Meri bhi Christmas

Shivam of Mall Road, gives us a good riposte to political correctness with his brief, yet pithy post on Christmas.

For those of us from truly multi-cultural nations, like India, the recent brouhaha about 'Happy Holidays' is odd.

Firstly, there is no true concept of 'Holidays' the way we celebrate them in India and Europe - no one takes long breaks, there is little exultation in the streets, like Diwali or even Christmas, and people don't travel as much as almost every middle-class-and-up desi does, partly thanks to the colonial LTA/LTC (Leave Travel Allowance), a tax-deductible allowance available bi-annually to be used for travel.

Secondly, secularism, a word rarely mentioned in the West, although practiced more concretely here, is partly about being able to exchange Eid wishes and Christmas salutations equally, irrespective of denomination.

Finally, it is disconcerting, and socially dysfunctional, to avoid a word used as a connotation of brotherly love, rather than the borrowed religious connotation, which itself was introduced over an older greeting of warmth.

'Nuff said. Excuse me while I settle down with a Chivas Regal next to my crackling fire, beside our 6-foot Christmas tree, and go through the presents of the day.

Meri bhi Christmas (It's even my Christmas, to translate literally)
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