And so another year comes to a close – as with all years, we have had successes and failures, triumphs and adversities and joys and sorrows. As you grow older you become more philosophical about these things and learn to take the rough with the smooth. As my dad used to say, do not lose heart in adversities and equally do not get overexcited by triumphs – in other words , equanimity should be the order of the day as both joys and sorrows are short lived. 

January and February are hectic times for me due to the year end work pressures – this is when my 4 day week gets suspended and I’m working 5 days or even 6 or 7 depending in the workload. It doesn’t seem to get any easier year on year! 

Nikhil was busy working hard on his post graduate course at Kings and seemed to have rediscovered his passion for Maths. Arjun had settled well into his role and continued to make a good impression. Hitesh gets busy with the badminton coaching as the season comes into full swing and this year his coaching commitments have continued to increase to the point of him coaching for around 2 hours every day. No wonder he is so fit!

Arjun went skiing with his friends in February for 5 days and had a great time although one his friends had to be airlifted from the slopes– too much red bull they said!

Nikhil had already been skiing in December and didn’t want to take a week off from his studies so a family skiing break was out of the question. Hitesh was not keen on us 2 going by ourselves so we ended up not going this year – the first year that we haven’t been in a very long time. 

Instead we went on a mini break to Budapest in March. Nikhil had been in February and reported glorious temperatures but when I had a look at the weather reports before we went, it was predicted to be cold. Not just that , it was freezing! Luckily we were prepared with our hats and gloves and had a lovely time. We walked in snow showers and freezing temperatures but it was so pretty. We may not have gone skiing but we had enough snow in Budapest! The only disappointing thing was not being able to bath outside in the thermal baths – Nikhil had told us the views were amazing from outside especially after sunset. We’ll have to go again in the spring or summer to experience this properly.

In April, Hitesh took a men only trip to Turkey for a week’s golfing break. There were 16 of them, most of whom had never been before and they were amazed by the quality of the courses, the standard of the hotel – 5 star and so lavish, and the variety of food and drinks available – it was all inclusive so they could indulge in everything to their heart’s content. They had a really wonderful time – all the wives were jealous they couldn’t go so Hitesh promised that next time the spouses could come but as it happens , the men are going solo again  – this time 24 of them. 

Nikhil was studying hard for his exams in May and had applied for a summer camp job in the US and had managed to secure a tennis assistant coaching job. He couldn’t wait to finish his exams and go there – Arjun was so envious, having done a summer camp a couple of years earlier. 

In May Shreya, Hitesh’s niece arrived from the US – she had just graduated from school and was spending a little time with us and all her cousins before she started University. I decided it would be good to have some quality family time together and we booked a long weekend away with Hitesh’s siblings and families in the first week of June before Nikhil disappeared fro a few months to the States. It was a lovely time – we were in Dorset , not too far away, the weather was brilliant and the scenery was stunning. Shame some people had to get back early!

So Nikhil left for the US on 7 June – the intention was to spend a few days with my sister Niru and family in Baltimore then a few days in NY before starting camp in Pennsylvania. 

At camp he was busy playing tennis all day – he sent us a picture of his ‘office’ – tennis courts overlooking a lake – it looked amazing. Although not so good at tennis as squash, he entered the camp tennis competition and ended up winning the event surprising not just himself but also others who expected to win being accomplished tennis players! He was in the camp for a couple of months but time just flew by all too quickly. We had my cousin Dilip’s daughter’s wedding in August so he could not spend much time exploring the US. He just had a few days in NY with friends and then a few days in Atlanta with Harshad (Hitesh’s brother ) and family. 

At the end of June Manjula, my sister and her husband were going to Sweden to visit a family friend Seiya. I hadn’t had a break at all for some time and decided to tag along. Hitesh could not come due to coaching commitments. 

Seiya was really excited about us coming and booked us on an overnight cruise to Talinn as well. We had a wonderful time at their place –the scenery is stunning and the air is so fresh. We swam in the lake at the bottom of their garden – the water was cold but refreshing. Stockholm was a really nice city and we went to the Vasa museum, a ship that only travelled about 1.3km before sinking – even the Titanic travelled a little further than this!

Talinn was an interesting place – mostly the Swedes come here for the cheap shopping and it had some interesting markets, but the old town is a UNESCO world heritage site and Estonia’s had a colourful history being occupied by greater powers such as the Nazis and the Soviets for a large part. Today they are fiercely independent. 

Arjun had been talking about moving out – he was finding the commute a little heavy in the mornings as he was taking the train at 5.30am. Eventually at the end of June , he and a couple of work friends found a place in the city, around 20 mins walk from work and decided to move in. I was very upset especially as we live so near to the station but you can’t hold on to them forever. He had also acquired a motor bike against my will – he really is becoming independent! With his bike the commute is less than 5 mins –but he promises to sell the bike after about a year or so! I can’t wait.

