Life begins again! 
Welcome to the new year 2021, a year of hope and happiness-the starting year of another decade! Before the end of this first month of this wonderful year to come, I had to post this!
Two things that 2020 taught us was that some quotes on the wall or in books are so true. Like, ‘Family is where life begins and love never ends’ and ‘Life is unpredictable’.
Well, if we are here in 2021, it just means that we have survived a bad year of the millennium- the virus year, I would say. But however good or bad the year was for each of us, one thing everyone will agree throughout the world is that it was a totally different year!! Unanticipated, unprecedented, unusual, unexpected, too many ‘un’common things happened.
So was my life! Milestone birthdays, graduations, new beginnings, the family at home in front of my eyes, an awakening of my passion for cooking, And, above all, getting a different and new job- a federal one, was not something that I had fathomed… at least not in the pandemic.
Sometimes, when you sit idle for a long time, or remain in the four walls of your house for a long time, life becomes monotonous, a frustration creeps in. Surprisingly, the ‘sitting at home’ (of course, I mean quarantine, silly!) was a fresh breath of air for me! Driving to work, dashing out of the house to reach in time, coming home exhausted more from the traffic than the work, was a monotonous boredom that was slowly building up in me! I was slowly losing interest in my job because of the hectic life I was passing through. Of course, I tried my best to cheer myself up by listening to the radio while driving, trying different routes to get home to make it adventurous. But.
A new spark was lit in me when I sat back at leisure in the house! Spending time with my family, having ample time to experiment with cooking, watching, oh sorry, the right word is binging on TV series and movies, one after the other, day by day, was exhilarating. And, then when I landed a fed govt job, new enthusiasm flowed out.
And, in the pandemic quarantine, I was reminded of two instance that happened in my life. One was when I had Jaundice in my sophomore of undergrad and couldn’t go to college for almost a month and a half. I lived in my grandparents’ house back then and I was stuck in my room till I recovered. It was the most frustrated time for me…. my weakness, my sickness and boredom, all were interlinked. I missed classes, (back then, we didn’t have any online mode of communication with the teachers or friends.), missed friends, missed the ability to go outside.
The second incident I remembered was from my University days. It so happened that for a week, we had heavy rains and storms that year and for 4 days, we were stuck in our dorm rooms forever, or so it seemed. It was even difficult to go to the dining hall, wading in the ankle-deep water, trying to hold on to the umbrella…. The most difficult part was when the 3rd day there was a power outage. But believe me, we enjoyed the darkness the most. We would gather in one of my friend’s room and in the candlelight play silly games, sing songs and listen to stories of each other’s childhood.
I am sure, everyone in the world will have stories to tell about the ‘disaster’ year,2020. Some interesting, some depressing, some rejuvenating and some sad. But a story for sure! Those stories might have an ending this year or may have a twist or turn to it this year! But, rest assured, it is going to be a year of hope!
A hope that the vaccine will eradicate the virus! A hope that people will value their lives. A hope that family will always come first! And a hope that the world will return to normal very soon! After all, life is a bouquet of hopes and wishes bundled with love!
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