Stories from 2018…

2018 was a significant year in my life’s journey, I’d say.

The year began by catching up with old friends… two of my school/ college-time friends were visiting from the US and December end/ Jan beginning was when I got an opportunity to meet them. It was lovely exchanging details about the latest happenings in our lives and reminiscing about the good old times. Another close friend also visited during the later part of the year and it was time to catch-up again with families in tow – it was a riot watching all the kids together! So yeah, 2018 was a good year friendship-wise – re-discovering old ones and I formed some new ones too in the neighbourhood!

It was also the year when I finally got the opportunity to step out of my comfort-zone work-wise and boy! did I grab it with both hands or what?! I moved out of the client/ project that I was stuck working in for the past 5 years, ever since I joined my current company! That was an achievement in itself, I’d say. And the new work project gave me the biggest travel opportunity of my life. More about that later…

Before I get there, I must mention here that it was also the year when we visited the beautiful archipelago in the Bay of Bengal for our Summer vacation – the enchanting Andamans! 🙂 It was a lovely vacation where we explored the beauty of the various islands – from the awesome corals of the Jolly Buoy to the historical ruins and military remains at the Ross Island.

Corals at Jolly Buoy island

Boats and more at Jolly Buoy island

The highlight was no doubt the Havelock Island and our stay at the resort there – with an exclusive private access to the extension of the beautiful Radhanagar beach, we couldn’t have enough of the sun, the sea and the sands. The resort itself was so beautiful that it left us yearning for a longer stay. Apart from the gorgeous sunset scenes at the Radhanagar and Govindnagar beaches, we had loads of fun times playing with the waves at the rocky Kalapathar beach.

The beautiful Radhanagar beach

Sunset at Govindnagar beach

But the icing on the cake was of course the once-in-a-lifetime experience of the scuba dive!! With the hubby declining to take the plunge, I was left to face it alone and to be truthful it scared the hell out of me. For the first time I realised how scary it is to just get your ears wet, by getting under-water! And I regretted (not for the first time too) not having learnt swimming at a younger age when I had the opportunity! I did the dive with butterflies in my stomach, fluttering and rising up to my throat, but got to see the most wonderful under-water marine-life. That’s an item off the bucket list I guess. The hubby and sonny-boy had fun too – snorkelling in tandem with some expert divers 😀

The ruins at Ross Island

Back at Port-Blair, we also visited the gorgeously green Chidiya-Tapu and the Munda Pahar sunset point – I really loved the way in which the former place has been developed and maintained with a natural setting for the animals and birds in pristine surroundings. And of course, the view of the sunset and mangroves of Munda Pahar are picturesquely postcard-worthy.

Well, that was one vacation which we and the kiddo thoroughly enjoyed and will savour the memories for very many years to come. And of course, I clicked a zillion pics and have enough stored away to remind us of the beautiful times with just a click 😉

I hope to get back with more travel stories in my next post – of the beautiful scenic locations that my work took me to!

Alone and not lonely

On a whim, I logged in here today. After many many days and months I’ve felt like making a note.

It’s funny, I think. I’ve had one of the most amazing years of my adult life these past months, I’d say – with lots happening within a short span – events, occasions, celebrations, outings and trips – for pleasure and work, changes at work, new situations and challenges…but none of them have prompted me to put down my feelings and thoughts here. Maybe I was too busy uploading my happiness in the form of pictures and sharing them with the world on social media and such!!

It’s when I don’t wanna share my feelings with anybody, and when I think that maybe just nobody is meant to understand, maybe that nobody is capable of empathising with my thoughts…that I turn to this space.

I’ve felt low today – the kind I haven’t felt in a long time, I’d say. As I said, I’ve been too busy celebrating the moments – that’s how it’s meant to be, is it not?! I’ve felt a kind of despair, a hopelessness and helplessness at the situation that faced me. And at that moment in time, I felt alone. Not lonely, but alone. Like, maybe there are some moments one has to face alone – there’s no other being capable of understanding what you feel – no friend or family or lover or partner or whoever.

