That warmth

It was day of Lohri(opens in a new tab), peak winter in Amritsar(opens in a new tab).

And I wanted to go with papa, to his school which was in a village far away. He was teaching at that time in one of Satya Bharti schools(opens in a new tab).

Lohri is usually a day off, however papa's school used to celebrate it with some type of cultural programme.

It was hard to convince mum as it was freezing cold and I was so young and small at that time. Anyway, she agreed and put me in multiple layers of clothes, like 3 layers (body warmer, then sweater and then jacket), gloves on my hand, muffler wrapped around my face till only my eyes were showing. But it was still very cold.

We had a Hero Honda Passion(opens in a new tab) motorcycle and it was almost an hour long ride.

Like I said, I was very young and very small, and papa seemed big, and I sat behind him hugging him tight with my face into his back and my hands in his jacket's pockets.

And there it was “that warmth”.

The warmth of his back and his big build protecting (small) me from the bone chilling winters of January.

Sometimes we all would go on that 1 single bike.

Papa at the front driving, me hugging him tight from behind, and then mum sitting sideways carrying my sister.

I would get the double warmth (from front and back).

Now, whenever I feel cold, I think about that moment on motorcycle, sitting in silence with my face buried into my papa's jacket and breathing in that warmth.

No company has ever made a heater that can produce that warmth...

If you know about Harry Potter and the Patronus charm(opens in a new tab), you have to think about a very happy memory to produce the charm.

I think “that warmth” is my Patronus happy memory.