This time I am getting the same response from nearly everyone - the new year never made an impact. I am not sure if each and every person has taken a beating because of the economic meltdown :S but somehow everyone seemed to be giving me the same response.
Every year, I generally have some travel plans, to or from home, which makes the new year day or the days close to it(depending on the which part of the calendar I am traveling)pass by happily - if I would be going home, I would be at my chirpiest best, if I would be leaving home, I would be surrounded by relatives and hugs and kisses and with the wishes of seeing each other soon, that would make me brim with hope. But this year, it was for the first time that I was static.There was no trip in the offing. Thus it resulted in the new year not being accompanied with the fizz that it usually has.
Since our client offices were virtually vacant, work was nearly non existent. This prompted a lot of people to go forth on vacations or french leaves :) The empty chairs and just 60 minutes of work per day kind of made me feel, ok something is different, new year is coming up etc etc.
I had planned a dinner outing for K, mil and me for the 31st of December. But then mil suddenly did not seem to be in the spirits to go for it. K also being recently inducted into a high pressure assignment was not so game for any action :( And doing nothing special would have made me feel that there was nothing special. I know I know, as K remarked, it was just a change of calendar, but then, if we ignore the relevance of some days and carry on as usual, we might as well end up obliterating birthdays, holis, diwalis, christmases, anniversaries from our calendars. Cos, technically speaking, each one is just another day. It is because we chose to celebrate the occasion that the charm comes in. So I chose to make the new year, a happy one.
Since there was nothing much to be done, I scooted out at 1600 hrs on 31st evening. Seeing the bright twilight itself pepped me up. Was able to reach my area within an hour. The Ganesha temple which I adore a lot, was resplendent with flower decorations and I went inside and wished Chubby God to keep his benovelent eye on each one I love. On the way home from the temple, I picked some veggies - I had gajar ka halwa, puri and aloo subji in mind.
By the time I reached home, mil had convinced K to take me out for dinner. She wanted us to not spoil the program because she was not feeling up to it. But then I was all set to make dinner. I deferred making a call on the dinner plan till K returned home. Meanwhile mil and I savored ginger tea and watched Shrek 3 :)
K was stuck in deep traffic, which negated his chances of getting home before 2100 hrs. So I got on to making the dinner, and thankkkkkkkkk God! It came good. I was in the celebration mood already. After savoring a good dinner, I went on to watch RNBDJ yet again, to savor SRK :) Deliberately stayed up till 0000 hours, when I could do the functionary pranaam to God and zzzzed peacefully.
Come 1st, I started feeling a bit bored and nostalgic. All the while I kept remembering how vivacious things would be at my parents place, with mom cooking elaborate dishes, incessant chatter, telephones buzzing around, my sister prancing around. The day here at Chennai seemed very drab with K on with some office chores and mil generally mulling over family issues. Then I suggested lunch outside. Mil had had her fill at a havan she had attended and was more into having a simpler affair rather than lunching out. So she prompted us to eat out, while she rested her sleep deprived self( she had woken at 0400 to attend the Ganesha havan! )
Food was not out of the world, but the fresh air and winter sun and the sight of the decorated shops satiated me. Once back, I chose to drool over John Abraham and Bobby Deol in Dostana. Evening was spent talking , attending to some guests, having the remaining halwa and later having some serious discussion with K (Some times some remarks about news, views, current affairs, celebrities result in us having good quality discussions even at home. Yesterday it was something SRK had said in an interview :) ) Once that done, we watched Ghazini for an hour within which I dozed off and K wrapped up the laptop and cables.
The 1st passed off, without making a mark, but I will remember it, cos I had good food and caught up on some time pass movies - I felt all New Yearish - as a saying goes, you feel what you want to feel :)
Every year, I generally have some travel plans, to or from home, which makes the new year day or the days close to it(depending on the which part of the calendar I am traveling)pass by happily - if I would be going home, I would be at my chirpiest best, if I would be leaving home, I would be surrounded by relatives and hugs and kisses and with the wishes of seeing each other soon, that would make me brim with hope. But this year, it was for the first time that I was static.There was no trip in the offing. Thus it resulted in the new year not being accompanied with the fizz that it usually has.
Since our client offices were virtually vacant, work was nearly non existent. This prompted a lot of people to go forth on vacations or french leaves :) The empty chairs and just 60 minutes of work per day kind of made me feel, ok something is different, new year is coming up etc etc.
I had planned a dinner outing for K, mil and me for the 31st of December. But then mil suddenly did not seem to be in the spirits to go for it. K also being recently inducted into a high pressure assignment was not so game for any action :( And doing nothing special would have made me feel that there was nothing special. I know I know, as K remarked, it was just a change of calendar, but then, if we ignore the relevance of some days and carry on as usual, we might as well end up obliterating birthdays, holis, diwalis, christmases, anniversaries from our calendars. Cos, technically speaking, each one is just another day. It is because we chose to celebrate the occasion that the charm comes in. So I chose to make the new year, a happy one.
