In Winters , during the cold rainy misty holidays "Breakfast was always a real treat and something to look forward to. Specially the New Year"s Day brought joy and excitement because the schools would close. Chilly hazy mornings would be filled with breakfast gatherings in front of the fireplace. The low table [in height like the Japanese tea tables,] would be laid with specially prepared meat dish called "Hareesa". The famous Kashmiri breakfast meat delight eaten hot, with baked naan served with kebabs and pink salty tea or Namkeen Chai.
All these breakfast items needed effort. The meat would be prepared with a variety of cereals, and cooking would begin in the evening and continue through the night. When it was ready it would be like a thick paste.
These winter days are the last week of December and the first week of the New Year, this time used to be rather quiet generally.
I remember we looked forward to the new books, the Radiant Readers with stories of "Baron Munchausen", "The Barmecides Feast", and "Tom Thumb", and our last days in school would also hold the annual stage play. "Cinderella" was a memorable one, with the stagecoach and the pumpkins, then the famous 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'... I wonder where all the stage plays have gone?
Gone are the beauties of literature, the pleasure of poetry and also the method of making Hareesa. Well, times have changed with technology. The meat is now prepared in the blender [a mixer chopper machine.] Ah! The true aroma, the freshness, the sincerity of family breakfasts…
'These days there seems to be "NO TIME" for Breakfast!!!
New Year would bring good cheer and glad tidings but…
Well... I am not so sure now. There goes another flash of a bombing in my own country; and we were told it was a land of pure peace.
India Holidays in kashmir