March 2024 Gratitude

“The Secret of happiness is Gratitude”

The month came to an end with Easter Celebration, an important festival for us that reminds that there are no short cuts to salvation and we have to walk the path of Jesus of taking up our own cross and walking the Calvary road. I am happy to remind myself that life is tough, challenging and it will this way till the end of our lives; what is important is to walk in faith, finding our purpose, enjoying the journey and finding meaning and fulfillment as we reach our destinies.

So here are few highlights of this month that I am grateful for:

I am grateful for the community program of the YWCA of Secunderabad that focused on creating awareness on substance abuse in this community. I am inspired by the resource persons from the AA (Alcoholic Anonymous) group who came and shared their long journey of how they struggled with alcohol and now they are sober for more than a decade, and they are here to sensitize the community in helping them understand that alcoholism is a sickness and that needs to be treated. I returned home inspired by the women who never gave up and now making a difference in the lives of so many families who are devastated because of alcohol.

I am grateful for the sudden surprise of my younger sister who just came after the women’s day celebration at her office. At the same time the last brother in the family also came; even though we live in the same city, its not easy to meet as each of us have our own lives to live, so this was a pleasant surprise and I am glad that she took time to meet us.

I am grateful for another surprise lunch treat with a friend and her daughter; our daughters are friends too, glad that we connected with each other for lunch and our daughters too had a great time as they wanted to  try out some Chinese food. To have people who care for and enjoy a delicious meal is a blessing.

I am glad that my guide called me to attend a programme in the University – it was the NAAC(National Assessment & Accreditation Council) visit for higher education are graded based on certain criteria developed by the UGC.  (University Grant Commission). This was an opportunity for me to show my gratitude to the institution wherein I gained so much knowledge and completed a PG as well as my PHD too.

This was a meaningful experience for me as I listened to the other alumini’s who shared their experiences as to how facing all odds they rose up to shine in writing books and some of them have got even National award from the President of India for the Telugu literature, still others who excelled in some field. I was impressed with Dr Sajidha Khan who is the only Audio Engineer in the country working in the film industry and is into dubbing voices and other technical work. She was also a National award winner for her contribution in the Telugu Film Industry.

This month I am glad to be attending  birthday parties – a 60^th birthday of Neomi Nayak a very old friend of mine and I have great memories of her in my life; she was the God mother to my son and she was always kind and generous in her time with me. I was happy to attend with my family, to express my gratitude towards her; and it was a memorable day wherein we clicked pictures with her and also with family and friends.

I was glad to meet Dr Evita Fernandez – who shared an important part of my journey while giving birth to my first child Maria Dorothy.  She is one of the best n a top Gynecologist in the city and very friendly and helpful. I was happy to meet her as I had so much to be thankful for her in my life. I had been to her for both of my children and she was such a wonderful person who helped in the birthing process.

I am grateful for the birthday of one of my college mate, we have a group and we try as much to be in touch and regularly meet and celebrate one another. This month was Kasturi’s birthday and we planned for a lunch programme – as we had last met for my birthday in the month of December, hence we decided to meet have some fun. We played some quiz about knowing the birthday girl’s likes dislikes, favorite food, movies etc and it made us realize how much more we need to know about each other, and its always fun to bond with games like this; we cut the cake and had a delicious lunch and also took beautiful pictures for our memory.   I thank God for friends who are just a call away and we are there for each other giving company like the extended family.

I am also grateful for the different opportunities I get in academics, glad that I am now completing my Post graduation in Philosophy, an interesting subject and I feel that every one must understand the philosophy its origin and how it influences our lives. There is so much to learn and more I devote my time, the greater I realize that I know very little.   I am happy with the class mates who are studying, helping one another sharing notes and updating so that we do not miss out on anything.

I am also glad to be part of an interesting exercise which was to look at the interventions and see the impact that it has created in the government institutions. I am happy to be surrounded by people who are involved in meaningful work and looking at them I feel motivated too.

I am grateful for my centre wherein I get to go to work everyday- and there is always something to do, counseling, updating, reporting and connecting for referrals. It’s a blessing to be working in a helping profession as I listen to others, my challenges look very insignificant, and I value and appreciate what I have in my life – family, work, friends, academics, well wishers, praying people and all the service providers at home and outside.

These thoughts fill me with gratitude and give me a boost to move forward. There is so much more to add on like the holy week and services at our parish,  we could be together, meeting our friends at church, and having people around us to go for the midnight vigil mass, renew our faith in the Lord and continue our journey.

There were some discomforts too, some days were tiring and sometimes dealing with pressure at work and still other times meeting deadlines, attending meetings, making reports, updating my head and ensuring that everything is smooth at workplace as well as at home. Hope you enjoyed reading my post as I relived all these moments with gratitude.

I am happy to wind up this month with Easter Blessings!

Happy Easter to all who are reading my post,

May you and your families be Blessed!