The Year 2016

If I had to describe the year 2016 in one word, I would choose "Meh".

That's exactly how it was.

Work, which occupies a majority of my awake life, was meh. Sure, we did some exciting stuff, but nothing the way I would have wanted. When I don't use my brains and start agreeing with others' plans, I become meh.

As always, there was a lot of travel for work, which was also meh because it was mostly Mumbai or rural Karnataka, both of which I have had more than enough of. 

The one thing I always look forward to is meeting more people and learning more from them. That didn't happen much this year. So, another point to Meh.

I should have done something to change things, but that did not occur to me till the end of the year. By the time it occurred to me, looking back at the year that was became agonizingly painful. Meh. Meh and meh.

On the personal front, Sherlock made some changes to his work, which was good. But we asked ourselves a lot of questions - Should we quit and do things that make us happy? Should we even have to work? We struggled with these questions, mostly because of the work stuff I explained above. But really, how important should work be in our lives? Still answering that, but atleast I now know where the heart really lies. 

Parents moved out of Delhi. The biggest meh of 2016, if you ask me. Delhi was like the back-up. Delhi was home. If anything is not right, you go home to Delhi and you are good. But, time came and they moved to Hyderabad. So much meh.

I remember quite distinctly, sitting on the middle seat on an early morning flight from Delhi to Bangalore, the day the truck left and the parents moved. I sat there with my eyes closed and I cried and cried and cried. The two people on either side of me sat scandalized. But I couldn't stop crying. I didn't know what the answer to the question, Where are you from, any more.

The parent's move to Hyderabad was also meh. Now, my sister, my parents, my in-laws, my grandparents, his grandparents, grand-uncles, aunts, uncles, cousins. Everyone who I or my husband share even an ounce of blood with, is in Hyderabad. Which means, sacrifice of peace of mind. Trips to Hyderabad are no longer holidays. They are just a long itinerary and checklist - dinner here, lunch there, tea here, sleep there, wake up here, take bath here. And yet, there's an occasional - Oh you missed our place. Meh.

The one thing which we enjoy is travel. 2016 hardly had any travel. One Goa trip in Jan (which I must admit, was probably the best trip I have ever taken in my life) and one long Euro trip in October. Euro trip was good. But, it also proved how much company matters. We went with another couple and a friend. During the trip, I wondered many times why I had agreed to a particular person's company. Which ain't so great, when you are spending a fortune to go half way across the globe and then realize, you are with someone who is ruining the holiday and it was optional, but you chose to agree. So, meh to the decisions we make.

More than 80% of this year's weekends were looking for a good house to move to, so I wouldn't spend 3 hours everyday in traffic jams. The good part is, traffic jams led to blog fodder. But the bad part is, traffic jams made me so irritable. Weekend after weekend, we crossed out area after area. Brokers were blacklisting us, I think. Meh.

And then, when all was lost and we gave up, we found the dream home. That's not meh, actually. We finally are in a place from where our offices are not colloquially speaking, an Agra-Delhi distance away from our house. And we like it here. So touchwood.

I can literally count on my fingertips the things that weren't meh this year:

1. The House for one.

2. Piano - I started taking piano lessons formally, after years of trying to hone the skill on my own. And I love it. I wish I had done this earlier. My Piano Sir is amazing and I am beginning to really enjoy this now. This is the one thing that I am not going to leave in 2017.

3. Surprisingly enough - the Blog. In an year, when most things didn't go my way, I would have expected the blog to take a back seat. On the contrary, though, I started the year with a Blogathon and the momentum seemed to have stuck on. I wrote 61 posts this year, which is a record by my standards - I wrote a total of 170 articles in 7 years! I also thought, this year being the 7 year itch for the blog, that this year either I make or leave it. Meaning, if I am serious about writing, and if I think I am even a little good at it, I will put in the effort to make this bigger. If I can't do that, I will just let this be.

Thankfully, it worked. For the first time in so many years, I started posting my posts on Facebook for the general world to read. And frankly, I am pleasantly surprised and extremely encouraged by the response. Many friends I know are now telling me to take up writing seriously. And I realized, I do have an audience and that I needed an audience. A writer needs readers. I don't know why I thought that was not true and that sharing my writing was being untrue to the blog.

And that's about all the good I can remember.

How will 2017 be? I don't know, but I am excited. Because I took a conscious choice to change things that were meh in 2016 and do more of the things that weren't meh.

For starters, there are changes I am doing on the work front. And also getting involved with more people who think like me, in order to keep my sanity alive. Which means, I will be busy - but "good" busy. So, I am looking forward to that.

Piano continues. And will hopefully get more exciting.

Writing will most definitely take lead this year. Maybe more on social forums, but here too. Those of you who know me on Facebook, do follow me there too! And those who don't, get in touch with me there - Preeti KS - that's my ID. Suddenly, I am dreaming about writing more, maybe a book, maybe something else, I don't know. But I know I want to do this seriously. If any of you wants to join me on that, please feel free to get in touch! I genuinely believe many of us have the ability to take this up in a bigger way, if we spend some more time on it! And you know who you are.

I can't do much on the Hyderabad front. So, asking everyone to come visit me in Bangalore, where I can spend a lot more time with the people I love. And as far as Hyderabad is concerned, the trips will remain the same - only, I will treat them more as fodder for the blog from now on.

So, here's to a 2017 of more exploration, more excitement, more learning, more writing, more reading and much less meh.

Cheers and a happy new year to all of you! :)

Preeks