stroll through Podanur, where the Anglo Indian and Christian population is high and there are myriad churches. Christmas carols are echoing through the wintry night air. Many homes are decorated with
streamers and lanterns to give the choristers a warm welcome. They all have the whitewashed look and Christmas stars are shining bright on rooftops.
With Christmas round the corner, people here have begun preparing their saccharine pastries. Christmas sweets are something especial and most Christians see to it that the traditional ones are made. Kal Kal, Dhol Dhol,
a pastry made of Black Puttu rice which is bought from Chennai, plum cakes, seed cakes, diamond cuts, Biblique, a pastry made of raw rice, sweet coconut puffs and ginger biscuits are part of them.
``We have prepared all of them,'' Kenneth Thomas, a resident of Podanur, says.
Rose cookies is also a Christmas sweetmeat. A few prepare murkoos too.
Usually, pastry preparation ends two or three days before Christmas. Cakes are baked at the last. Wine, which is fermented for 30 to 40 days depending on the way people want it strong or sweet, gets its final stir now. It is ready to get served for Christmas and the New Year. Very few prepare wine and others buy it for them. Plum cake and wine are the hit of the season.
Despite the exams, children are ecstatic as they have got their Christmas dresses. But a few are yet to purchase new apparels. They are those who go in for ready-mades.
Christmas shoppers are thronging the Big Bazaar Street and the Five Corner area, where outlets selling decorative items are aplenty. Shopping complexes are glittering with colourful starts and balloons to lure customers. New collections have arrived.
A few bake cakes at their homes while others prefer the easy way of buying it from bakeries. Churches and a few houses build their Christmas crib and tree. A few like Colleen Thomas want X-mas cakes to be home-made. Says she: ``Making our own cakes always excites us and Christmas comes once in a year. How can we miss it?''
Maud Jones, a septuagenarian, recalls how in those days Christmas used to be. ``We were 13 children in our family. We used to go for Christmas shopping a month before the festival. The Christmas fervour would start
months before it and we would be awaiting the festival as we would get new things. Nowadays, things have changed, but yet the festival remains still auspicious,'' she says.
Christmas is a day to relish, rich or poor.
``A star and angels announced the birth of Jesus Christ that day, we also have our star and would get and give gifts as the three kings did that day. It is a day for hymns, to learn about Jesus and be good people,'' Mohana
Priya, a school student, says.
Santa Claus is ready with his bag of gifts. The geese are getting fat. Yes, the day to invite friends and relatives and share happiness is coming closer.