Dashing through the snow!

Fresh snow on a windowsill

One of the items on the bucket list for people from South India is to see snow. So when my husband to be and I were deciding where to go for our honeymoon, my response was- ‘to see snow!’. So that’s were we went, we went to Switzerland which thanks to Yash Chopra movies has captured the minds of thousands of Indians as the destination for snow. We evidenced this first hand when we got vada pav and idli on top of Mount Titlis and took air car gondola rides with tour groups full of Indian families. Maybe we saw more Indians there than the Swiss.

Me dressed for snow. If Kajol could, I could.

We even saw a Telugu movie shooting on top of the Alps, two hero’s in leather jackets and a heroine in a mini skirt (appropriate winter wear). But Swizz tourism is thankful , they even named a lake after Yash Chopra. The only disservice Yash Chopra movies did was that they gave very questionable guidelines on how to dress for snow. For the first time snow aficionado like me, one might end up sacrificing your old pair of boots on top of a mountain because old boots, snow and suede just don’t go together. Also three fourth leggings are an absolute no no for surviving snow.

Jungfrau Mountain

The first snow that I saw was on top of Jungfrau Mountain from the balcony of our room in Interlaken. With snow or without snow, Switzerland is just perfect. That is one thing that Bollywood didn’t get wrong. Every picture you take is screen saver worthy. When one sees snow even for the first time, hands get all itchy to make a snowman. For the inexperienced, not all snow can be transformed into a snowman with a scarf and a carrot nose. After struggling with gloves and without gloves, I managed a teeny tiny one which could also be called a snow lump technically.

On a trek down the mountain with a torn, wet boot.

The problem with our ‘lets see snow’ plan was that, we went there in September. We got to see last years snow on top of mountains and glaciers and I didn’t quite get to experience snowfall. I witnessed my first snowfall in the Poconos, USA at a mountain ski resort. It was magical. I took copious amounts of photos of snow, snow flakes and snow falling. Poconos is a great place for skiing in the north east of USA. The ski resort had closed down due to a blizzard and we had nothing to do but drink hot chocolate in front of the fire place and go outside and have a snow fight. Sometimes the best memories are made when we slow down and live in the moment.

Swans on the lake

First snow was magical as it lightly touched and settled on my outstretched hand and then quietly melted away. Fresh fallen snow covered the barren landscapes in thick white blankets and made everything pretty again. It squished and squashed under my boots as we ran like children all over the slopes. Swans on a frozen lake tried to find little holes of water to swim in as winter had glazed over their lake. But by the second time it snowed, it was just something that made me all wet, cold and threatened to give my toes a frostbite.

Snow is wonderful for the first time every winter, as you can become a child again and snowboard on white snowy slopes. Slopes that you didn’t know existed before it was covered by a snow blanket. Snow and Christmas is what makes winter magical for someone who stays in places where there is snow and Christmas. For others stuck in sunny places go against your instinct, book a ticket and make a beeline for a place that is cold.