(1)
As I sit in my little balcony garden, sun-bathing with plants each a different shade of green, I feel happy. This has been my daily routine for the last 10 days. Mom massages me with oil, dad reads the newspaper and I play Sudoku or read Mrs. Funnybones' eponymous A-Z short stories.
This is not the first morning routine for the three of us together. The first is going for morning walk in the lake-garden some 50 meters from our society. Wearing not so woolen winter-wear with caps/scarves/hoodies while looking at the sun rise. Repeating this for evening stroll while the sun goes down. This makes me happy too.
Just like my Diwali break, these 10 days were also spent working from home. But today being Sunday, there's no reason for me to check my inbox. So my brain is flashing multiple memories from this year- the annual look-back.
(2)
The year started with a major event- my elder brother getting married. It was followed by my new work-role bringing me back to Mumbai. I got introduced to my new happy place- the Worli Seaface. The year progressed with another major event- my mother getting hospitalized. She's better now, but this really became a defining moment for this year. It showed me that my parents are super-strong. The year moved along and I turned 25. This should count as major and as an event, but this happened during my aforementioned work-from-home Diwali. So birthday was more like a much deserved break from, well, break!
(3)
I have never been a planner. I don't know how to plan, unlike my dad who is a thorough pro here. He is excellent at keeping records, filing documents, chalking out itineraries and having contingency plans too. But for this year, I planned to travel. Except one plan to visit my brother and sister-in-law in the States, other plans were actually very executable. The US plan would require my boss' nod to take some 13 working days off and even I knew all I would get is a resounding no.
Other plan was to go to Amritsar with my Delhi-wale uncle, aunt and first cousins. This was a year of long weekends and I had planned to go on one such weekend. Unfortunately my mom got sick and I obviously rushed to be by her side. But being daddy's girl, I had a Plan B- to use another long weekend coming up next month. I had booked the tickets and had already decided what clothes I will carry, which places I will visit and more importantly what food I would eat there. The Punjabi in me was already happy in anticipation.
A few days after my mom returned home, we got the news of my second-cousin getting married on the very same long weekend as that of my Plan B. The second cousin lives in the same city as my parents so everyone- my first cousins and even people from Amritsar ended up visiting my city for this wedding and I ended up canceling tickets of my trip one more time. I swear this year I have canceled more tickets than all the other years put together.
Another plan was of Rann of Kutch during Christmas extended weekend or the New Year's long weekend. That too kaput! Lesson learnt- I should stick to not planning anything.
(4)
Many friends remarked that I had lost weight, looking at my various Instagrams. Two colleagues said that my curls are beautiful- my hair have never been complimented 😊 And very recently, there was a department meeting with people from across the country in attendance. Although I made very conspicuous late entry and greeted the Exec VP with a bold 'Hi!' instead of a sheepish 'Good Morning', the reason I was getting some stares was my never-seen-before avatar- I was wearing some chic clothes to work, with a funky neck-piece and my still wet-from-wash curls. So my vanity got many boosts this year 😉.