Since there was nothing much to be done, I scooted out at 1600 hrs on 31st evening. Seeing the bright twilight itself pepped me up. Was able to reach my area within an hour. The Ganesha temple which I adore a lot, was resplendent with flower decorations and I went inside and wished Chubby God to keep his benovelent eye on each one I love. On the way home from the temple, I picked some veggies - I had gajar ka halwa, puri and aloo subji in mind.
By the time I reached home, mil had convinced K to take me out for dinner. She wanted us to not spoil the program because she was not feeling up to it. But then I was all set to make dinner. I deferred making a call on the dinner plan till K returned home. Meanwhile mil and I savored ginger tea and watched Shrek 3 :)
K was stuck in deep traffic, which negated his chances of getting home before 2100 hrs. So I got on to making the dinner, and thankkkkkkkkk God! It came good. I was in the celebration mood already. After savoring a good dinner, I went on to watch RNBDJ yet again, to savor SRK :) Deliberately stayed up till 0000 hours, when I could do the functionary pranaam to God and zzzzed peacefully.
Come 1st, I started feeling a bit bored and nostalgic. All the while I kept remembering how vivacious things would be at my parents place, with mom cooking elaborate dishes, incessant chatter, telephones buzzing around, my sister prancing around. The day here at Chennai seemed very drab with K on with some office chores and mil generally mulling over family issues. Then I suggested lunch outside. Mil had had her fill at a havan she had attended and was more into having a simpler affair rather than lunching out. So she prompted us to eat out, while she rested her sleep deprived self( she had woken at 0400 to attend the Ganesha havan! )
Food was not out of the world, but the fresh air and winter sun and the sight of the decorated shops satiated me. Once back, I chose to drool over John Abraham and Bobby Deol in Dostana. Evening was spent talking , attending to some guests, having the remaining halwa and later having some serious discussion with K (Some times some remarks about news, views, current affairs, celebrities result in us having good quality discussions even at home. Yesterday it was something SRK had said in an interview :) ) Once that done, we watched Ghazini for an hour within which I dozed off and K wrapped up the laptop and cables.
The 1st passed off, without making a mark, but I will remember it, cos I had good food and caught up on some time pass movies - I felt all New Yearish - as a saying goes, you feel what you want to feel :)
11 comments:
Heyyy, I am the first one to comment you on 2009 :). I generally dont plan anything, coz I know that wont happen. Let all the days of 2009 be fantastic ones for you and K and MIL.
Amrita,
Mmmmmmmmmm Gajjar ka halwa. Wish I had had some of it.
Well, celebration of any event is spending quality time with your near & dear ones. You did have that in plenty. So on the whole it was nice beginning of 2009 for you all. Nice of your m i l to force you both out.
Take care
yeah.. .everyone gave the same response.. nothing special just hanging out.. and frankly speaking it was my response too.. the last line of your post ws a killer.. you feel what you want to feel.. mayb its a psychological thing these days.. recession recession.. and blah blah
wow: I am very glad to see that someone out there has some enthu:), this is what i like a zest for everything and u rightly said that it is WE who make any day special.
My mother also makes every festival, Bdays and kitty's and Sundar Kaand Bhajan( quite popular in north), very special with everything decked upm and lots of cooking.
I really wonder why today's girls abhor cooking because withpout cooking, no celebration can be there:)
There's this song called 'Life's what you make it'.....your post reminded me of it. Even at my parents', all festivals are celebrated with lot of festivity and this was my first with hubby and that too he was working on 1st so I was alone for the better part of the day. But nevertheless, we'd brought in the day with a lot of fun, so I didn't let myself feel low coz though it was a quieter New Year's Day than I was used to, I still had so much to be grateful for.
I always end up liking the last lines of your post!!! :-)
mera new year was silly enough , we went to a party which was simple yuck !! but then again new year is new year & * you feel good when u want to :) *
drooling over bobby & johnny eh? wat's K saying :P
happy '09.
oh & i drooled over gajar ka halwa :)
I give K full liberty when he goes bonkers over Monica Belluci or the likes
:) hey, I wanted to do something special too. And ended up spending it with friends, most of whom were a lot less enthused abt the celebration than I was. That kinda upset me a bit. But its all in the mind I guess..
Thank you for your generous comments :) I had no idea you were following my blog! :) And yes, the post 'Grampa' was written when I had just started blogging and had no idea what people wrote in blogs! :) Thanks for going through the archives. You just made my day :) I shall go through yours now :)
:) i love that song too(when you say nothing at all..)! and hey, there`s something wrong with rss feed or whatever you call it. My blog doesnt show the current posts :( I guess I`ve done something and dunno what to undo!
Post a Comment