I have had an eventful and unusually busy week behind me and as I reflect on it, I find that there is a lot that I should be grateful for. I have come across many suggestions that we should have a gratitude list regularly updated to be more joyful in life, and I think that I should use my blog as a gratitude list every Saturday to share the events of the past week with my readers.
On Monday, I received confirmation that my sister and her family had safely returned to India after a brief holiday in the UK. I was a bit anxious for her health and more tense because of my father’s paranoia about her safety. That confirmation came as a big relief. I also received a cheque for a large sum of money being repayment of a loan that I had extended to a friend. I had no hopes of seeing the repayment for some more time, and I was quite pleasantly surprised when the cheque came. I was also able to sort out a production problem in a friend’s factory, much to the joy of his workers and him too. It was a nice feeling to know that I had not lost my touch with that particular knack of being able to locate and solve production problems.
On Tuesday, I received a phone call from an old friend that resulted in my writing my post Keeper Of The Past. It was such a joyful few minutes of telephone conversation that I carried the euphoria well into the day.
On Wednesday, I got another phone call from my cousin from Mumbai announcing his intention to spend a couple of days with me here in Pune and that was another very welcome interruption to my routine. I also received an invitation to attend a meeting of my Business School Alumni and one alumnus offered to drive me to and fro to the meeting.
On Thursday, my cousin landed up with a gift of a book that I had been planning to purchase! We spent the whole day together and it was one of the most pleasant days that I have had in the recent past.
On Friday, another friend visiting Pune from Ahmedabad contacted a mutual friend to ensure that the three of us met. Govind from Ahmedabad and Parag, my local friend and I had a delightful and sumptuous lunch with much catching up, at Parag’s club. Here are two photographs taken at the lunch. Parag is the host signing the bill.
On Friday evening, I was duly escorted to the Alumni meeting and spent a very satisfying three hours, meeting up with a wide spectrum of alumni from ancient specimens of around my age on the one end and extremely young members in the twenties on the other. It was a very satisfying experience to see the pride with which the alumni developed a sense of belonging to the old alma mater.
This morning was once again spent with my cousin at home. I made some light lunch for him which he praised to the skies and left at 1.00 pm. As I began to write this post, he rang me up to confirm that he had safely reached home.
Did anything go wrong? Yes, it did. Gaelikaa asked me the topic for our Friday LBC post while I was having lunch with my friends. My memory played tricks on me and I gave her next week’s topic! I realized my mistake only late last night after I returned from the alumni meeting and dinner and sent a text message apologising for the goof up. Since I haven’t received a blast from her, I think that my apology has been accepted. I am grateful for that too.
All in all, a very satisfying week and much to be grateful for.