May 2024 Gratitude

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plan.” John Lennon

Thanks to Dr Prakash for this click

May 2024 was magical for I had a new lens after the surgery – the world looked very bright, and it was a great feeling to see with such clarity. I loved the brightness around me; I followed the doctor’s advice to protect my eye from sun and flashy lights. I stopped driving my two wheeler; loved the luxury of travelling by auto every day to my work place.

 As we complete 31 day s of May – I feel immensely grateful to God for so many blessings. I am eager to write this post for it’s a great experience to review the month and see the journey and appreciate every little experience that has given me both joy and lessons.

 Here is my gratitude list :

 I am grateful for the gift of my eyes- while I moved around with dark glass to protect my eye and also ensured that I followed the doctor’s advice, went for a couple of reviews and got my reading glasses too. I feel blessed that everything went on smoothly; as I was frightened of the surgery, worried about so many things to handle – now I feel silly to have bothered so much, am glad it’s all over and it was just a matter of time, with God’s grace I had everything lined up for me for the surgery and within a month things fell in place and I am almost getting back to the routine.

 I am grateful for my family who took care of me, ensuring that I never enter the kitchen and made sure that I am comfortable, there was no stress and I never took the bike out, but used the auto to reach my work place.

I am grateful for the work environment and my colleagues – especially my Director in charge  who gives me a so much space; giving me flexible working hours, that  helped me recover faster. At the same time ensuring that work does not suffer and respond to what was required to be done at the counseling centre.

I am grateful for the long suffering that came to an end this month. My second brother Francis Viagula dass breathed his last on the 4^th of this month. He was suffering from Parkinson’s for few years and he was getting to the end stage – muscle stiffness and freezing, could also see the cognitive changes, psychosis and the last time that I met him, there was profound memory loss which was making it hard for him to remember people.

He was disoriented and this was a difficult experience for me as I had never seen my brother this way. I prayed for healing and death is a healing too as it puts an end to all the physical suffering. I am grateful for his family especially my nephew Sunny Emmanuel who took care of him till his last breath. I am grateful to God for brother Francis was part of my journey too and he was a prayerful person, always lived within his means; which I admired and he chose to live a simple life.

I am grateful for the celebrations too- There was a wedding too in this month, one of our close family friends, almost like an extended family, Dorothy was one of the bridesmaids.   She was busy with all the preparations,  practicing for the dance performances they planned for the wedding. I was glad that she was taking initiative in helping her friends, we were there for the pre wedding celebration and the wedding celebration too- I met some of our old neighbors connected with them and with good food and good old friends it’s always a pleasant experience.

I am grateful for my friends – Aparna, a close friend  had shifted into a bigger house, which was her dream to have her own specific area to work. We as friends were happy for her dream that is a reality now, we celebrated, re connected with one another. We made fun of each other, made some reels for our own entertainment, shared all the funny moments, laughed loudly, enjoyed delicious food and created wonderful memories.

I am grateful that this month was also voting month; which was scheduled for the 13^th of May in Telangana. I was glad to exercise my power to vote. I got up early hours and in the first hour went to the polling station with my voter id ensured that I voted, and encouraged those around me to cast their vote. I am also glad that for Dorothy it’s her first time voting experience and David took her along with him and explained the process to her, and they both voted too.

I am grateful to connect on phone an old colleague; we worked for many years in my previous organization. She was in the city for a short duration and we met her for breakfast and went around in the nearby area for shopping as she wanted to pick up some things for her daughter. I am happy for this was a surprise as I was meeting her after a long time; while   our daughters went around picking up stuff that they wanted. We were busy connecting with where we left behind our last conversation.

This month Mother’s day was special for me- as it brought in lovely memories of my mother, she was  a generous soul, filled with faith, trusted the Lord at all times, was regular to church and participated in some of the activities in the church, despite being so busy with household chores, we had no domestic help and she handled everything by herself and loved being with people around, glad for so many beautiful memories – that I couldn’t resist but post a picture of hers with mine, grateful for her in my life.

I am grateful for my association with the YWCA of Secunderabad – wherein I am involved in facilitating activities related to women empowerment. This month there was a visit from the South East Region to ensure that the standards are maintained as per the norms of National as well as the International YWCA. I was glad to be there interacting with the team, it was learning experience for me and was also opportunity connecting with the like minded friends.

I am grateful that despite everything that was happening around me and in – I was able to complete my assignments two weeks before submission. I am happy learning so much in this subject (Philosophy) while I was writing the assignments I was inspired to study on  Sikhism, Sufism and Shri Aurobindo’s” thoughts and theories. As I kept learning I am beginning to understand that there is so much to learn in life.  Some of the quotes that made me smile while reading western philosophy was as follows:

“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth, because they don’t want their illusions to be destroyed” Fried Nietzsche

 “There are no Facts but only Interpretation” Fried Nietzsche

I am happy to have watched a great movie in Hindi called the Laapata Ladies- thanks to my daughter for showing me this movie. The social messages were conveyed subtly and simply. The movie is positive, encouraging and humorous. You will smile, laugh and could get emotionally connected too.. its worth watching and happy to have entertained myself with a good movie.

These are some of the things that keep me grateful, there is more things to add but I stop here and just high light what is unforgettable. I am glad and grateful and look forward to the coming months with hope, faith and love, for I believe everything always works together for our good, especially for those who trust in the Lord.

Thanks for reading my post, hope you had a great May 2024!

Be Blessed & Be Happy!