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....

ReDevelopment -Part 5 - Sample Flat

It seemed only yesterday (although one year has passed) that I moved out from my home to a rented flat and saw my old 50-years-old building crumble down to ashes. A new foundation stone was laid, and the walls were raised again. The year went by, some months spent in recovering from pain (due to post operative care) and then a long four months tour around USA.

I came back to see the new structure rise up to fourteen stories. The name has been changed from ‘Daulat Baugh’ to ‘Satguru Shlok’ The work has been immaculately done and details have been added to ensure quality. We were asked to come and inspect the sample flat.

I am not easy to please. I am happy with the construction and the materials used in the sample flat, the walls, the fixtures, the style, everything is good but am very disappointed with the size of the rooms. I walked from room to room, maneuvered over the  length and the breath of the rooms, how would I accommodate the furniture into the small space?

The trick is to minimise our possessions, but how do we throw away the stuff that has been collected over the years? What not does the person need? I am making the list in my head and there are clothes, shoes, bedsheets, towels, utensils, bags, art work, sewing kits, books, the list is endless.

Maybe I am too spoilt. I hate borrowing things and like to have everything that is required in the house for comfortable living. My relationship with family and friends is good and I often entertain. With such small houses, entertaining becomes difficult.

That means I will have to change my living style.

Do not complain, I am told, be grateful that you have a new house with all state-of-art affairs like swimming pool around the podium, walking track on the terrace and millions of plants and lights around the building. Building will be the pride of the neighbors and every person will be awed by its beauty.

That’s the promise.

Compromise, compromise, compromise…that’s what is expected from me.

Watching Sunset at Lewisville River in Dallas

The greatest joy for me  is to sit by the river side and watch the sunset. I love beach too but walking on the sand, getting my feet dirty is not my idea of fun. Nor do I like to walk on slimy rocks where there is danger of losing my balance. Its just water that I am attracted to, the rippling sound of the waves, the cool winds touching the shores, and staring in the sky for hours watching the different shapes of the clouds that change ever second.

I was thrilled therefore, when my cousin in Dallas organised a boat ride on Lewisville river, one Sunday afternoon during my visit  to his town. Watching the sunset from the seashore is different, having done that many times, at every opportunity that I have got, but to watch it while sitting in the boat, surrounded by water on all sides, the birds diving to catch a fish and the mild breeze..its completely a pleasant experience.

The meeting was set at around 5pm. We were a group of eight members, family, friends and kids too, that added extra joy with their chatter. It was a private recreational area for members who owned boats.

One could spend all day here. A long expanse of free space, surrounded by water, trees and open space. There were lawn furnitures everywhere for people who would like to picnic at the site.

A proper concrete path to reach the curb cut where the boats were parked.

It was most beautiful speed boat that I have ever sat in. soft comfortable, low couches and enough room to relax.  

The sun was beginning to set.

We started as soon as we were ready to sail, at a speed so high that I wished I had life jacket (although it was not really necessary). When it stopped in the middle of the river, I was totally disarrayed and deperatedly looked for comb to straighten my hair.

While our boat stood still, rocking pleasantly on the waters, we snacked on delicious sandwiches that my cousin had picked up from a restaurant. Perfect sandwiches of meat, vegetable salad and spicy sauces.

We watched the sun move slowly down the horizon, changing the colors of the sky from yellow to deep red.

So grateful to my cousin and his family in Dallas who created this opportunity for me……a memorable day to relish for a lifetime.

Senior Citizen Day Care Home

Senior citizens can continue to live in a comfortable world if proper infrastructure is provided for them. Their children are all grown up now, and their duties almost complete, they have the time to do what they please, if their health permits. Sadly they have the limited capacity to do things and they get bored easily. Okay, I agree, they can go for walks, or to religious or social events, or watch TV all day, but still that is not enough. Their family have the life of their own and may not get time to pamper their parents, so its important that there is some day care centre where they can be entertained regularly.

One such seniors day care centre I visited in Frisco, a small town in Dallas. My uncle and aunt, who are in their late 70s, visit this government sponsored centre regularly. A bus transports them to and fro from their house to the centre, picking up more seniors on their way. Frisco Senior Centre is a beautiful place to spend few hours everyday.

This one has an impressive entrance that sets you in the mood.

They have volunteers on regular basis who come to help with different activities. There are regular doctor visits for different problems like ENT, heart specialist, physicians, etc who look after their health problems and advise them on how to keep fit providing free medications.

There are lots of activities happening at this centre. Every month they have birthday celebration where the seniors celebrate their birthday month together. During my stay in Dallas, it was my uncle’s birthday, and I decided to attend the birthday party.

Everybody was asked to bring a dish catering to eight people. There was a great variety of food from every participant. People were called to the dinning area in turns, by calling out the birthday persons first, then smaller groups according to their table numbers. Everything was systematically managed. There was variety entertainment program after lunch. Birthday persons were given a chance to speak about themselves, and this was followed by musical show put up by the senior people at the centre. It was interesting to see all the participants dressed in cowboy style with hats and scarfs and singing the country songs.  The music program was amazing. I was told that they had been practising for this day since a month, sometimes waiting till late evenings. They had formed their own music and singing group and met regularly at the centre.

How can they ever get bored when the centre provides all the comfort? Different room had different activities and people could choose the room according to their interest.

There were cards room with round tables, this also had comfortable sofas for people who sit prefer to relax watching TV.

In the canteen room, one could buy food and drinks at nominal rates

While some people chatted over cup of coffee, there were separate tables for people who preferred to enjoy playing board games with friends.

In one room there were 2 billiard tables..what a wonderful game!

There was table-tennis room

Art and craft room had people who were interested in needle work and other handicraft work. They sat together to create beautiful work that they sold during annual exhibition held at the centre itself. I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition on another day and even bought shawls, and costume jewellery.

In the gym room, besides the equipments there was a large TV too so that they could watch TV while exercising.

Then was was a computer room where you could check your mail or play online.

The library room was really beautiful with comfortable sofa and a soft music in the background.

Every morning, five days a week, uncle and aunt get ready at 9am to wait for the bus to arrive and they are gone for good 4-5hours at the centre, come home after lunch to get their afternoon sleep, go to the park in the evenings and late evenings they sit with their ipads or TV and watch their favourite programs. Outstation trips are also planned regularly, while I was there, uncle spoke about the cruise that the centre was organising at nominal rates of 500 US dollars for one week stay. Uncle was quite excited to take this trip because he is very fond of travelling.

Their time is spend beautifully and family members happy too that their senior members have some diversions away from home……

Fishing Trail at Bull Sluice Lake

No, I do not go out for fishing, I don't even have the patience to wait for a catch, but nevertheless, I was very amused at the little boy of 5years jumping up and down excitedly, waiting to see the fish trapped on the line. He helped his father roll in the cord and would hand the rod back to his father,then run back few meters away and wait while his papa adjusted the bait at the end of the line and swing the fishing line to the far end of the lake and then he would come back to hold the rod and hoping to lure a catch.

Bull Sluice Lake is the extension of Chattahoochee Lake that I had visited earlier. This is the shallow end of the lake closer to the Morgan Falls Dam, that generates enough electricity to light up more than 4000 homes in the Atlanta