Forty Four And Life Moves On

What is common between a wedding anniversary and national highway?

Both have the same number 44! Yes, 44th wedding anniversary and NH-44 in India (old number NH-7) which connects Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

What else is common between the two?

Both are the longest! NH-44 is the longest highway in India and 44th Anniversary for us seemed longest too. Why? Read on.

Covid slowed down the pace of life for everybody. But in our case some other events posed additional challenges. But by God's grace and the support of family and friends, the worst seems to be behind us. Sharing the year gone by in our life.

Dad diagnosed with CKD: During his hospitalisation in August-19, Dad was diagnosed with CKD (chronic kidney disease). Although showed signs of recovery, it was a battle for him in 93rd year of his otherwise healthy life. We had to manage it with diet and medication as dialysis would have been difficult at his age. Manne and Sarita were taking complete care of him. I was making monthly visits from Hyderabad. Here he can be seen walking in the house in December.

Come December and it was reunion time when the entire family got together for my mother-in-law's 90th birthday bash in Secunderabad. 

After the celebrations, Naman went to see his great-grand-father at Jaipur. Four generations could meet up in Dad's 93rd year of a happy life. Alas, it was to be the last meeting.

Jan-2020: Was with Dad and returned from Jaipur on 15th. He passed away peacefully on 17th night. He spent 34 years in BITS Pilani mostly as the Registrar. BITS Alumni observed two minutes silence as a mark of respect during the ongoing BITSAA Global Meet in Goa. Tributes poured in. Our humble homage in the story linked below.

A Legend Lives On

The Prayer Meeting in Jaipur was attended by well wishers from all walks of life.

We went to Haridwar for immersing the ashes as we had done for our mother in 2008. God has united them again in heaven.

Feb-20: Back in Jaipur. Took Manne bhai and Sarita out on a Leopard Safari. Thereafter, I squeezed a birding trip to Khichan. Both picture stories linked below.

Leopard in Jaipur

Demoiselle Cranes- Morning Roll Call

March to May: Covid lockdown in force. Ghumakkad confined indoors. However, our lockdown stories linked below had wide readership.

Covid Couldn't Deter Us

Take the Virus Head On

I Got A New Life- Corona Survivor's Tale

Breaking Free in Lockdown

Bouncing Back In Lockdown

Every Day Is A Sunday

Stay home stay safe

Lockdown Is...

Shrinking Urban Lakes- Impending Disaster- includes video clips

Baya Weavers Create Magic - see the video clip

Online Teaching: Harsh switched to online teaching for his PGDM classes. The students quickly adapted to the new mode although mid-way through the semester.

Cancer Attack: Ashi our daughter detected with Lymphoma in June. Life kind of ground to a halt. Chemotherapy started. Six doses three weeks apart. She and Ankur, our son-in-law braved it in California. And so did both her children and in-laws. Our helplessness got compounded because of Covid travel ban. Testing times. She showed us the power of being positive. In addition, the prayers of family and friends across the globe worked. 

While undergoing the chemotherapy, Ashi made a short video titled 'One day at a time'. It has been hailed by viewers across the globe. Our hat tip to her as a gallant cancer warrior! After the therapy was over, this is how she looked on Diwali.

Life goes on: Harsh continued teaching.This year the Startup Management core course had to be run online including the Annual Business Plan Contest. One advantage of online event was that we could get outstation Jury from Bangalore, Coimbatore and Nagpur. Pictures below.

House Flooded: As Ashi was showing signs of recovery, our house got flooded, Hyderabad experienced incessant rains that night flooding many colonies and areas. For us it was a man-made disaster with plenty of damage. See the story below.

Hyderabad Flood Fury

On 4th November Neeta lost her Mamaji in Ghaziabad to Covid. Next day he would have been 89. Due to Covid protocol, none of us could travel to pay our last respects

Mother-in-law turned 91. We had a low key celebration. As we grow old, we forget even to blow the candles on the cake! See the video below. 

Ansh our eldest grandson sent a musical birthday greeting to his great-grandma. See the video clip below.

Golf Again: After eight months of layoff, I resumed golf. It was heavenly to be back at the course. Few pictures.

Kitchen moves to the Living Room: Grappling with flood damages, we are back to a 'field' kitchen. Whole kitchen is being renovated. A makeshift kitchen has come up in the living room. Sharing a short video and few pictures below.

44th Year of our married life has been quite eventful. But as we say जान है जहान है meaning 'If you are alive, your world is alive'. We thank each one of you for being with us in the tumultuous times. Your frequent calls and messages kept us going. Our sincere gratitude.

We hope the 45th year of our wedded life would be brighter and better.

Thanks for browsing

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 25th Nov 2020

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