HYDERABAD: Have you noticed there are more malnourished Santas sweating outside Chandana Brothers outlets than there are actual Christians in India? That’s Hyderabad for you — where Christmas isn’t just a holiday; it’s an annual spectacle of capitalism dressed up in red, white, and synthetic beards. And honestly? It’s glorious. Take the Christmas tree at GVK Mall, for instance.
It’s so over-the-top, even the tree at St Mary’s Church must be questioning its faith. Restaurants join the festive spirit by adding red and green food colouring to everything from pasta to pulao. And every year, Maa Saraswati Vidya Mandir — a school otherwise dedicated to Sanskrit shlokas — suddenly bursts into Jingle Bells.
That’s the magic of Christmas, folks: it makes everyone forget their affiliations, at least for the last six days of the year. Is Christmas really that big in India? Yes. Did the 1.
5% Christian population make it this popular? Absolutely not. If you do a DNA test, you’ll find Santa Claus is more closely related to Uncle Sam than to Jesus Christ. Jesus preached love and forgiveness.
Uncle Sam sold us fairy lights that stop working after one night, inflatable Santas that look hungover, and Santa caps that can’t keep anyone warm. Guess which idea caught on faster? Exactly. The brilliance of Christmas’s success lies in how far it’s been kept from Christ.
It’s no longer about sermons or scripture. That’s the power of a capitalistic Christmas: it doesn’.
