The darkest day of the year starts out with no more light than any other. From now on it's all up hill. Lighter and lighter, going toward the sky.
People climb mountains because they're there.
You, Devayani, never realized before yesterday that your mother spent her first day on this old planet on the darkest day of the year. From darkness into light. I never asked her if she was electrified at birth. But she made it through this world unspoiled and uncritical. The new year begins today, grabs for the sun, drinks of the dawn, urges the buds already sheathed, already green.