Snow in Toronto is like rain in Mumbai. Towards end of May when the earth is parched, all Mumbai waits for the rains. Towards end of October, when it begins to get really cold, all Toronto waits for snow.
In Mumbai it didn’t rain almost all June. It didn’t snow in Toronto all November.
There’s a good reason for Copenhagen summit to set stringent targets.
Last week it began to snow and the temperatures fell below freezing. I could almost feel the sense of relief amongst the people of the city, even as they welcomed the first snowstorm with vocal curses. In this respect, Torontonians are not too different from Mumbaikars.
Going out in freezing temperatures requires a lot of willpower. Today, it was no different. I wanted to participate in the Small Press of Toronto Book Fair. And meet my friends. The fair was a combination to mainstream publishers as well as the underground press.
There were many writers, editors, publishers. I knew just two of them – friend and author Jasmine D’Costa and poet Glen Downie. There were independent publishers, self-published writers, publishers who publish only poetry, crafts folks who create homemade stationery, cards, posters and all sorts of knickknacks.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend any of the book reading sessions or the author interviews because my friends were meeting me at the Gladstone Hotel to discuss a book project (more about that sometime later).
Talking of books, talking of writing, sharing stories of our lives over Earl Grey tea in a pot and having egg omelette, bacon and fried potatoes. Saturday afternoons can’t get better than that.
It gets dark before 5:00 PM. We returned home.
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