Wednesday Whistle no 93

 Ending the year at 93!!

 

As the year comes to an end and I recently added another candle to my cake, a good time to look back on the year gone by and to look ahead to the year ahead.

 

How was your year 2023? Good, bad, somewhat ok… ?

 

Depends on how you look at it… Definitely there could be some genuinely happy events and some sad ones, but if you look at what you were at the beginning of the year and what you are now… how you moved from the 23 to the 24, I am sure you will be able to feel happy on what all you may have done.

I became a much better version of myself- personally and professionally.

 

I got a chance to do several new things which I would never have thought to do before!!

 

Wrote many things – whistles- got a limited edition of my writings published as well 😊

 

Levelled up in my fitness level – trying running, cycling and different sports - participated and won

 

There were several new books I read, new article, new podcasts - just some new things to add to my knowledge

 

New places I visited

 

New friends I made

 

New experiences I got

 

New pictures clicked

 

New relationships built – professional and at personal level

 

Several new learnings down the way and wonderful lifetime memories

 

A year gone by is simply not the 365 days gone but a wonderful set of memories created – whatever be the age, situation & circumstance--one definitely moves up from where you were at the beginning of the year to what you are now and will continuing growing and learning for years to come.

 

To more learnings, experiences, memories, new places, books, friends, and new what not--- bringing in the new year with great vigour and grateful and humbled for a wonderful year gone by ….. signing off 2023 with this whistle… taking a break for few days to come back with more exciting ideas … Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a lovely end of this year and start of next year……. till then enjoy this 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚... 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌... 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆... 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 '𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔' 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒆 '𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒐𝒅' 𝒇𝒐𝒓! 😊
#WednesdayWhistles

When experiences matter more than money…..

 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞

To experience something may be more precious than the money or time spent on it.

 

“Mr A caught an early morning flight from his place of work – a last minute booking at thrice the price, to reach on time for his childhood friend’s wedding. With some urgencies at work, he immediately flew back after the ceremony but carried the wonderful memory of attending the wedding- non attending it would have been a life-long regret”

 

“Ms C has to take a long detour from the daily commute to get that favourite sweet liked by her grandma. But she never disliked it. After all the joy on her grandma’s face was incomparable to the time, traffic and money put in, in getting it”

 

“Ms B participated in the sports tournament after years. She had lost practice and was totally out of touch. After few days of practice, she could play well but others were better and she lost the games. However, she made new friends and got many memories with a wonderful and fulfilling experience”

 

“Mr D was visiting out of India for work. He also got a couple of days spare to explore the city. Other than visiting the different tourist spots, he decided to visit and experience the world’s famous museum despite the long que for the ticket and the extra bucks to be spend for it. He spent almost full day – first in the long que and then taking time to explore the museum. He returned a happy and content person from the lovely experience”

 

In all the above cases, experience mattered the most. People went a way ahead to get the feel and concerned less about the money, time or efforts involved. Sometime in life that is what matter the most. Going the extra mile, pushing a little harder, clocking in few extra hours, walking the extra steps - just to experience something amazing and wow!!

 

When was the last time you did something for the experience? I have done all of the above 4 examples 😉 and believe it was an immense feeling of happiness and joy!!!Without bothering about the monetary part or the effort needed – something for yourself or for a loved one…..

 

Enjoy and soak in the experience sometimes rather than the material part….. 😉

 

I leave you with this thought on this lovely 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚... 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌... 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆... 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 '𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔' 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒆 '𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒐𝒅' 𝒇𝒐𝒓! 😊
#WednesdayWhistles

𝑲𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒊…

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞

Sports is what binds us and brings us together….

बल्ला थोड़ा सा ठिठक गया,
और बॉल नें भी अब साँस ली है ,
ग्राउंड भी आज अकेला है ,
ना कोई शोर ना कोई ताली है,
दिन रात जहाँ महफिल सजती थी,
वो पिच भी आज ख़ाली है,
शोर शराबे जोश दिला के,
सन्नाटे में चले गए,
ट्रॉफी और ईनाम बंट गए,
सब शान्त है अब,
लेकिन क्रिकेट की पारी ज़ारी है,
फिर लौटेगा खिलाडियों का हुजूम,
फ़िर होगा खेला,
क्यूँकी अब unit c की खिलाडियों की बारी है!!!

I recently participated in the sports event organised at my housing society. For more than one month, every weekend some sporting event was being organised ranging from indoor games like carrom, chess, table tennis to outdoor games like badminton and everyone’s favourite cricket...!!

Every weekend we saw the sporting spirit of people competing against each other as well as becoming buddies… except the age groups in few games, there was no restriction or demarcation. Anyone being a resident of the housing complex was free to participate.

The event took me back to school days when playing outdoors was always a welcome option. Finishing the school homework quickly to be able to race outside and spent the remaining evening playing with friends. The games options then were too many and did not need much resources … only a bunch of excited kids were all that made up the game. There was no fear of getting hurt, no concern of sun, or weather. If one has to play, one has to play come what may!!

From 𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘮𝘳𝘪𝘵, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯, 7 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 to badminton, racing, cricket, and anything which could make the legs run and hearts soar was a game…..!!! Studies were finished quickly, food finished in minutes to go out and play!!!

Similar excitement was visible among us adults in the past few days…. Household chores, office work and any other work was finished and time was being taken out to practice these games. The society ground was abuzz with people spending hours practicing and playing cricket and badminton. The clubhouse and other indoor areas were equally active. Children, men women of all ages, senior members of the society were all excited and joining in the games.

Major attraction and crowd puller was cricket where we had teams for Men and Women cricket.
Many women participated – initially just like that and then later became more involved and started enjoying the game. There were many who had never played before and there were those who had not played for a long time.. but each one put in a lot of efforts and improved the game through 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆. Above all, all the players came to know each other well. The camaraderie was infectious…. They were players – not a person with x name, belonging to y region, speaking z language….. 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 willing and excited to play the game. And this was valid for all games – where everyone was one with the spirit of sports!!

The whole event ended with a finale and prize distribution – I was also able to get a couple of prizes 😊… but overall the whole atmosphere changed during those few days when sports was binding everyone and making competitors as great buddies!!!

A lot of learning with a bunch of new buddies and cherishable memories was the end result of this whole one month of sports.

With the year end fast approaching, I got a beautiful memory added for this year with immense learnings ….

Hoping you also will carry such beautiful memories from this year to the new year, I leave you this 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚... 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌... 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆... 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 '𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔' 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒆 '𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒐𝒅' 𝒇𝒐𝒓! 😊

#WednesdayWhistles