Another year has ended. I am hearing myself and many others as well say how fast the year went by; probably the same thing was said last year too.
As the year drew to an end (incidentally my fiftieth one!), I was calculating how many days did I put in travel and how many days did I actually live in Nashik. The members of the apartment where I reside jokingly refer to us (my spouse, Anita and daughter, Sakhi too have become regulars!) as guests, and my relatives have come to accept our non-residential status with as much amusement and awe!
The last decade has been really hectic, journeying to all sorts of places in India and abroad. This year is special because for first time in so many years I did not step out of the country. Actually, we were supposed to travel to Zimbabwe during Diwali to attend a unique meeting at Kufunda but the visa officers at Delhi and Harare had other ideas. Another first for me, a visa-denial!
I was out of Nashik for nearly 130 days, that’s a whopping one-third of my total time. I have heard people say that travelling is fun but when you are on the move on a regular basis then the joy fades and you start counting hours to reach home. Moreover, although I enjoy conversing with people in trains or flights, I have realized the value of making local connections, which I must say has more chances of staying connected.
Slowly I have realized that travel takes a heavy burden on your health. I have become food-conscious, and getting healthy food becomes difficult. The one served in the flights is terrible and less said the better of the quality available in the trains. Moreover, I miss Nashik, a very cool-city and the community with whom you share your daily routine. I miss home, tending to my garden and many other small, routine things like cooking or reading the morning newspaper sipping ginger flavoured tea. No amount of excitement can replace the pleasure I get from attending to mundane things, even as menial as cutting vegetables, making new recipes or putting clothes to dry! Not to say how much I miss interacting with the youth at Earthcare Design Centre, which we birthed recently or at the local colleges, where I am a visiting faculty.
I have long stopped making new- year resolutions. This year I will make an exception – I promise that I will travel less and be at home to catch up on my reading, writing poetry, visit friends and so many such things that I enjoy doing.
Next year I will know if making resolutions make sense or not!
