June 2020 Gratitude

“Gratitude is the wine for the soul; Go on.  Get drunk” Rumi

June was a pleasant month, we had few days of shower to beat the heat; and it was also a busy month as me and David joined work and we were regular in our work. We took all the precautions, of wearing mask, sanitizing regularly our hands and maintaining hygiene and also ensured that we maintained social distance where ever we went. We avoided crowded places, bought from the local kirana store what ever we needed and avoided malls and huge markets.

Since I joined work I had just enough time to manage – I tried making sesame laddoos for my daughter for the second time I included groundnut with jaggery and it was liked by family and extended family too. I tried black eye pea curry form watching u tube for breakfast it was yummy with chapati and also rice. I was happy to attempt almost 3 to 4 times different types of cakes like the banana walnut cake, the chocolate cake with walnuts. I am glad it came out perfect. I took the recipe from www.vegreceipesofindia.com I also for the first time attempted to make cutlets, once with soya granules and potato and another time with chicken mince and happy to be appreciated by David and Dorothy.                                  

Despite the rise in the number of persons infected with Corona. There were one or two days when the department was shut and I could not work. Nevertheless I was facilitating some of the things from home; took counseling calls, referred some of the calls to another place wherein they would help. I even worked from my HOD’s place as it was urgent and we had a time line to submit proposals, am grateful to God that even though we had to move around completing our tasks – we are reaching home safe and we ensure that we completely sanitize ourselves, even wash our clothes every day including the foot wear to keep ourselves safe.

Dorothy started her online classes every day with college timings 10.30a.m to 4pmn with half an hour break for lunch. I am grateful while both of us are away from work our daughter is also attending classes and busy with assignments. 

Its been a long time since I looked at self care – visiting the parlor and getting pedicure done which gives me a great feeling of comfort to my feet and also just clean up my face and remove the tan – with lock down the parlor has been closed too .. thankful to Dorothy who massaged my feet, painted my nails, oiled my hair, scrubbed, cleaned and put a face mask, which made my face glow and felt so good. She loves to do these things and it’s a blessing to have daughters who can look into these aspects of self care.  I am feeling blessed… and so these kind of services that comes with love and free of cost. 

This month was disturbing and shocking too as I heard about Sushant Rajput’s death, which was very sad and then followed by some more youngsters ending their lives. Till date it’s difficult to digest these facts that so many youngsters have brought sudden end to their lives. It is so important to talk about suicide as its a preventable form of death. We need to spread awareness on saying NO to Suicide help everyone understand that Depression is treatable.

With COVID 19 there has been a lot of suicides and also domestic violence and child abuse cases being reported. Mental health is a serious emerging issue, the number of students seeking counseling for anxiety, fear and depression has also risen in the city. Due to lock down we have been open for telecounseling and this month we are glad to have shifted in a bigger place in the same premises.

A lot of work has been in done right from the time we have shifted to the new place. I am grateful for the workers who came everyday despite the situation and completed partition work, false ceiling, painting up the whole office. There were also other workers who came in to shift our A Cs and fix it up in our new place, the fans, the electrical and cable works etc…am grateful to God for this bigger space and extension of our services to the students. This month I had counseling sessions in the new centre, almost 4 sessions and few Tele Counseling sessions

This month was a friend’s birthday and because of the lock down we decided to celebrate virtually on Zoom. It was fun we played quiz about our friend trying to understand how much we know the person. It was a pleasure to learn about our birthday friend – we could also take time to appreciate the person, highlighting the positive qualities and the experiences we have had with the person. We also prayed for one another and wished good luck and sang for her.

I was happy to have Nissi my niece come home a day before her birthday, and as a family we were happy to have her and my sister in law in one of the evening. We prayed and cut the cake and it was a lovely evening. It was father’s day and it was also gratitude day for me to remember my dad and all that he has done in my life, enabling me and empowering me to study and evolve myself in choosing careers that brought meaning to my life.

I am grateful to God for the good health of myself and family…. Our ability to continue to work despite the risks involved in stepping out for work. We had little choice in terms of working from home.. So with trust in the Lord and taking all the precautions we continue to do what we can.  

Watched a movie of Irfan which I missed – Lunch Box. It’s a pleasure to watch him act - I enjoyed this movie as it was very different from the regular ones.

I have been taking the car everyday to my office and enjoying the comfort of driving and felt much safer on the road. All the short cuts leading to my work place is blocked once again. So I had to drive another 3 – 5 km extra with one way it’s a long drive, but I am getting used to it as there’s no other short route. I am grateful for the opportunity to sharpen my skills in driving and get used to our roads, especially that which leads to the campus.

This month there’s been review meetings for us, wherein we were appreciated for the intitating a COVID 19 helpline for the students and others too... we are grateful to the volunteers who were willing to take calls.  I am also happy and grateful that we have opportunities to facilitate webinars for the faculty as well as the students on issues that are relevant. I have been busy coordinating  evolving a plan of action. 

I am grateful to be part of the Tree Love group and I am enjoying posting trees every 2^nd and 4^th Thursday  hosted by Parul at http:  http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/ . I enjoy the virtual pictures of trees from all over the world. It’s a visual treat to have tree lovers clicking beautiful pictures and sharing them generously within the group.

I am also grateful to find so much of goodness around me; there are so many different people who are reaching out in various ways to respond to all the different issues around the world.  #WATWB (We are the World Blogfest) is an initiative that shares positive events and stories to bring light into the world. Its an opportunity to keep looking out for all those people who make a difference in this world and share in our posts. This exercise of identifying positivity has enabled me to stay positive, grateful and inspired.

I thank vidya for initiating this process of forming a gratitude circle and inviting everyone to share the monthly gratitude post .If you are interested in joining the Gratitude Circle:

Write a gratitude post,

Add the badge

Post it on the last Thursday of the month and

Add your link to the Gratitude Circle. https://vidyasury.com/

There are still so many things I am grateful for; the regular supply of provisions, the thoughtfulness of my neighbours, extended families for sharing whatever they had prepared for their meals.  The service providers and some of our friends who have helped us despite the lock down, there has been problem with our taps and I am grateful for the person who got the taps repaired, fixed the tube lights. The doctors who are committed and available to help, the dentist who is treating Dorothy and David for braces and dental issues.

How was your June month – hope you are doing well; I would love to hear from you and appreciate if you share your thoughts.

Be Happy & Be Blessed !