The Year That It Was - 2015

I have poor memory therefore I tend to forget the good and the bad times easily. What is past is forgotten, each day I try my best that my present moment is good. Sometimes it is good to do a little churning of the brain, especially at the end of the year, to understand the trials and triumphs that I have experienced during the year. Therefore I am very happy that Blogadda has created this opportunity for me to talk about it. , 

“I’m sharing my #TalesOf2015 with BlogAdda.”

My memory was refreshed when I visited #2015BestNine to see the most liked Instagram messages.

I started my year  2015 with the pain in my ankle that appeared in December 2014 and was due to a fall on the slippery and broken roads of Mumbai. Suffered the pain for first three months of the year, went for operation in April and the pain continued post operation till the end of the year.

I have written many poems on pain during this year, especially when it was severe and I could not bear its dominance over me.

Pain came..
like an unwanted guest
stayed for few days then
away it went
I didnt care
I had better things to do
didnt get time to pamper it
nor was there enough room
to accomodate it in my mind
I went on with my life
as if it were not there
it pinched my ribs
hammered my bones
left rashes all over my skin
like rowdy child
it created much uproar
starved of attention
it finally left
I am hoping
Pain never comes back...

Also cross-posted on my poetry blog at ‘Random Thoughts’

However, it did not succeed in stopping me from enjoyments.

I made a trip to Pondicherry in month of January 2015 to attend the yoga camp. With one hand on a walking stick and other hand on friend’s arm for support, I attended many Yoga events and also visited places of interest. I could have cancelled the trip, but I was eager to meet a friend after thirty years, that was the incentive for my courage to bear the pain. Friend did not disappoint because she was by my side making my stay comfortable. Had I not taken this trip, I would have been home bound nursing my pain.

cross-posted at my blog

March 2015 was memorable month when I took 40 Special Children and staff from Swami Brahmamnad Pratishthan for three-days-Camp to Poona at my family owned old-age-home, The children had the best holiday ever touring around the city of Pune. It turned out to be a religious trip because they went to many spiritual places. Lodging and boarding was free and they came back with gifts and lots of good memories.

Cross posted on my Blog

In April 2015, My good friend from Indiana came to visit Mumbai, my friends and I planned a trip to Mahableshwar. Although my movements were restricted due to my ankle pain, we did share good times together. The weather was good, air fresh, lots of greenery and seasonal fruits made the trip enjoyable.

June 2015, I decided to go for ankle surgery hoping that I would be free from pain

July 2015, post operation, my cousin from Lagos invited me to go to USA with her. This was mainly a family bonding trip. My cousin was undergoing knee surgery in Chicago and she needed some rest. We came to her rescue by taking over her responsibilities of looking after the management of her home. My family is spread over different parts of America. During my four months stay, I visited cousins, travelling by road or air to Chicago, Indiana, Atlanta, Dallas, McAllen, Houston and New York.It was a great trip, trying out various cuisine and seeing points of interest.

So, most of 2015 was spend travelling around with family and friends. I have realised that people are most happy in their own home town. Living in Mumbai offers me the comfort of having helper at home, ready take-away meals on my lazy days and loads of friends and social events to keep me entertained. I felt my family living abroad lead a very boring life, with just few selected friends, most of their time is spent cleaning the house, cooking the meals and watching TV all day, Most of the social events were either spiritual meetings or celebrating an Indian festival. A place I found it impossible to live. I felt there was too much work to do. But they seemed happy living in America and complained about India being too crowded and polluted.

Another good news I must share is that two of my students from our Special School at Belapur, CBD, represented India at special Olympics at Los Angeles and came back with one Gold and one Silver in aquatic sports, making us proud. This gave our school a brownie point and we have made plans to go ahead with our plans of starting a residential centre for Mentally Challenged.

Cross posted on my blog

During this year, we were also able to get funds for buying a plot of land at rural area of Raigad district at Uran and building a school for Mentally Challenged. Hopefully, the building will be completed by next year and we will have one more centre in Uran in addition to the school building we have at Belapur. 

We also hope we will be able to find a philanthropist who will help us buy another plot of land at Kharghar to fulfil our dream of constructing a residential-cum-sheltered workshop for special adults..

Looking back, 2015 has been a very blessed year. The pain in the ankle continued throughout the year,(sometimes more, sometimes less) but it was not allowed to dampen my spirit of enjoying every moment.

Grateful to my Lord for blessing me with caring family and friends who helped me ignore my pain. I take this opportunity to thank the universe for blessing me. Time has arrived to say goodbye to 2015. Looking forward to 2016 ready to accept whatever is there in my destiny - no expectations, no disappointments,

Que sera sera!

No new year resolutions for me, I live each day and will try to enjoy the moment as it comes. I am aware, all days cannot be rosy and beautiful, there will be dark days too-of misunderstanding and disappointments....somedays writing will come to a halt..somedays I might pull my hair to let the words fall....there will be days when everything go wrong and some people will be unkind....

But everything is temporary....

I plan to pay more attention to good things in life and there are many.I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy New Year and happy times ahead....