Memories

Twenty10 is no longer the 'new year' it was made out to be a few days back. Why? Because it's already a week old, no. :) Ok, lame humor alert. That's my dose for the day and now let me get to it that which I set out to get to.

Happy New Year to everyone and hope Twenty10 brings with it reduced real estate prices, increased share prices, lower prices, better roads, more humor, common sense...you know, things we all look forward to all the time. That said, the year past has been one where a lot had happened and given that my capacity to remember stuff is somewhere south of miniscule, I thought it would be prudent to jot down the memories while I still can recollect them (especially since I am no Albus Dumbledore with a pensieve in my office. Somebody, somewhere invent it. Fast).

So here goes:
1. I got married. Accepted, that it's not something I will be allowed to forget but neverthless it ranks as the most significant thing that 'happened' to me last year. Previously I only had parents. Now I also have in-laws.

2. I travelled. To different parts of the country, for different reasons, using different modes of transport. My work took me to swank hotels and corporate offices of all kinds in the country's biggest, busiest and most polluted metros, social engagements took me to Kanyakumari and the beautiful beaches of Kovalam, Office team meetings took me to Mahabalipuram and my marriage took me to the hills of Darjeeling and the chills of Lachen. Wow! Now that I see all of it together, I wonder how on earth I managed to travel so much. Because I hate having to pack and being on the move.

3. I prayed. Please don't think that I was an atheist before and suddenly found God. Nope. My "praying" is an event to remember whenever I did it last year because of what I prayed for. My first major prayer was that my wedding should happen without a hitch. A wedding ceremony comes with an in-built potential for everything from silly one-up-manship games to wedding-stopping fights between the two families; throw in the fact that mine was a marriage between people of different religious faiths and that potential just got exponentially multiplied. My next major prayer was that I should stay alive. When you are trapped in a 4x4, driving up the narrow roads of the Himalayas with a vertical fall - into a freezing river that was so far down as to look like a painting made to scale - on one side of the road, I guess even the most die-hard athiest will be hard pressed not to find God and seek help for a safe return from that journey. My last major prayer is something of a work in progress. It has something to do with asking God to grant my wish of being able to retire early in life and live on my wife's salary. I believe only one person in a couple should work and being the gentleman that I am, I have decided to leave that honor to her. Now God, if you are listening, please make it happen. ;)

Well, that's my 2009. There were other things too but I think those are the three things that define 2009 for me.