Goodbye 2014

2014 had been a good year for me. It's not that past years had not been good to me. Past years had been good too. Infact, every year had something special to offer. Each year taught me something new. Unfortunately, I could not capture past years like I have decided for this year. So without further adieu, lets start..

I started this year at Kolkota, the city of joy. Like every year I celebrated this year with my parents. I came to Kolkota directly from Delhi(after my solo trip to Himachal) to meet my parents. Thing is that I am not a party person. Most of the time, I prefer staying in a silent place and talking to friends, rather than hitting the bar or restaurant. 

This year in Jan, Vikram, one of my good friends from IIT Bombay gave me one of the best gift he could have ever given to me. He called me up for tennis. Till then, I hadn't touched the tennis racket after entering the corporate world. So, we used to get up at 6:00am in the morning and go for tennis. Believe me getting up at 6:00 AM in Jan and on Sat morning(after Friday night) is not an easy task. But we did. We used to get up every morning on Sat and Sun and go for tennis to IIT Bombay. Being an alumni, we got to play for free. To me, this game is a beauty. Every minute I spend on the court makes me feel like I am on heaven. Maybe I should write a separate blog and describe my learnings from this sport. Vikram stop playing from mid of Feb due to knee problem. However, I just couldn't. Game is still on for me. 

In mid Feb, something happened to me. I felt in love with one of the most beautiful girl I have even seen. I proposed her in no time and she accepted. This carried on for 3 months and in mid June, we decided to break up. I hate this thing called break up. But, sometimes we have no choice but to do it. The next few months was not an easy time for me. However, I had to move on. I would say those 3 months with her was one of the beautiful phase of my life. Somehow, I felt this episode made me a wiser and a stronger person. Well, that's all I can write about it. 

Oh, I more thing. Somewhere in Feb, for the 1st time in my life, I took part in half marathon running and successfully completed it in less than 2 hours time. This was a very big achievement for me and considering I ran after 3 months of inactivity, it meant even more. Come Jan this new year, I will be running in couple of more marathons including Standard Chattered Mumbai Marathon, 2015.  

On March, I visited Bangalore on an official trip. There I met my old school friends Alari and Jennifer after many years. Jenni's husband prepared a nice food for us. No wonder Jenni is gaining weight. Infact anyone would, if you have such a nice cook at your home. Honestly, I had a great time meeting my old and ofcouse happily married friends. 

On Oct, I travelled to Jaipur and Udaipur on another solo trip of my life. It was really hot at that time. Travelling these big cities in just 3 and half days can be quite hectic. I had to give many palaces a miss. I realized that  hurrying this way does not give you much joy. The best thing about these solo trips is that these trips give you confidence and make you independent in many tiny and unnoticeable ways. Moreover, my learning so far is that,  travelling solo takes fear away from your life.

lst week of December, I took 2 weeks of leave to visit my home-town. On the way, I also visited my old college at Guwahati. There I met some old college friends. I also had a nice photography session with my dear friend Sandip at IITG. Back home, I had a great time with my old school friends. I really miss these get together with my school friends back at Mumbai.

Last but not the least, this year I am back to consistent blogging after 4 years of on and off. Last time, I took such interest in blogging was during my engineering days. Now, I am enjoying this process of collecting thoughts and joding down into words. 

To sum up, every year has been a  mix of small and big things, good and bad times, sad and happy times. This year was no different. Like I said in the beginning, every year has something to offer, something new. This year, I made new friends, learned couple of new things, love endlessly, learned to stay clam or atleast put up a concious effort and more importantly learned to accept rejection and move on.

Well my expectations from next year. Nothing different from this year. Live life peacefully, maybe more passionately. Write more and read even more. Stay in touch with my friends and family. Ofcouse more tennis and miles and miles of running. That's it.

@Himalaya

With GG at Biere Club,Bangalore

The above two places are of Amer Fort, Jaipur

Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur

City Palace, Udaipur

With Mr. Sandip at IIT Guwahati Guest House

With my school friends at Kokrajahr

Diwali@office

At Pre-Christmas celebration at Don Bosco School, Kokrajhar

"If I have to live my life again, I'd will make the same mistakes, only sooner"- Tallulah Bankhead

Taking Things for Granted - Part 2

Coming Soon...

Taking Things for Granted- Part 1

Many times in my life I take things for granted. For instance, many times when my mom calls me up, I don't answer properly. Still, the next day, she would call me up with the same care and love. We take for granted that, no matter how we behave, our parents would love us anyway. Today when I see my parents growing old, I realize that we can't take our parents for granted. No doubt, our parents would always love us. However, somewhere in future, they will not be there to tell or show us how much they love us. Believe me at that time, we will be the one to miss them the most. 

We take our wife/husband or girlfriends/boyfriends for granted too. We wouldn't talk or show love to our dear ones as we think that no matter what we do they won't go anywhere. Its only when they leave us we realize how badly we miss them.

There are times when we take our friends for granted too. In times of need we would approach them and seek whatever help one could possibility get. However in merry times, we won't even call or ask how are they doing. If sometimes, they call us, we would respond them saying we are busy. In spite of all these, these friends would always be the first people to help us or support us in hard times without looking for anything in return. 

We have the habit of taking those things for granted that we get with ease or for free. Its only when we lose those things we realize the true value of them.