Nikhil meanwhile got his results for his post graduate course – he had gained a distinction and along with another of his fellow students, had also got an award for the top student. I felt happy for him that he had done well – now he needs to find a job that he enjoys. 

In August we had Khilna’s (my cousin, Dilip’s daughter) wedding. It was an elaborate affair with a mehndi night, a sanji night and dinners at home in between. Nikhil arrived home from the US in time for the first event , the sanji night. The next day was the mehndi night and I had volunteered to help out with the pizzas, so we were making the bases on Saturday morning, the day of the sanji. Also we had been volunteered to do a dance, so in the afternoon, we had semi practice session of the dance. I felt sorry for the guys teaching us – most of us had 2 left feet and we were not at all graceful. But somehow we managed to pull it off and everyone complimented us on the dance. Phew!

The pizza party, falafel night and dosa night all went really well. The youngsters had organised lots of different games, quizzes , karaoke singing and it was such good fun, even though the late nights meant dozing off at work in the afternoons. The wedding itself was on a weekday at Oshwal centre and it was yet another successful event and the reception was another brilliant event and a great ending to the whole week of festivities. 

The following week we were all having withdrawal symptoms and longed for yet more festivities, but of course we had Hinesh’s wedding (Dilip’s son) to look forward to in December and this was to be in India! The boys were both coming as well, their first trip to India since 2001, when Nikhil was quite ill. 

In September Arjun went to Bali for a holiday – he went by himself and had a wonderful time. Initially he had been trying to go with friends but it was not working out. Staying mostly in youth hostels you meet lots of people anyway and he had fun diving and hiking and sight seeing. 

Hitesh and I had been wanting to keep a pizza party at home for friends and family for some time and we finally managed to organise this on 15 September – it was not the best of days, but it was mainly dry and actually everyone really enjoyed the event. It was also Shailesh’s (my brother) birthday and he was quite chuffed that we celebrated this with a cake. It was also a year since the tragic shooting of Omit, Hitesh’s cousin and Hitesh wanted to remember him with this pizza party especially as Omit had helped buy and pack the jiko (pizza oven) for Hitesh. 

A few weeks later more tragic news followed with the siege of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi by terrorists. More senseless deaths and horrific stories and images of the saga which lasted close to a week. So many people that you knew lost their lives and so many had really lucky escapes. Life is indeed so fragile

In the meantime Nikhil had been looking for a job and finally secured a job with Barclays, using his maths and data skills in their fraud section. He is enjoying it – the hours are very reasonable and the work is interesting. He continues to play squash – Arjun and him are both playing in the Middlesex squash league, and recently entered a Barclays squash competition, which he won!     

Hitesh and I had been planning our trip to India for Hinesh’s wedding – we were going out early and having a holiday in Kerala prior to the wedding –my sisters, Manjula and Niru along with the husbands were also joining us. They were going there earlier so the plan was to meet them in Cochin and then begin our trip. 

Unfortunately just before we were due to fly out we heard some tragic news that my cousin Pradip in Mumbai had passed away. It was a shock to all of us – he had been due to go on a pilgrimage that afternoon and had been on an early morning walk with his doctor friend. No indications that in a few hours he would suddenly collapse and die of a heart attack. It was such a shock as we were all due to pass through Mumbai and he had been busy making arrangements for us all and was so looking forward to the wedding. Yet another reminder of the fragility of life. 

Work had been really busy all year – yet more scandals on traders fixing LIBOR, forex pricing etc and we all get tarred with the brush. The regulatory authorities are trying to get detailed information on lots of different aspects of banking – whilst the data requests are reasonable, unfortunately the banking systems are so antiquated that any request results in yet more manual effort. So I was looking forward to finally having a long holiday – not having had more than a week for the best part of the year.  

We travelled out on 6 December by Turkish airlines and had a free stop over in Istanbul for 3 nights. Istanbul is a great city – really lively and colourful with its grand bazzars selling every item under the sun. It is where East meets West, where Asia and Europe come together, where  Muslim and Christian cultures coexist peacefully. There was some kind of protest going on whilst we were there but it was peaceful with the police far outnumbering the protestors!

We finally reached Mumbai on 9 December and then flew to Cochin on 10 December. The driver was waiting at the airport to pick us up – we had hired a tempo traveller a 9 seater so it was not too cramped. The others had already checked into the hotel a day earlier. 

