Recap 2013....

I need to enrich my vocabulary, before I go on to describe the awesomeness of this year. New places, new people, new habits, new tastes.

#City-End of 2012, I was new to this city, now I can say, I am familiar with it. My "work from home" option ended, and 2013 put me on the roads. A small sense of pride as I pass by the 3 iconic buildings of this city daily. Its treat to have a glimpse of Madras High Court, Ripon Building and Chennai Central everyday.

#Language- Way back from work, its a different story. My conversations with the auto guy touches myriad topics from food to culture, people to city. These conversations have made me realize, that, there is a difference between" I fully understand Tamil, to “I can fully speak Tamil". My loss of words (literally) and his inability to comprehend - has left many discussions incomplete. At times, I am exhausted giving him an essay type explanation (using maximum Tamil words I know) to communicate a simple funda. 

#Krishna, this name all of sudden becomes very special. 9 year old girl from Trivandrum, Kerala, whose education I chose to sponsor. This has been 1 of the quickest decisions ever taken, and my very first step towards giving something to the society. Full credit for this, goes to my better half.

#Travel -Sept 2013 - From Resident City Chennai, Tamil Nadu, made 1 Religious trip to Tirupati,  Andhra Pradesh, 1 Official trip to Bangalore  Karnataka  and 1 pleasure trip to Munnar, Kerala. That makes, touching 4 Southern states within a span of 1 month.

Internationally, a visit to US West Coast happened in the 1st half of 2013.

#Cooking -Moved on from “rule of the book” cooking. Earlier, forgetting 1 ingredient in a recipe, meant making a hurried call to Mom in the early hours of morning. I no longer make these frantic calls, even though I continue to miss ingredients and forget unwritten recipes. Cautiously I try my hands on experimental cooking. My 1st success came, when I used Oats instead of Coconut as a thickening agent.

Healthy cooking is on agenda - may be a 2014 resolution. [cliché here is- sidelining the tasty un-healthy stuff]

#Gifts, surprises made our celebrations special. Spending a whopping 45 mins to open 28 Gifts on my 28th Birthday was this year’s most memorable event.

#Reading -Flipkart zindabad, book shopping was on a high throughout the year, What got missed was reading them. As of Dec 2013, my book balance of “unfinished reading” is 4, and “yet to start reading” is 2. Too bad. Blogging also scored low. This post comes after a  gap of 3 months.

So far so good, thoroughly enjoyed the year as it came, day after day, month after month... Waiting for 2014.