Christmas eve

Went to the local store to purchase a pen, and noticed that the counter was laden with toys. Realised then that it was christmas eve and what it once meant to me. Back then I used to recieve visits from Santa, before Santa broke it to me that he was Santa if you get what I mean. It used to happen once a year, and I used to put in a pillowcase instead of a sock, and more often than not the gift was hidden elsewhere in the house. I remember my earlies christmas gift as being a watch and an arm band. Still have them around, but lost many of the later ones.
Today, I am going out to celebrate christmas with friends. Although this is just another excuse to celebrate.

There are some parents I've seen who interpret Christmas as a ploy by the foreign poweres to get them to export (or in some extereme cases, even "dump") their commodities into Indian markets. I think it would be atrocious if these foreign powers started to claim that it was India's ploy to first export Indians and then the custom of Diwali gifts. At the same time, look at the revenue generated by Indians in the whole season. Handicraft workers who would have otherwise gone with a jobless winter now can make Santa costumes, caps, trees and whatnot. The point also being that saying Christmas is just a marketing ploy is being non secular, wherever there are Christians, the birth of the Christ is bound to be celebrated. These are probably the kind of people who think Christianity itself is a ploy (which in fact, it used to be in the colonial times, when the ministers used to go around converting Indians and showing them the "right path" and the soldiers following for the protection of the ministers and the church, merchants following to provide for the soldiers, and the Raj following to overlook all of this.) To think Christianity is a ploy now would be unfair to the religion, but I have seen Christian Principals of schools having cheap allegations thrown against them - that they are trying to convert students. In fact, any Christian who advocates his religion is under threat of being blamed with an intent to convert.

We Indians (should I say Hindus?) make it a very difficult thing for minorities to survive.

The moot point is that today's party - a celebration of Christmas - will have about zero participation by Christians. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?