The dawn is yet to break; the twilight is just about creeping over the night ambience. The tea brewed up excellently; its taste and flavour, and the caffeine dose, remains as its felt presence. The being is awake.

September is the other equinox month of the year, heralding autumn in the Northern half of the planet. Region about the Tropic of Cancer will have golden hues in the morning and late afternoon. In India, the days of monsoon rains over most parts are over. The air begins to be less humid; and virtually crisp at times during the day. The monsoon will soon recede from North Central parts, tracing back its path over Eastern region and dip south over the gaping Bay Of Bengal, hitting the south-eastern regions of coastal Andhra and Tamilnadu by December. It will be winter by then, cold, in rest of the country.

The month also revs up the festivities that start low key in August, after the streaming month-long Saavan visit to temples of Shiva, with Rakhi followed by Ganesh Utsav and Teej. There will be Jiyutia that mothers observe in the Hindi belt, and the iconic Durga Puja later in the month. The latter, celebrated whether as victory of Lord Ram over Ravan or of the gods led by Devi Durga over the demon army, essentially reminds us of the triumph of good over evil, of the goodness of being over the evil that existence secretes.

There will be Deepavali or Diwali, the festival of light, about twenty days after the Puja. Ten days later, by November-end, people in East Central region will observe Chath, with offerings to the Sun God, whereafter the exuberance will be reigned in for work in the fields, cropping for the Kharif season : wheat, mustard, potato and peas. There will Gregorian celebrations for Christmas and New Year before the spring season festivities will kickstart in mid-January with Makar Sankranti, when the sun will begin to go increasingly overhead.

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Wednesday is a sombrely observed sacred day for our ‘Tewari’ clan of village Tewaripur in Bhojpur, Bihar. It is the day our migrant ancestor, from the mountainous region of present-day Uttarakhand, had passed away. The day is still remembered about 30 generations by the wider Family of his descendents, whom I have referred as “clan.”

There is restriction on starting any new venture or holding an event on this day, except if a child is born in the family on this day of the week. Which would be I, in my family. After my birth, the family felt free of the self-imposed ‘Wednesday’ restriction and I inherit the same freedom to this day.

There are two other days our family holds in same sombre sacredness : Tuesday and Thursday, on which days my parents passed away. Fortunately, our sons were born on these two days and freed us of the constant trouble of having to remember and factor in these inexplicable restrictions on our daily life events and initiatives.

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The litlle boy from next door entered our bedroom slowly, to bid a ‘bye’ before going to School, but not shyly. He lent a hand, to help me get up, because I insisted on walking him back to the lift lobby. As I was about to wish him and turn back, his mom called to say, there was time before the school bus arrived.

“Five minutes,” she’d allowed. He and I used those moments to recall bits of the story I’d read to him yesterday evening. We were yet halfway through. “You’ll complete the narration today ?” I assured him, I will. It was a happy boy who stepped into the lift, following his mother, for his this day in school.

And, it was a happy old man who walked back to his chair, to resume with the news daily I was reading when it got interrupted. Now, why would Vladimir Putin talk about talks with North Korea, without himself taking the least initiative at holding a one-to-one with dictator Kim Jong-un ?

It is ten o’clock when I press the “Publish” button.