Autumn colours!
This one stemmed from a prompt during a writing session. Maybe, I am just documenting this for posterity's sake.
It was in 2020 that I heard the phrase “Be more autumn” first. It was an English friend who introduced me to nature’s wonder that is Autumn. I mean, I knew what it was. I was a diligent student in school who studied everything. So, I knew the concept. However, living in south India, I knew only two seasons — Summer and Monsoon and the weather was hot, hotter or hottest. There wasn’t an alternate option, to be honest. I was dreaming of my first Autumn-spotting soon as I was applying to grad schools abroad, where four seasons existed.
Autumn was this friends favourite season. It was the right mix of temperature, colours and the overall vibe that makes him wait for the season every year. For him, it was the perfect time. And that is, perhaps, why he coined this phrase. Now, since I didn’t know how Autumn looked or felt, he was kind enough to send me pictures from his country. He sent me shots of trees in varying shades of orange, maroon, red and green. He clicked pictures of the cutest leaves on the footpath and shared them with me. In a way, he was my eye in a country I had only read about. He still is, but in a different country now.
To me Autumn represents many of those things. It represents sharing, for I will always remember how he made me a part of his day by sharing photos. It represents the concept of letting go - if nature can let go and shed old habits once a year only to grow better soon after, so can I. It represents the joy of Noel, for I can already hear Xmas bells ringing and have many mental images of cutesy Christmas jumpers, hot chocolate and fluffy socks.
This year, living in Geneva and experiencing Autumn for the second time in my life, I am better informed to how to enjoy the time. I have been carefully curating my outfits for the season, trying to make Pumpkin soup and generally living the ‘fall girl aesthetic’. It also feels surreal to catch glimpses of trees and plants playing disco with colours over time and taking pictures of them to compare with their appearance a month ago.
Autumn feels like the time of the year, at least here, where people renew their cosiness towards friends and families with more intent. Group meals, planning Christmas things, catch-up sessions that seem more purposeful, I don’t know. I can sense a shift in the air. People seem to have more intent this time, as compared to Spring and Summer. I love this vibe. The intent to reconnect and rekindle relationships, the intent to share a meal, to have good conversations, to give and ask for more hugs and the likes. I love this. And maybe it is because of this too that Autumn has a special place in my heart.
Until next time,
M.