by Blissfully quiet, early morning walks to school while sipping tea. Standing on a chair and updating the section whiteboard in the back of the newsroom. Conversations on sun-drenched afternoons that flow like you could talk to the other person forever. Those moments feel as though they took place millenia ago, even though I experienced them at the start of 2020.
I refuse to recap these past months with a cliche “2020’s been quite the year, eh?” 2020 was indeed an EVENTFUL year. The immense pain and loss suffered by people across the world from the coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, explosions and the thousands of other events that flooded newsfeeds is something I can’t put into words. For me this year sums up the YEAR OF LEARNING, NEW EXPERIENCES something to make us realise the money is something but not everything. this year taught us a lot of things, made us struggle, made us scare from this unknown “CORONAVIRUS” which made us distant from our near and dear ones!!
so, in my personal experience this year came us an eye opener to introspect and to learn about myself. it was indeed a blessing in disguise in certain cases as we had quality time with family as we were completely locked down at home. I learnt new things from my mother such as cooking delicious delicacies like chole bhature, vade pao, chinese dishes from continental to desserts like moong dal halwa and ice-creams, cakes and much more!! As all the shops were closed and the fear of eating outside food was content. so to fulfill our cravings we turned out to be chefs and enjoyed thoroughly…
It just not concludes with the cooking but what we explored when the restrictions were lowered and the urge to move out of our dwellings was on the top of our checklists.. DELHI the Heart of India, living here for 18 years still i missed upon the monuments over the years but thanks to the pandemic, that i explored HUMAYUN’S TOMB, walk in the lush greens at INDIA GATE, picnic at NEHRU PARK. and if half of the delhi is at SUNDER NURSERY how that could be missed!!
It was a year of sadness and happiness, the extreme loss borne by our near and dear ones, not only this but the loss of some great personalities from the film industry. As they say “FAMILY IS WHERE LIFE BEGINS AND LOVE NEVER ENDS” but the true essence of it was administered by me in this 2020 era itself. Our nights got busier, from playing games like scrabble and monopoly, to watching old movies and karoke fun where we used to sing our favourite numbers as there was no hassels to wake up early or go to work.
Something that i will adore is me becoming a writer and a poet.. This year in particular, the act of writing – bringing personal essays, articles, blogs and therapeutic entries to life with just my mind and a keyboard – feels powerful.
In the end i would like to conclude 2020 as the year of ups and downs, learnings and experiences, happiness and sorrows, scare and to face the challenges imposed by life. well this made me realize that we pile up so many things for our future but we really don’t know what is in store for us, in the next second, as the saying goes “Man proposes God disposes” is indeed true.
I’m not going to conclude this by suggesting we focus on the positive; while focusing on new milestones and opportunities is valuable, it’s not always so simple. But, I hope this year made you understand yourself better: who you are and who you want to be. I hope you were kind to yourself in small and big ways.
Here’s to the mood swings, ranting, overthinking and million Zoom calls of 2020. And here’s to 2021- a year we begin cautiously, a year of shot in the arm, carrying with us the messiness, heartbreaks and laughing-as-you’re-crying mood of 2020. New year, same us – but at least we’re in it together.
this was a smalll write up by @Seema kapoor edited by me!!
This is Mehak signing off!!