Leslie's Laughs

 [This is the third in the series of Christmas-themed articles for My Kolkata.  You can read it online with all the bells and whistles.  Click here ] Trees Are Green, Evergreen! The writer, the father of three one-time kids, recounts the variety of events loosely packaged as Christmas Tree Parties that define Our Kolkata in December The title of this piece is an old kiddie joke where some lady’s name was “Teresa Green” which of course brought a laugh to our baby faces.  And that joke, I believe, remains evergreen like the pines we emulate every year. Emulate and simulate because pine trees don’t grow wild in my Kolkata, we are driven to Free School Street and New Market to purchase the trees grown from plastic and tinsel - foldable ones and trees that can be dismantled branch by branch and can probably be used next year, storage permitting. In our young days, and through the Enid Blyton years, we read and heard about “trimming” the trees - not what the KMC does afte...

  [This piece was written as part of a series of four pieces for My Kolkata.  Published on December 7, 2023.  You can read it with all the videos, images, bells and whistles ONLINE  ] Christmas not on the (greeting) cards — a traditionalist reminisces An author reflects on a once-staple Xmas tradition that is fast fading away lESLIE D’GAMA     | PUBLISHED 07.12.23, 06:56 PM Every year around this time there is a sort of resurrection of ancient traditions in the Christian households. One is consistently reminded of Charles Dickens’  A Christmas Carol and its Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Some of these ghosts have long been put to bed by the new spirits. The spirit of giving is rivalled only by the spirit that attracts excise duty from the off shops. The Christmas Spirit is changing .. or should I say the XMas spirit? For years families like ours were schooled into believing that we should not use the word Xmas instead of Christma...

 [This piece was written as part of a series of four pieces for My Kolkata.  Published on December 3, 2023.  You can read it with all the videos, images, bells and whistles ONLINE . ] A former choir master and Christmas Carols enthusiast traces the recent evolution of Carol Singing in the city “ O Little Town of Bethlehem / How still we see Thee lie! ” - brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear these lines sung by an ageing contralto, accompanied by a light piano, or not. This fast vanishing breed of pure voices, sometimes with perfect pitch, reminds us of our salad days when, at the behest of the choirmaster, the rest of the carol singers would break into the chorus. Silent Night followed as did Adeste Fidelis and all the other Christmas Carols. It also brought tears to my eyes of a different sort when, just outside our main door, we were rudely disturbed by the same words belted out by raucous and probably inebriated voices, accompanied by a guitar whose strings were as...