Here is to new beginnings!!

"It was the best of the times, it was the worst of the times", the opening sentence of the Charles Dickens classic 'A Tale of Two Cities' can best summarize the year 2013 for me. With only a few more hours remaining for the year to come to an end, I thought it would be a good idea to indulge in a little retrospection on the year that was.   

The year 2013 has been a very special one for me. It was a year that saw me as a student and as an earning member of the family. It saw me going from being a Graduate to a Post-Graduate. It saw me in three different places, from Coimbatore to Cochin to Thrissur. It was the year that gave me the opportunity to follow two of my greatest passions - music and writing. 

On the personal front, the year was a mixed bag with a lot of highs and an equal number of lows. The best part was my brother's marriage, one of the happiest moments of my life. Then there were not so happy moments too, when people whom you trusted and loved with all your heart abandoned you, leaving you in an abyss of despair. Then there were also instances where total strangers lent a helping hand at times when you had totally lost hope. The year saw many a teary farewell too, friends from college, with whom you had spent two years of your college life were departing and going their ways, colleagues at work were being transferred to different locations. 

On the professional front too, there were reasons to cheer as well as despair; from completing a post-graduate degree with an Eighth Rank in the University, to being stuck in a job that sucks the life blood out of you every single moment of the day, from Monday through Saturday (and occasionally on Sundays too), life on the professional front has been no less than a roller-coaster ride. With irate customers and bosses (goes without saying that they are irate!) breathing down your neck 24/7, and the ever expanding 'To Do' list on my computer, my work-life balance has gone for a toss. To top it all, I am even away from home. 

As I write this blog, all those events in the year that went by start to make sense. There were moments that made me laugh, there were moments that made me cry, there were moments when I felt that God had been very kind to me, and then there were moments that made me question God's ways. Now when I think about them, I realize they all served a purpose in my life. Had it not been for those events, I don't think the year would have been this memorable to me, it would also have gone down as just another year of my life. These events have made me strong, more determined and made me believe in this very powerful word - 'HOPE'. 

Last time, during this time of the year, when I prayed to God to make the year ahead, a very exciting and happening year for all, I had not known that God would make it this exciting for me. This time around, when I make a new year wish, I will have to be more specific in terms of my definition of 'exciting', because you never know how exciting God would make it, he may make it more exciting than you had actually wanted it to be. So here is to letting go of the past, here is to making a brand new start, here is to hoping for a better tomorrow, and here is to new beginnings. Happy New Year! God bless!

Signing off the last blog of the year with one of my favorite quotes: "Past is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, but Today is a Gift, that's why it is called the Present"

   

No free lunch

Disclaimer: This blog is strictly meant for those poor souls who are forced to stay miles away from their home in the rat race of life, and in the process are deprived of, perhaps the best food on earth - Mom's food. 

If you have stayed away from home at some point or the other in your life, I am sure that there would have been times when you missed home badly, wanted to pack all your stuff, leave everything you were doing and just head back home. Remember that time when you had fallen sick, but there was nobody near you to remind you to take medicines on time; or that time when you achieved something great and wanted to share it with your near and dear ones, but they were not by your side; or that time when you were feeling all down and dejected, but no one around to say "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." I have been staying away from home for the past five years, and I have had plenty of such instances!

The time when I miss home very badly is during afternoons at work. I would mostly be engrossed in some work or the other, when my colleagues ask me that inevitable question (which I have now come to dread), "Roshni, Aren't you having your lunch?", to which I reply with a "Yes, but not now, after some time" or "No, I am not hungry". It is usually followed by a "You should have food on time" or "Don't skip lunch. It's not good for health" from them and then they are on their ways to have their food, the lucky ones the food from their home and the not-so-lucky ones  the food from restaurants. A few minutes after, the office looks deserted, the sound of the mouse clicks, the keystrokes on the computer, and the printer is gone. There is an unusual calm in office. I close my eyes, and my mind drifts back to a typical afternoon at home, the amazing smells drifitng from kitchen, and yes Amma calling me to come and have lunch. The images of the hot steaming rice, the Pappadam, the buttermilk, and Amma serving the food come rushing into my mind. Just the thought itself makes my mouth water. I would be lost in my thoughts, when the access card reader beeps. My colleagues are back from lunch and before I know it, the calmness is gone, the madness is back and yes I realize, I have not had my lunch. Mostly I skip my lunch, but at times when I feel like I need a break from the madness at work, I take my bag and head out of office, more in search of a place to clear my head than in search of a place to have food. 

My usual haunts are the vegetarian restaurants in the city. Thank God for these restaurants; had it not been for them, I wonder what people like me would have done. No, I am not of the opinion that the food from restaurants is great or out of the world, but it does come as a solace at times. Be it the Hotel Saravana Bhavan hotels (very popular amongst Chennaiites) in Chennai, or the Pathans hotel in Thrissur, the ones which I consider my favourites, I have found that the food from the restaurants fills my stomach, but not my heart. Each time I pay the bill and walk out of a restaurant, I am reassured of the fact that my mother is the best cook in the world and no food can beat the taste of the food that she prepares, because she adds an ingredient to it that perhaps no one else does - Love.  

'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch' goes the popular quote and economic theory. Everything in life comes at a price. I too have paid a price for putting my career and job before my family - staying miles away from the people who mean the world to you, not being there for them at times when they need you the most, and the worst part of it all - being deprived of the best food in the world; I'd say that is a huge price to pay. 

After many years of staying away from home, I have learnt to live with the fact. I do miss home, especially the food. Every time I call home to tell my parents that I am coming home, my mother knows exactly what my next question would be, "Amma, What is there for dinner tonight?" As I write this, I have reached my home and had my dinner. Now that is what I call bliss - home and Mom's food. How I wish I could stay at home like this forever, but as the famous poem by Robert Frost goes, "But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep".