Wednesday morning coinciding with the Christmas celebrations, came with a surprise gift of a foggy morning for the people here as it was the first winter morning so far this year when people had to face a thick blanket of fog engulfing the terai region here.
Keeping in view extremely cold conditions, a majority of the people restricted their movements on Wednesday. Thinly crowded market places only gave that impression. Thankfully, it was a public holiday. Otherwise, I had to be ready early in the morning as usual today also to reach my office on time in Bhimtal, said Prashant Narayan, a professional here. But we have to adopt ourselves according to the prevailing weather conditions ahead. Otherwise it won’t be easy to maintain routine course of life, added Narayan.
Given the poor visibility coupled with comparatively cold waves, interestingly the citizens had once discarded their hopes for a Sunny day on Wednesday here, but it was again the unpredictability of the Weather God that took many by surprise when the fog gave way to the sunlight later on Wednesday afternoon. Amid decreasing atmospheric temperature as reported from higher altitudes of different parts of the hill State, citizens have been facing cold waves here for nearly a week, but, as the weather experts have maintained, the citizens must be prepared to experience a tough winter days ahead.
Though children had already celebrated Christmas in their respective schools on Tuesday, Wednesday being a holiday, they also staged various programmes in their respective areas to mark this occasion. In the meanwhile, prayers were organised in different churches across the region to mark the Christmas Day today. People after offering prayers also greeted others on this occasion.
However, the Christmas celebrations have also marked the return of tourist season ahead, though the tourism industry faced a lean phase in between since monsoon season. The tour operators here are of the view that though tourism activities remain a low key affair during the winter season particularly in the hilly region, the Christmas celebrations followed by the new year celebrations on December 31 come as a big boost for us, maintain tour operators here, looking forward to good business ahead.