Aaj Ki Kahani

I love trains ...tracks ...train journeys ..and the stations..Its in my DNA to love trains I think. My grandfather and my uncle were in Railways, the former a station master and the latter an engine driver. And of course I worked in Railways for 14 years before I decided to take early retirement & pursue other things (staying at home reading, watching TV!) I hardly remember having any conversation with my grandfather who had a gruff demeanor  and never entertained any conversation with his grandchildren. We were all happy to let him be and always would surround our beautiful pleasant grandmother, a happy soul filled with love especially towards us grandchildren. She would tell our mothers to let us all gorge on fruits, tasty juicy mangoes and jackfruits from our own garden and homemade sweets, rather than the rice and dhal which we eat in cities. She knew what each of us liked, the rava ladoos, jelabis, diamond cuts, mixture and other kerala delicacies and kept it read...

Another year gone by ....We stand looking at the new year with hopes and dreams. A feeling of apprehension about the future and thankfulness for the past. Every year as it ends we sit back and think how the year was... What it gave us, what it took from us, how happy we were, how we faced hardships, the new friendships we made and so on the list goes on. No year is filled with only happiness or only sorrowful happenings, it's always a roller coaster journey. Personally for me 2018, will be remembered as the year which  early on took my dad away from me, the rest of the year went in me trying to learn the way to carry on with my life without him, the person who breathed along with me since my birth. As every year, the initial few months were very slow and the last few months spiralled off at a rocket speed. Life teaches us many lessons ... The main lesson is to live with optimism. As long as we breathe - follow the dreams and get along life with passion and zest....