Funnily enough, that thought is helping me find some peace – and soothe my fluttering heart. I did get through the low moment – I felt better in some time, can’t put my finger on what made me perk up exactly, but it happened. And that gives me renewed hope – that maybe, being alone and facing one’s lows oneself is not so bad after all!

Sports day musings

Well, what do you know? After a long time, I’ve felt like jotting down something here! ‘Twas the sports day celebration at the son’s school last week and that has given me some thoughts that I felt like penning down.

For many reasons I love the simplicity with which the celebrations are held at his school and many a times have been happy and proud that we chose this school for him and not the other fancier ones.
They have the Sports day celebrations spread across a few days in October-November with slots given to each class. The slot for my son’s class this year was in the late evening from 7 to 8.30 PM. It was kinda lucky for working parents like us and we were thankful for not having to take leave from work!

They usually have a celebrity chief guest whose achievements on the sports field is inspiring for the young kids – last year’s guest was Shri. Girish N Gowda, the Paralympic high-jumper from Karnataka who has won the Silver medal at the 2012 Paralympic Summer Olympics at London. This year’s guest was the 19-year old Chess prodigy Satvik.M, who is an Ekalavya award winner and a topper in the SSLC, PUC exams and currently pursuing his second year MBBS course. These chief guests take guard for the march past presented by the little ones and light the Sports meet flame and declare the meet officially open by releasing a bunch of colourful balloons into the sky. I find this practice particularly heartening as compared to something mundane like cutting open a ribbon – the whoops from the kids and the joy on their faces when the balloons go soaring into the skies is worth hearing/ watching every single time 🙂 Then there are some dance or drama display acts followed by the class events.

The class teachers of every section plan events for the kids and every kid is made to participate in an event – either a singles one or the doubles pairing kind. This is another idea worth applauding. The events planned are interesting and focus on engaging the child and improving their various skills like concentration, mobility, balancing, hand-eye coordination etc. The tracks are usually divided into 2 or 3 parts and the children have some activity to be done at 1 or 2 stops en route while running to the finish line.
Our kiddo’s activity was to run to the midpoint of the track where they had to unscrew the cap of a bottle of water, wash their hands in a dustbin kept next to the table and then go on to peel a musambi (sweet lime)! They then had to throw the peels in the dustbin, place the musambi and water bottle onto a bowl/ tray and run to the finish line.

Sitting in the audience and watching the various events at close quarters, it was simply fascinating for me to observe the behaviour and thought patterns of the various kids participating in the events. There are kids who play with the sole aim of winning and their concentration and aggression is worth-observing (not sure if the aggression is to be applauded at this age?! I for one don’t advocate it) and then there are others at the other end of the spectrum who just don’t care about the competition and want things to be done in the best possible way! There are kids who cheat – subtly and sometimes blatantly (at that tender age, I wonder how the thought comes into their mind?!) and there are those who cannot simply think of cheating and getting ahead!! The ones I admire are the smart ones – who don’t cheat but play smart enough to get ahead in the race.

The parents are worth observing too!! There are the parents who jump up and down like their wards have won the Olympic medal – fist pumping in the air and what not! And there are the cool ones who hug their kids and laugh-off the losses 🙂

In case you’re wondering, no, our kiddo didn’t win any medals – having dropped the heavy water-bottle at the beginning and proceeding to peel the lime a little too meticulously, while the others just pulled it apart almost squeezing it in the process, he got left behind in the race! Mid-way through he panicked and started checking others’ progress which didn’t help the cause! 😀 He did sulk and feel bad about not doing well, but a couple of back-slaps and it’s-okay-not-to-win-sometimes pep-talk from us, asking him to think-back and focus on what he could’ve done better helped and he cheered up thereafter.

But the antics of the kids gave me so much fodder for thought that I couldn’t help musing on the various ways the human mind works, even in kids so young!! 😀