DISCLAIMER: My hair isn’t actually grey.
Moving on...
Having grown up in South Asia, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’ve never seen snow before. I’ve REALLY missed out on that experience.
Here’s what I’ve been asking myself since day zero: Literally, what even is snow? White cotton candy that’s deceptively cold? Whipped cream on the landscape that melts and solidifies depending on temperature? Sadly, this fluffy yet wet phenomenon has been an enigma to me for the past seventeen years.
Moving to Massachusetts excited me on multiple levels. I was particularly happy to finally live in a country with actual seasons as opposed to home- the land of eternal summer. As the beauty of the fall foliage began to fade away slowly, a nagging sensation took root in me. And with winter around the corner, I awaited my first snow with dreaded anticipation. What if it wasn’t as special as I’d imagined? What if its beauty had been over exaggerated? Would I remain unimpressed or worse, disappointed?
Unfortunately, I had to wait quite a while before I found out. The weekend my road trip to Vermont got cancelled was also the first time it had snowed there. I was further aggravated the second time around, when I learnt that it had just started snowing in Massachusetts four days after my flight home.
On my flight back, despite being in the aisle seat, I craned my neck over two irritated passengers, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of the white wonder, as my plane descended into Logan International Airport. Once again, to my disappointment, there was no snow to be seen because it had been raining incessantly all day (CLASSIC BOSTON!).
Later that evening, I decided to go shopping in Downtown Boston (my absolutely favorite part of the city). For some weird reason, the gloomy, overcast sky and the tall buildings with their impressive architecture always had an odd yet calming effect on me. When I walked out of the third store, I was thoroughly surprised at the sight of white patches randomly falling from the sky. I think it took me a full second to comprehend what was really happening here.
I looked up towards the sky, watching and feeling the countless snowflakes falling on my face. Intrigued, I opened my mouth and hesitantly tasted it with my tongue. I think I was probably acting like a five- year old in the middle of the street at that point.
I started shivering and the growing numbness zapped me back to reality. I don’t quite recall how long I had been standing there but was astonished at how the temperature had dropped so quickly- it wasn’t exactly a pleasant surprise!
Finally convinced that I had thoroughly enjoyed the deceptive beauty of snow, I sped toward the car, eager to slip into the warm seat. Annoyingly enough though, I almost slipped on the snow and fell flat on my face. Yes, I know. I’m awkward. I can’t exactly help it!