Yet another year has flown by! Perhaps it is as we get older we always seem to be running to catch up with time which is racing ahead. The young don’t seem to have this problem as they’re able to keep up with time and so always seems to be waiting to grow up quickly.
2007 has been for me a year of reflection and spending more time with myself ,spending more time with my family and also spending more time with my parents. All in all a much more rewarding year
January is always busy in the Shah household what the badminton and squash seasons in full swing and with my work commitments in January and February as a result of the year end. After my few weeks stay at the health farm last year, I had resolved to go to the early morning yoga sessions at the Sindhi centre. Previously I had always thought they were a bit too early, but now I was more used to waking before the crack of dawn. I also decided that I would walk to the centre weather permitting . I’m pleased to say that this routine has continued for the best part of the year. As mentioned in previous letter, I have also joined Sansaar as a committee member and this role continued to occupy some of my evenings.
Nikhil had already embarked on his ‘A’ level course and as he was taking Maths and further Maths , he had a Statistics module in January to take. Arjun went off to Rio ( not Brazil) but York for a badminton county weekend. They did reasonably well and came 4th.
In February, Nikhil had arranged a skiing trip with a friend, whose sister had booked the accommodation in Tignes. Nikhil and Hari went by coach to Paris, then took a TGV to Bourg St Maurice and then another bus to Tignes. I was impressed that they managed to get there fine – not only that but they came back unscathed and had had a wonderful holiday. I felt sorry for Arjun that he was unable to join them – he really wanted to go but the apartment was only for 4 .
So we promised Arjun that we would go at Easter as a family. Prior to that he had his 16th birthday which he celebrated in an ice skating rink. He had a fabulous time but when we left the place , I discovered that my purse was missing. Unfortunately it was nowhere to be found and assuming the worst I cancelled all my cards. What a surprise then to receive an e-mail from the police when I came in to work on Monday morning to say that they had located some property belonging to me. Apparently a lady walking her dog had found it and had been trying to contact my work number all weekend and when she had no success handed the purse in at the police station., around £100 of cash intact. Amazing – she really restored my faith in human nature!
At the end of March, for Easter, we went skiing as a family with other friends and family. This time we drove down , once again in our faithful old Mondeo but we had a few nerve wrecking hours during the journey when we debated whether it would last the trip and back. We therefore resolved to invest in another car and sell the Mondeo soon.
We hadn’t been able to go together as a family in 2006, when I had splashed out on new equipment, and I was dying to show the boys how much more confident I was. They were impressed at how much I had improved but I was still no match for them. But they were happy to ski as a group in the afternoons which was quite fun. However one of the days they had gone off on their own and we were skiing with the rest of the group. It was beautiful sunny day but suddenly the visibility got really poor. I saw there was a sheer drop on one side and kept saying to the rest of the group especially the children to stay on the right hand side but then all of a sudden – I just fell off the edge. This is the kind of nightmare you have when you go skiing! Lucky for me, one of my skiis had come off and was higher than me so I did not need to go further down to rescue it. But try as I might I could not go up . Every time I tried to climb up, I descended further down. I tried crawling but even that did not work. But then came my knight in shining armour – well Hitesh who walked down , took my other ski off and then pushed me back up. Finally I crawled back up and promptly collapsed on the piste!
Still it made for some interesting conversation in the evening!
The next day, it was quite blizzardy and visibility was really really poor. Still we ventured out in the morning – you never want to miss a day’s skiing if you’ve just gone for a week – boys decided to take the black run – rest of us stuck with the red – it was horrible – you could not see anything and after my experience the day before I was constantly worried about flying off the edge. Somehow we managed to get back and most of us decided to give the afternoon skiing a miss, opting instead to go and choose a restaurant to eat at. Hitesh and Arjun however ventured out and unfortunately Arjun fell awkwardly and damaged his ligament . After this there was no more skiing for him –we still had 2 days left but as he was more worried about competing in the Intercounties badminton tournament the following week at Nottingham, he decided not to risk it.
In April Arjun went to Nottingham for the 4 day Intercounty event and had a fabulous time. He stayed at the university and loved the place as well as the university food so much that he’s resolved to apply to Nottingham for a Uni place! With regards to the tournament they came a respectable third out of 44 counties.
It was fast approaching May and GCSE and ‘AS’ exams were looming imminently ahead!. I had arranged a 4 month short term break from work to coincide with the exam period and the summer holidays and I couldn’t believe it was already here. In fact I finished work on the same day that Arjun broke up from school for his GCSEs . Nikhil broke up soon afterwards for his ‘AS’ exams as well so it was kind of nice to be around for them , making sure they were well fed etc.
I had also for a long time been planning to write my parents’ biography but had been putting it off as there was always something else going on. With the short term break, I had resolved that this would be one of my priorities. So I also managed to spend a lot of time with my parents to get information on their early childhood and youth. The project is going well – unfortunately I didn’t finish writing the full story but I am about 2/3 of the way and hope to spend some time in the new year finishing this. Watch this space! It is very fortunate that both my parents are well and able to remember their past so vividly so I’m getting this information firsthand. We also had a week’s holiday with my Dad in Turkey – he’d been wanting to go there so we thought it would be nice to take him there. He had a fantastic time and Hitesh even got him to climb a lot of the way in Pamukale – it was a fairly steep cobbled path and you couldn’t wear shoes so the stones really hurt your feet. Mind you the sight from the top is amazing – Pamukale means cotton castle and it does look like a fairy tale castle – you could stand underneath the waterfalls and in the thermal pools all day as the water is like bath water. We also went to Ephesus – don’t think Kaka really appreciated all those roman ruins
Unfortunately we didn’t get any more holidays organised – there seemed to be so much going on at home and boys were quite happy chilling after the exams.
