I Just Received A Gift

The gift of life. I often consider myself blessed to be alive and feel a deep gratitude for seemingly weird situations turning into the best ones. But what happened yesterday shook me up a bit.

You see, on Sunday evening I leisurely settled down to upload photos for my Sundays In My City post, after I returned from my usual walk at Sankey Tank Sadashivnagar. I uploaded the photos, I wrote the post and before publishing, saved draft. Imagine my shock when I found a blank post come up. I quickly checked the drafts tab but found nary a sign of the post I had taken a couple of hours to complete, with pleasant interruptions, of course.  Anyway, it was past midnight and I decided to deal with it the next morning. It wouldn’t be the first time I did a Sunday post on Monday or Tuesday. Postponing joy!

Monday morning arrived. I went about my morning routine, starting with prayers and set out to drop Vidur off at school, as I had some grocery shopping to do on the way back.  Happily anticipating a pleasant yet busy day with a long list of things to do, I was riding back home on my scooter when someone jumped the red lights and shot across. I used to be a speed demon in a previous life, but now, I am a sedate 20 kmph type. Still, I had to jam brakes and stop abruptly.

What happened next is a bit of a blur. My scooter skidded.  The next thing I knew was – I was on my right side on the road. Yes, I had a fall.  Weird sight with the scooter’s wheels kinda turning and me trapped under it. My first reaction was to switch it off – because it would be really ridiculous to pick up the scooter to find it still running. Anyway, I slowly picked myself up and felt multiple pains. I prayed everything was intact. I picked up my bike off the road and sat on it. I turned the handlebar this way and that to see if it was stuck. I switched on the scooter and very slowly moved forward, to find it was almost okay. Very gently, I went a little distance and then stopped at the side of the road. I felt some sort of wetness on my thigh and then, discovered my right forearm bleeding. Freshly laid tar roads can have quite an impact on skin. Ugh. As I rested my right foot on the road, I found that it, too, was bleeding.  A little annoyed that my grocery shopping would have to wait, I just headed home.

I washed my wounds. Caked blood is a pain to wash you know? By the time I was done, I was tired. My right knee was excruciatingly painful and just moving it felt like minor deaths. Then I applied some betadine ointment on the various scratches and scrapes. Oh, but they were smarting, like how! Howl! Then I got myself breakfast. I considered working after this, but decided to lay down instead. I could feel the swellings in various places.

Later in the evening, I managed to get myself to the doc to get an Anti Tetanus Shot. Can you believe this: we had a long power cut so I had to climb down and up three floors. Talk about troubles not coming in singles!

Anyway, I am on an effective heavy dose of painkillers. Funny thing is, yesterday morning, I unusually cleared up the washing. I generally tackle this in the afternoon as the water is warm at that time. So I didn’t have any housework to tackle, and could enjoy guilt-free rest time.

This morning, I could feel that the painkillers were doing their job – as I managed to hobble out of bed and get the coffee going and cook.

Would you say I am lucky? I would.

I am grateful for the gift of

•  life
• caring friends who sent me loving messages of speedy recovery
• love of my friends and family
• an absolutely long and lovely weekend filled with laughter

I am grateful that when I had my fall,

• There was no traffic
• No broken bones
• I can use my hands
• My glasses were intact
• I was able to get up and come back home
• There are no major repairs on my scooter

I am grateful that I am

• healthy
• looking forward to a friend’s visit
• have the use of my hands

Well, there’s always a “but” eh? My family is considering banning the use of the scooter. Needless to say,  I don’t agree.

So let’s move on to pleasanter things, like my walk and let me show you the pictures I clicked. Sankey Tank Sadashivnagar has an inviting walking rink with paved walkways, landscaped parks and a nursery. It is an extremely pleasant place to visit and I am lucky to have it so close to my place.  I can’t think of a better fitness regimen in my routine than a walk to this lovely place every evening with Sury and Vidur. We have a great time while taking care of our health.  Of course, I annoy them from time to time by stopping to take pictures. They can’t figure out what I could possibly photograph every day. But in my eyes, I see something new in the same things every day.

Here we go with today’s sights. I had a tough time choosing just a bunch from the entire album. Enjoy!

We pass these trees every day en route to Sankey Tank Sadashivnagar. They’ve been there forever it seems. There is a row of them. I keep thinking they have a lot of stories to tell.

One of the things I love about this lake is the bunches of geese gliding across the water or just chilling around in groups.

I find them lovely to gaze at. And infinitely soothing is the water rippling around them and the gentle rays of the sun.

We walk past walls kissed with foliage

Pretty flower beds….

……Of multiple hues….

We take a short detour around a mini pond as we walk and see birds – mostly pigeons and crows hanging around there

When we peer over the railing around the lake, we can see geese taking a break from their aquatic activities

Like life, nothing is perfect and I am shocked to see this “hand” in the rubble along the path. Spooky!

Like life, this too shall pass and the day comes to a peaceful end.

My only regret now is that I won’t be able to go walking for a few days until my injuries heal.  I find it interesting that I thought to share photos of Sankey Tank this Sunday, even though I go there every day!  The Universe is a sneaky thing.

Now let’s check in at Unknown Mami’s place,  for she is the gorgeous Claudya who hosts this fascinating link up. From there, we can travel the world together.

Love, Vidya

Wonderful posts I enjoyed this week

11 ways to feel better when you are overwhelmed

The healing power of forgiveness and release

9 ways to live in the moment

Question for you:

How are you celebrating the privilege called life?