Unmistakeable footsteps of winter

The mist in the morning is getting thicker day by day. In fact the haze started making its presence known from the mid-Kartik, the last month of the Hemanta season. In the capital the mist was missing then but at the end of the month, something better known as smog started hanging like a ring in the distant horizon. But in villages, it is mist pure and clear. Trees are enveloped in wet, vaporous screen-like cover to present an ethereal look of the surrounding.
Is this the footsteps of the winter? It most likely looks so. Already the crystal clear sunshine of the morning is giving in to a cool, if not cold, atmosphere wrapped in that mysterious haze. The sun takes sometimes before it peeps through the white cover. People feel the change with all their senses. The skin feels the want of moisture and in villages it is pure bliss to inhale the intoxicating air.
No sweating at all and its benefit can be derived quite handsomely by anyone who is ready to do so. One's energy level is likely to go up at this time because it does not tire one on account of dehydration. Body fluid is preserved for more work. Also, the pleasant weather with no heat nor cold, gives one the added incentive to do more than at any other time. In the winter, a kind of laziness lingers to leave one somewhat inactive. But no such problem is there when neither of the extreme conditions of summer and winter constraints movement or physical exercise.
Metabolism in the body system too functions better. As a surprise gift, winter vegetables started appearing in the market well in advance. Some of them may not give the taste they were supposed to but at least the very look of them work on people's psychology in a positive manner. To go by the past years' experience, this is still early for the winter to herald its presence. But this year has been an exception in terms of rainfalls as well.
By the way, can adequate rainfall have any connection with early advent of winter? So far the impression is that winter will set early, any way. This defies the logic of climate change. But in Nature, things can at times go different unexpectedly. When the weather experts were predicting that the monsoon in the Bay of Bengal and the Arab Sea was getting weaker slimming the chance of rainfall in the subcontinent, they had little idea about the water-borne air that was gaining impetus to blow from the Mediterranean. It was unusual but it happened somehow.
Its luck favoured Bangladesh to enjoy moderate to heavy rain in the past few months. Now it has to be seen how it fares in the eventuality of an early winter. Will the winter bite and bite severely. For years together now the winter's bite has relaxed to a large extent. Now the poor and those among them in particular in the country's north are most ill-prepared for extremely chilly winter. If winter comes early and with its teeth sharpen, can the poor survive it?
Depending on the laymen's instinct, it can be said that winter will set in early and is likely to be severer this time. Whether it will go counter to the climate change theory or not matters little. The fact remains that this part of the planet earth has become cool enough during the rainy season that lasted longer than usual. The heat the earth releases has been tempered by rainwater. And that is one of the reasons why winter may arrive earlier and stronger.
What will happen next year is a different proposition. But it is better to enjoy the seasonal boon and make the most of the time to everyone's benefits. This year's pattern only reminds one of the days gone by. The nostalgia for a host of things however has its own value. Time may not be as before but it will at least give sometime to savour.