Happy New Year

The cake box stands on a table corner.
All that is left in it are crumbs.
Crumbs from cakes sent from home, crumbs from the West Indian Pastry Shop, crumbs from Elizabeth Aunty next door.
Crumbs of love, good cheer, bonhomie, laughter
Crumbs shared with friends from all over the world,
Crumbs..simple crumbs ..juicy, fragrant balls of fruit and flour and tinsel.

The Christmas Tree has been packed up like it was decorated ...in warm companionship. Friends , visiting from back home decorated it with bobbles, glitter, angels and a wee bit of ' Bangali gossip'
It made it to the family album of fellow comrades in my chosen town of residence as their children draped themselves around it with a wee bit of crunched chips.
Neo our newest canine buddy added to the humanness of it all by chewing an angel and a ball off it and ...
My long lost twin's husband from the ,' Marathi Manus' hotbed wrapped it in newspaper and put it back in the 'panetry' as my neice fondly calls it ...
with a wee bit of 'a morning after.'

The unwashed clothes in the green checked box overflow.
The wine stained shirt recounts the laugh which led to the spill.
While the black wooly monkey cap recounts the crackling bonfire on the coffee estate on Chikmanglur.
The red jacket boasts of the photo taken at Sim's Park in Cunnor with the winter sunshine kissing the bed of azeleas.
The towel is sad because it will never go home again having been left behind by it's rightful owner.
The innumerable grubby jeans are as usual not on talking terms with the fancy rags of the cocktail hour.
The Shopping Mall crew find the delicates with their French Mauritian soiree stories & their drunken Christmas Party & Night Out In Town scenes extremely ribald.

On the dresser , the remenants of the alcohol, the chocolates and the short eats remind the owner that the New Year is filled with distinct possibilities.
Nostalgia about the years gone by should be imprisoned in memory and tucked away.
Friends and family may have been lost on the way...but the last 4 weeks bear testimony to the fact ..that there is a wonderful life today which is Real, filled with love and is calling out to be breathed into.

So Happy New Year to ALL THOESE DENIZONS who blessed the portals of 159 Belview with so much joy in the last 4 weeks.
May your bellies be warm , ur lovers morally loose and your partners ever forgiving,
and may laughter ring in your ears after the joke is long outlived.