Xmas aroma wafts from malls, crowds follow the scent

NEW DELHI: When Christmas is round the corner, can colour and festivities be far behind? And in the spirit of the season, malls in Delhi are resounding with carols even as bakeries are fragrant with Yuletide confectionaries.

At the

Select Citywalk Mall

in Saket, shoppers were awed by the decorations. “People are visiting the malls simply to look at the beautiful

Christmas trees

and the decorations,” said Sushma Pathak, who was there with her family. Confirming her belief that malls at Christmas time present a perfect occasion for enjoyment for everyone, children there gathered around the huge Christmas tree right in front of the mall and smiled cheerfully as parents clicked away.

“In the crowd, with the music and festivities, it feels more like Christmas,” said Priyanka Jain, a college student, who was at the nearby

DLF Promenade Mall

with her friends. The mall is the place to visit if you are enamoured of

Santa Claus

, the jolly symbol of Christmas. On Saturday, the fun will double with the Santa parade.

And if Christmas is here, how can cakes not be there? At the malls, the traditional plum cake is ever beloved, but bakeries and French patisseries have introduced festive additions such as chocolate hazelnut Christmas cupcakes, ginger and hazelnut cookies and Christmas cookies. “The cupcakes bearing the face of Santa Claus and snowmen are popular among children and adults alike,” said Karan, who works at Chokola.

French bakery L’opera has introduced the panettone, a Christmas confection. “This delicacy is baked for over 24 hours and presented in a gift box. With candied lemon zest and citrus fruits, this is an essentially Italian sweet,” explained Manish, a sales representative at L’opera. Plum cakes are enduring symbols of Christmas, and Satish Gupta travelled all the way to the mall to get one. “You find plum cakes everywhere, but the French patisseries offer variants that my family members, especially the children, enjoy hugely,” smiled Gupta.

At Wenger’s, the venerable cakery in the capital, crowds milled around to buy Christmas goodies. “Along with our unique plum pudding, we also have the customary rum-and-wine-drenched plum cakes,” said Charanjit Singh, the manager. A fast-moving product was the special Christmas basket, which contained cakes and muffins exclusively made during the Yule season.

The Artful Baker at Khan Market has come up with dark rum cake and special brownie. “Our speciality this year is the Stollen, which is like a fruit bread and is selling well,” said Rohith Jaswal, the floor manager. With the cinnamon smells wafting from the bakeries and carols lifting tired spirits, the malls definitely seem to be the best places to experience the season’s best.