Arjun had a week in Spain with his friends straight after his exams and really enjoyed it. Nikhil was quite happy at home playing tennis, squash and the playstation. Arjun had a much longer break as he’d just finished his GCSE’s and managed to get a job at Blue Inc for the summer. I had got into a routine of going to yoga early in the morning , writing for a couple of hours a day in between doing other things such cooking, cleaning , washing etc. The four months fled by and before I knew it I was back at work
Of course before I went back to work we had the ‘AS’ and GCSE results to come. Both did really well – Nikhil got his A in Maths (full A level completed) and A in AS physics and B in AS IT. He’s now dropped the IT and will take the A2 physics next year as well as further mathematics. Arjun got 7A*s , 4As and 1B. -excellent results and very well deserved!
In September we celebrated my cousin Ansuya’s 60th birthday at Bena’s house Her sons had organised a surprise for her and she was totally overwhelmed. In true Shah style we also decided to use the occasion to mark Kaka’s 80th birthday and then other milestone birthdays!
It was a glorious day and a wonderful family occasion.
In September also Kaka had decided he would sponsor the East area savantsari bhojan to mark his 80th birthday . It was again another wonderful event and both Kaka and Ba were thrilled that so many people had come, food was great and everyone had a lovely time.
And of course September was when the boys were back at school and I was back at work – mind you it was only for 3 weeks until I had another break again – as mentioned last year in India I had been diagnosed with cataract and so I had had it checked out in the UK. They confirmed it was a cataract and I was given an operation date of 8 October. I was a bag of nerves beforehand but it all went fine and I was back home after a few hours. Kaka and Ba had come to look after me for a few days- well at least do the cooking – Bena was in Gibraltar. It was amazing – they had operated on the cataract and corrected the vision – I could finally see out of my left eye!
Nikhil’s 18th birthday was looming and I was trying to rack my brains as to what to do for him. He didn’t want a party with his friends so we just had a family gathering at home . I had written a poem for him documenting his 18 years and also with the help of Arjun got a scrapbook together with messages from friends and family – he loved this and the poem and secretly was chuffed I think for the attention. The dinner went really well- Hitesh made cocktails for everyone , in between trying to sell the Mondeo after so many years of faithful service including lots of skiing trips , last one in March. -yes he did eventually sell it.
The 2nd eye was scheduled for January but then in November I got a cancellation appointment. This was equally successful to the point that I need glasses only for reading. Amazing ! The 2nd time Bena was in India as were Kaka and Ba – My cousin’s wife Pannabhabhi came to the rescue and insisted on sending a tiffinbox everyday with lots of delicious food. Thank you so much!. She herself was diagnosed with cancer of the spine and has had intensive treatment as well as an operation so it is great to see her recovering so well and able to do the cooking etc.
As we wind down for the Xmas holidays, the boys are preparing for another set of exams in January. Nikhil has applied to study Maths at university and is awaiting to hear from Cambridge following a tough interview at Trinity College. He is also waiting to hear from Bristol but has had offers from the other universities.
Arjun is still undecided as to what he would like to study at University-He’s currently studying Maths, French, Physics and Economics In late November he decided he’d like to drop French and do Further Maths instead but was not allowed to do so by the school as it was too late. He was not happy as he’s now thinking he’d like to Maths combined with another subject at university! He may take AS further maths next year though.
Both of them are excelling in both squash and badminton, especially Arjun, who recently
won the South East Regional competition in both singles and doubles for badminton.; in Sussex he came second in the doubles. He won both singles and doubles badminton event organised by the Middlesex Ace club as well as winning the Oshwal 16-25 badminton in all 3 categories; Nikhil came second to him. Arjun was also runners up in the main open event. In squash, Nikhil won the Oshwal men’s event in February, whilst Arjun won the under 16 event. In September, Arjun came 2nd (again!) in the Middlesex county closed under 17 category; Nikhil won the under 19. We’re definitely running out of room for their trophies and medals now!
Both of them help Hitesh run the badminton coaching sessions on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings – apparently they’re getting quite good at this. Nikhil has also started tutoring one of Arjun’s friends in A level Maths .
Shishukunj still plays a major part in their lives, although Arjun has hardly been there in Autumn term due to badminton commitments. Nikhil however is diligently there every Sunday morning although they are both complaining that they never get lie ins!
As I finish writing this I’m amazed at how much has happened in 2007 – no wonder I feel ready for a break! I hope 2007 has been equally successful for all of you – Live life to the full, don’t have any regrets and remember to regularly tell those close to you how much you love them and care for them.
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I also pray that 2008 will be a peaceful and happy one for all of us and that all your aspirations and dreams come to fruition.
Hasmita Shah 