Farewell 2013

It's amazing how quickly the year 2013 has gone by and given me a basket full of memories. The year has been full of surprises-some pleasant, some ugly. It has taught me lessons, some of them which I learnt the hard way. It offered me fabulous experiences, some of which were for the first time ever in my life. I made choices, some were really tough as I remember. All in all, it's been a wonderful year and there are so many things I'll cherish about it, some of which I choose to list below:

1. Visited an Island, Landed on the Agatti Aerodrome (world's smallest): That's Lakshadweep/Laccadives. Lakshadweep is a spectacle! From the aircraft, the archipelago spread over the Arabian Sea looks like emeralds set against vast blue sapphires. Landing on the Agatti Aerodrome (which is one of world's smallest) feels as if one is descending on a seemingly vast expanse of crystal clear blue sea, only to land on an erringly narrow airstrip fringed with pristine coral sands, and soft blue lagoons on both sides. The island looks very virgin. The  placid and turquoise blue lagoons with myriad life forms, the diamond surf formed by waves striking the shimmering coral reefs, the deep blue of the Arabian Sea, the long and silvery beach fringed with sugary white soft sands and swaying lush green coconut palms are simply breathtaking.

As one enjoys the sun, sand and the surf, time stands still!

2. Swam in the Sea: The Arabian sea, and got devoured by the waves. It was scary! It was an early Sunday morning when I did it for the first time in the Lakshadweep. So as I went a little far away from the coast, I could see a wave coming by, and as my common logic would direct, I dunked deep inside the water thinking I'll surpass the wave, absolutely unaffected. But what they say is true about the sea waves-you can't challenge it. As as luck would not have it this time, I was thrown further into the sea! Thankfully, I gathered myself and swam back. I realized that the place I was, was inside a sea, and not a swimming pool, and playing with a wave is not like water polo. Some lessons are for life, and this is clearly one of them.

3. Performed at a Friend's Wedding: Me and my friends danced at my one of my friends' Ladies Sangeet ceremony. I have danced on stage for school and college functions, competitions, and just without a reason. But the feeling of performing here was absolutely different, and extremely enjoyable.

4. Night Outs with Friends: This year witnessed the maximum number of night-outs with friends. Whether it was biking up the hills through the night, just sitting by a cliff with soft music and guitar, or simply partying away through the night and securing friends from getting wasted, each of those nights have given a memory I'll never forget.

5. Fell out of Love: I learnt that as infinitely beautiful as love is, it can be just as cancerous, not benign but malignant in nature. When you realize that it is an abnormal growth inside you, like a pernicious form of cancer, you know you have to get rid of it immediately. We all want a new beginning, a clean slate, a world full of possibilities, a foresight which is reasonable as if it is all going to be effortless and painless. But ask the guy pushing a boulder up the hill. Nothing is easy about starting again, nothing really! And starting again by falling out of love? That can be a challenge, and I'm glad to have succeeded.

6. Learnt that Goodbyes can Work Wonders: I learnt that sometimes goodbyes, however painful they may be can work wonders. That's there is immense grace is letting go than holding on, and life can become way more sorted after that.

7. Gave a Farewell: Gave a formal farewell for the first time ever, to my seniors in college. It was back in April 2013, but the feelings which went through me while scripting the farewell speech still transmits electric currents down my spine. I still remember, that the mic at the podium failed just before I had to deliver the speech, and thus, I was provided with a hand mic at the centre-stage. Of course, I had not learnt the speech by heart, and now I was without the written script! But such was the moment that I was so powered by feelings and emotions, that words just followed! Like I never needed a written script in the first place.

This farewell taught me that we could have put countless number of flashy light bulbs for the function, could have synchronized our dance choreography to perfection, could have addressed our seniors with an ideal farewell speech with words falling at the right places, could have conferred them with exciting titles, and gifts, but a farewell is no farewell without emotions! That it cannot be put together to be called one, unless there is actually a pang of separation, and no amount of light bulbs, or stage-dancing, or scripted speeches can size up to it.

8. Got a Job: Let's face it! We all did the studies, burnt the midnight oil for getting at least decent marks in college, gave our Resume an uplift just for the one thing: to be worthy of money. So when this November, I was campus-placed, it was truly a moment of joy!

9. Won more than a Scholarship. Say two!: Saying too much about this might portray me as self-absorbed. In brief, these scholarships sponsored by the TATAs', and the Army Group Insurance Fund (AGIF) were awarded for academic merit.

10. Won a Research Paper Competition: This one was for a competition in college. I think I knew I'll uno it. Enough said.

11. Found the right Hair Shampoo for my Hair: For every other girl, this might not be an achievement, but considering that my hair are extremely curly and consequently dry, choosing the right shampoo was a task. My fellow girlfriend having the same hair type as mine advised me to use her hair shampoo over a casual conversation about hair products, and I have been thankful to her ever since. But as of date, I have figured out a few good shampoos for my hair, and I'm past the mystery I was sub-consciously solving for 23 years of my life.

12. Substituted Green Tea for Coffee: If there is one beverage I could not have enough of, it was coffee. For me coffee could only be good, or way better than that but almost never bad. Who doesn't know the benefits of green tea, and how it is way better than coffee, just as much as they know about the taste of it. But I'm glad that now, on a considerable number of occasions, I can substitute my frothy, milky and creamy cappuccino for green tea. No disappointments or regrets there.