2012 - The year it was

Another year has come to an end; it’s rather petrifying how time flies. While I deliberately reminisce over the past year, there are so many things I would have liked to do differently. My sister happened to ask me which year was my best, I said, “2012!” But was it really? There were opportunities that I blew, chances I took, faith I sowed and mistakes I made. But like my mum says, “You’ll never relish success as much if you didn’t know how disappointments felt.”

I didn’t apprehend travelling was going to be the highlight of my year. It was a spectacular year on that note, and one of the best things about 2012! Having voyaged from Bangalore, Coorg, Leh, Manali, Delhi, Pune to Sri Lanka this year, I’ve come to realize that travelling gives me a different high - one that is way more addictive than the drug that regales. Fronting the unfamiliar is daunting, but exhilarating, and my trips to Leh and Sri Lanka were precisely that! For most of my trips, I have Rohan to thank; he's been an amazing partner-in-crime and fantastic company! If I initiated the idea, he helped me see it through! None of the outings would have been the same without him.

I did things I had only imagined of before. A road-trip to Ladakh, my outing to Pangong Lake, sitting in the control room and the commentator’s box at the Palekelle in Kandy, watching the game from the team dug outs virtually, schmoozing with some of the game’s greats were thoughts only in reveries, but having lived through those, they’d always mean oodles to me.

There has been one monument in India that had me fascinated enough to want to visit it for years now - The Taj Mahal! Luckily for me, I checked that last year, too! Beautiful is an understatement for that gorgeous wonder! All I could do throughout my visit was gawk at its magnificence. If that's what a Wonder of the World made me feel, I'm looking forward to seeing another. Hopefully, The Great Wall of China next!

Travelling alone to a different country for me was always going to be challenging, especially since I have always been cosseted with company most times than not. To venture into a land with a different tongue was supposed to be tough, but not really; in times like those, you act on instinct and listen to the voice inside your head. The best part about the trip to Sri Lanka was of course, the cricket! I couldn’t have asked for a better first trip by myself!  

I marked off entries on my bucket-list like paragliding, river rafting, river-crossing and a few others – the most for one single year, which is an indication that I’m on my way of accomplishing all I want to. The year also reinforced my belief in – whatever happens, happens for the best. My trip to the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka was perfectly scheduled post my return from Bangalore, without which it wouldn’t have been possible. I can’t help but believe that, everything happens for a reason and there is a larger plan in place.

People talk about resolutions, but I’ve figured making resolutions is an absolute waste of my time. One, it takes me no time to break them, and two, I’m not determined enough to see them through the entire year. So this year I haven’t exactly made resolutions but there are a few things I would love doing this year. This year: No more ‘I can’t’, ‘It’s not possible’ and ‘It’s so hard’; instead, more of ‘I will’, ‘This is awesome’ and ‘What’s the opportunity here?’

2012 was supposed to be the year of the apocalypse. Of course, we knew better. I’m sure nobody stopped planning for 2013 because they believed the prediction would come true. That’s what we learn: to look ahead, hope for better things and strive to achieve what we have set out for.