New Year 2014

Another year has passed. I look back, recalling the good times, choosing not to dwell on the bad ones ... and I am grateful.

Good health, caring friends, peaceful domesticity, rewarding community service, engrossing hobbies and pleasant social interaction - these I had aplenty in 2013. I made two trips abroad. One was an enjoyable tour of South East Asia - Bali, Viet Nam and Cambodia. Being summer, we sweated a LOT. Otherwise, we had an excellent time  - great sightseeing, yummy food, fun shopping and congenial company. From June to September I visited my sons and their families in the US. Spending quality time with my grandkids was the highlight of  this vacation.

For Christmas and the next few days I was in Manglore catching up with old friends and relations, seeing familiar places of my childhood and reliving old times, while enjoying the current social scene. I was back in Bangalore on the 31st,  to end 2013 with a late evening service at the Cathedral and to bring in the new year with a dear friend and her family. The weather in Bangalore is at its coldest - a welcome change from the hot days which are getting worse due to the deteriorating environment in the city.

In the first week of 2014, America is experiencing uprecedented cold weather. I just read the Latest News Report  about the Polar Vortex sweeping across North America and saw a map of the Affected Regions in the US. Climate changes, global warming, the environment - these need more attention and concerted action, cutting across political and economic barriers.

My eldest granddaughter was lucky. Well before the unexpected cold wave hit, she enjoyed lovely weather and excellent skiing conditions in Utah. Together with her father, she honed her skills on the blue slopes. They returned safely back home to the East Coast soon after the New Year.

	Through it all, this little guy was snug indoors!
My four-year-old granddaughter who lives in the vicinity of New York, stayed home from school and built a snowman, happily unaware of the sub-zero temperatures disrupting life.

At the same time, on the diametrically opposite side of the planet, it is sweltering summer. My grandkids in New Zealand  enjoy a cool treat in their backyard.