The drudgeries of life
Saturday, December 31, 2011
The fantastic year that was :)
When surviving (forget living) 2010, I had wished for something exactly the opposite of the dreaded time I was experiencing - I had sincerely wished for the year to end in a jiffy and for a brand new one to start!
Guess Someone up there heard my plea and answered my wish :)
2011 for me, right from Day 1 was a fresh start.
Quite a lot happened this year: right from the call which I had been waiting for since ages; the conversion of the offer; the bike trips to Neemrana, Shimla, and Nainital early in the year; the brilliance in taking leave from somewhere I didn't belong on a nice note; switched over to a place where I belong to; attending numerous marriages and engagements of friends; the relentless travel all round the year (by jove, I covered 16 states and UTs in all); met someone who is here to stay in my life for aeons to come and with whom I've lived lifetimes in such a short span of time; visited home so many times and spent quality time with my parents and sister each time <3, the last trip during Christmas being extra special with a new member joining the family :)
Anything and everything that happened in 2011 made the 365 days endearing to me.
And right now I'm going to miss it badly... only the assurance of 2012 turning out to be even better than its predecessor gives me confidence to let go of 2011 on a happy note!
What better way to bid goodbye to the year and welcome the new one than with family and close friends (thought I'd miss the former this time round, the time spent with them is still fresh in my memory :))
Hope everyone has a fantastic ending to 2011 and gets to welcome 2012 with arms wide open.
Happy 2012, people!
Farewell 2011!
Cheers!!
Labels: Beginnings, Closure, Family, Friends, Happiness, Happy Endings
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Homecoming!
For as long back as I can remember, Christmas time and the holiday season have been all about family time.
Save for the one-off occurrence a couple of years ago, I have always spent this time of the year with my parents and sister. This time is no different! :)
Earlier all four of us used to pack our bags and rush off to Calcutta for a quiet, peaceful and beautiful getaway during Christmas time. But for the past few years, it has been an all home affair - something I like much more than the sojourn at Cal. In those trips to West Bengal's capital city, all we did was go shopping, devour delicacies, attend mass, roam around and relax, all of that in a city which for me always had the tag "It's a neat place to visit but you wouldn't wanna live there." At home, we get to do all of that plus, best of all, feel at home. Sighs :)
Home for me is Fantasia - a name which my dear parents gave to the nest they built on a foundation of love and dreams - yep, as strong as ever! True to the name, our home is a free composition structured according the composers' (my parents, in this case) fancy. Over the years, despite the winds of change and the sands of time, proper planning and relentless efforts have ensured that the foundation of the place has just grown stronger in parallel to the structure expanding like a big heart, where, needless to say, love has thrived and memories have been cemented.
Myself and my kid sister grew up in Fantasia, and no matter where life takes us or what we become, our home will form an integral part of us and whenever we go back there to visit our beloved Dada and Mumma, we'll be back to being kids and will relive the pleasant nostalgia of our childhood days - for us, it will always be Square One.
To reiterate, home for me is Fantasia - it is Dada's warm embrace, proud eyes, easy laugh, and wonderful talks; it is Mumma's cozy lap, beautiful smile, caring hands, excited chatter, and her relentless pampering; it is Sweety's big hugs, reminiscent ponderings, sibling wars, and cute dramebaazis!
Aahhhh! Just 2 more days, and I'll be there to experience it all. Just that, this time round it will be a tad bit extra special for all of us. I've never been so sure of anything else till date.
Life's more or less perfect when you're touching wood almost always :)
I remember an age old wall hanging on the walls of Fantasia which had the caption, "Home is where the heart is." I'm retracing my steps back to my heart pretty soon!! This time round, I'm taking another heart along... :)
Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas, well in advance!!
Saturday, December 03, 2011
No comebacks
You know that feeling when you're traveling at full speed on a straight empty road, crossing familiar landmarks, and after a while you suddenly realize you've covered a stretch of the street without even realizing when that had happened? It's not that you had fallen asleep in between, but you hardly took in any element of the surroundings that passed by despite being wide awake and having navigated the twists, turns et al (albeit subconsciously). Yet you've covered the distance safely and are still going strong.
Life is somewhat like that - it happens when you're busy enjoying it, being lost in moments and hardly keeping track of time.
Once you realize that you've covered a stretch of the road without actually any casualty occurring, you don't dwell on the what-ifs for long. Maybe if you remembered that the street was fraught with danger in the form of potholes and speed breakers, you'd look back for a moment and wonder how exactly you managed to navigate to safety without being in your right senses then. But then you'd probably dismiss the inquisition immediately without much fuss. What matters now is that you're safe. A pat on the back for the wonderful maneuvering of the vehicle too...
Akin to when people close to you help you in tiding over crises in life, keep you distracted, shower you with joy and happiness, and before you know it, voila! You're the same person in a whole new beautiful world, devoid of darkness, sadness and negativity, devoid of lies, sham and all that had clouded life a while back. In retrospect, you can't believe you came this far unscathed, but then you believe. Life leaves you with no other option but to be grateful and to pat yourself on the back for pulling yourself up, even if with others' help, and to trudge on.
I love running in marathons. I run long distances whenever I get the chance. In addition to being one of the best forms of catharsis, running is also a wonderful way of coming to terms with living life.
Firstly, marathons are not meant to be won - they're supposed to be finished. Just like life is meant to be lived, not to be outrun.
Blimey, living life to the fullest, each and every moment, and finishing each marathon run give a high like no other!
Secondly, you run a marathon for yourself - you've got no hidden agendas, you don't intend to impress anyone with your feat - the only thing on your mind is seeing yourself cross the finish line and feeling like a person who has been reborn, cleansed of all the maladies of the previous life.
Similarly, you need to cherish life for what it is to you - don't run after success like a mad dog runs after vehicles (even if the former catches up with the latter, it still continues to chase other vehicles... it's a never-ending story), live for yourself, live with others and not for others (at least not until you segregate the uncut diamonds from the stones, the latter being the ones you'd bend this rule for :) ) - life has ample highs to give away to all who care to welcome it with open arms!
Also, when progressing towards the finish line in a marathon, what occupies your field of vision is not the finish line but the surroundings, the beautiful landscapes that you keep crossing every once in a while.
Life these days has become too fast for our own good. We miss to observe so much while running the relentless rat race that has taken over our lives. Whilst it's practically unfeasible to put an end to the rat race or to exit it prematurely, we can surely slow down our pace and live life in parallel. Like a wise chap has said, "Even if you win the rat race, you'll still be a rat." So why not try to win something else instead of the race, life's treasures and irreplaceable moments for instance.
Those, and lots of subtle comparisons.
Maybe all of this sounds impractical, too ideal, philosophical even. But jump into your shoes and start running. You'll get the drift, literally and figuratively speaking.
Anyway, that's all for this edition.
The year 2011 was a breeze. Exactly one year ago, I couldn't wait for it to start and put an end to dreaded 2010. Today, less than 30 days before it bids farewell, I don't want the year to end at all...
Oh well! End it will, though I hope and pray the magic and happiness that got injected into life in 2011 continues for years to come.
Somethings rightfully meet a premature end and are buried off in a jiffy, but some ageless things that end up in a coma, no thanks to a series of unfortunate events, can certainly be revived. All it takes is constant support and faith - this blog could never die, no matter how severe the coma it goes into. Thanks to D, M, S and A for helping me resuscitate it and to revive the eternal masquerade of emotions! Love you folks! :)
On an ending note, I could only quote the following lines by Pink Floyd: I knew the moment had arrived, for killing the past and coming back to life...