Cochin was an interesting place – again it had trade with other countries for centuries before and there was a sizeable Jewish community there earlier. Now they have mostly all gone to Israel and apparently only 12 members of one family remain. Predominantly the population is Christain and there are a couple of beautiful churches here. Vasco de Gama died here and was initially buried here before being returned back to Portugal.  

After a couple of days in Cochin, we had a night in a houseboat exploring the backwaters of Kerala – a wonderful experience – very serene and peaceful, slowly watching the world go by. Kerala defines itself as God’s own country and actually it is – so lush and green and the people really pleasant. 

We visited Thekkady, a hill station next to a wildlife reserve and home to spice plantations, Munnar, home to tea plantations and lots of Bollywood films have been shot here 

Kerala has a lot more to offer in terms of beautiful beaches as well to rival those in Goa but we did not go further south instead going to Ooty in Tamil Nadu, known as the queen of the hill stations – our hotel was especially nice here – shame we were only here for one night!

After this we went to Mysore beautiful city , home to the sandalwood trees and silk sarees, and the world famous Vrindavan gardens , which sadly are neglected and run down.

In between Mysore and Bangalore is a place called Sravan Belgola, an important pilgrimage place for Jains as it houses the 57 feet statue of Bahubali. We climbed up to the top barefoot and did our darshans at the top. 

Bangalore or Bengaluru , it’s new name is a large modern city and is known as tech capital of India. We have 2 cousins in Bengaluru and the intention was to have dinner with them but we were on the other side of town to them. Shobhy , our driver was not too familiar with the city and so we decided to take a taxi. This was the ride of our lives. The driver was weaving through the really heavy traffic, having a conversation on his mobile and changing gear at the same time. His conversation was very emotional to the point of him sobbing into the phone every few seconds. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! Still he got us there and we decided to visit the other cousin on the same day so we didn’t have to make the same trek again the next day. 

After Bengaluru, we said good bye to the driver –he had been really good and we flew to Goa, where we stayed in Manjula’s friend’s house. Once you got way from the locals the beach was really beautiful but it is still disconcerting to see cows on the beach!

From Goa we were due to go by train to Vadodra but were waitlisted on the train. On the day, we managed to secure 2 tickets and once we got on the train, we got allocated a couple more but we were still short and had to share our bunks – not a pleasant prospect on a 18 hour train journey. 

The wedding was in Vadodra and we arrived early morning on the mehndi night. We had a full day to recover and explore Vadodra . The mehndi night was in the hotel we were staying at – beautiful venue and great music. The mehndi ladies were so fast as well. 

The next day we had the mandhvo and sangeet night in the evening – everything was out in the open – the weather was warm and it was wonderful. All the cousins performed a skit on Hinesh and Shuchi which was hilarious. It was great to catch up with all my cousins from India some of whom we have not seen for a very long time. 

The next day was the wedding and what a beautiful wedding .Hinesh was on a white horse, we had a band playing music as we danced to the venue, the venue was stunning – the mandap was a canopy of flowers, there were sofas and comfy seats , fountains and statues. It all looked so surreal. 

The next day we travelled to Chapparda to witness for ourselves the great work BEHT has been doing with Bapu to uplift the rural community. We had last visited the place in 2001, when the project was in its infancy, there was one small boarding school for boys. Today, there is a Gujarati medium school for around 1500 students, boys and girls along with residential quarters for all these students, there is a blind school, there is an English medium school, there are higher level colleges for degrees in computer science, education etc. There is an old people’s home as well as a diary farm, and vegetable farms, such that the community is to a large degree self sufficient. Their latest project is a hospital serving around all the rural villages. Our Kilimanjaro climb a couple of years ago had raised funds to buy equipment at this hospital and it is good to see that the hospital is now running so successfully. We also visited 3 primary schools in the slums in savarkundla that BEHT supports and it was heartrending to see the children so keen to learn – they were so cute, smiling and so happy to be at school,so inquisitive and so confident. 

Whilst at chapparda we also visited the gir forest , the last home of the Asiatic lions and managed to spot one lion; we also climbed up Girnar to see the spectacular jain temples as well as the Ambaji temple. – 8000 steps so we were aching when we came down!  

Unfortunately that same night we had an overnight journey to Mumbai as our train tickets were not confirmed. It was a tiring night and the next day we had our flight back to London early morning. So by the time we returned to cold wet London on Saturday 4 Jan we were shattered. Hopefully the rest of the year is not as hectic.

And so 2013 has ended. It was a great finale to the year . The boys went to Goa with their cousins after the wedding and had a great time. They really enjoyed their time in India so I hope they will continue to visit the land of their ancestors.   

I hope you all had a great festive break. Best wishes for the new year.