Skip to main content

HAPPY REST OF 2023

 


HAPPY REST OF 2023

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

08/I/2023

 

From the week before Christmas to the week after the New Year had been hectic, busy, eventful, demanding, tiring but satisfying. This was the first Christmas spent in your own home.

 

Last year, the house was under renovation, though still we had barged in, but this year all had settled. No leaky taps, no squeaky doors, generally aware of switches, as one tends to switch on the fan instead of the light. Even the taps, which spewed hot or cold water, got under control.

 

The only chaos was to locate things which were stuffed randomly somewhere. As usual Mr Murphy would hide them in the last drawer to keep you busy. Never mind!

 

Winters are serious stuff in the Sun City. Thank God there is no fog. From the fog of war to the real fog has been a transformation, a journey which saw its ups and downs but we kept our heads high and sailed through the troubled and calm waters gracefully and we thank the Lord for his blessings.

 

From a school boy to crossing the threshold to become a senior citizen has been some passage of time with no regrets. We have lived life king size & plan to continue living the same way of whatever is left.

 

I remember, I wanted to buy a Bike. Dad insisted on me to buy a scooter and bought me a ‘Lamby’ instead. A couple of years later I bought a motorcycle but did not have enough money as an Officer of the Indian Army to purchase one. I still have a bike and love to ride it like a teenager even today.

 

Those days we never had shelled monkey nuts. It was fun going to a ‘Bharbhunja’ in town and asking for ‘Jhoonga’, which were a few additional peanuts which were demanded over and above what 25np could afford.

 

Our school blazer pockets would get stuffed with the quantity ‘mai’ doled out, weighed on a tarazu, not with weights but with stones. Those days it was ‘ser’ and not kilograms. Till date, I love to get those unpeeled roasted monkey nuts.

 

I still ask for those few extra kernels or rather stand at the kiosk and pick them up from the mound and eat them there only. My luck hasn’t changed though, the first mungfali is generally ‘foki or kauri’. (Kernel less or bitter).

 

Life has changed though. Our little girl is in college now and could not come over for Christmas. We missed her. It was the same feeling I suppose when Dad and Mom would miss us for the festival. We missed the cakes, we missed the pakwans, we missed the warmth of home and hearth while serving the country.

 

We missed decorating the Christmas tree for so many years and this year that vacuum was felt as a parent when our darling was not there. Everything though was made with time tested recipes and ingredients but did not taste that tasty without the complete family being together.

 

It was a realisation which dawned when one had to visit the graveyard for a funeral. That is where your final resting place is. We lost very close dear ones and course mates who could not celebrate Christmas. God Bless their souls. Why regret going there without not doing what you love to do.

 

Today, the cold subsided which made my fingers move freely to type, so I thought of penning some moments close to my heart. Somethings I have deep imprints within.

 

Friends, let us remain happy, share happiness, smile, laugh, meet, and greet. Politics and religion should be kept out of the realm of friendships. If you have to give, then bring a smile to a stranger. Respect every person, not for what he or she does but for being a human being. Animals too need your attention, love, and care.

 

Cheers, be good, do good, spread an infection called a smile. God Bless and GodSpeed. All the very best for the rest of 2023.

 

JAI HIND

 

© NOEL ELLIS


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...
12 comments
Read more

SCENE AT ELLIS’ RESTAURANT

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   04/XI/2024   Every morning the scene in the Ellis’ restaurant is so refreshing. The notes birds sing sounds like ‘reveille’ being sounded by the buglers. The ‘scenario’ keeps varying with arrival of different birds at different timings.   It is like being a restaurant owner, working solo with minimum help. Yours truly is the waiter, housekeeper, cook, receptionist, barman, purchase manager, accountant, and storekeeper of this shack. Imagine!   Foremost thing in the morning is housekeeping of the garden area, followed by watering the pots. This gives the plants a nice bath, like kids being readied for school.   The first set of ‘clients’ called the ‘Tailor Birds’ appear. They love to hunt for insects which get disturbed by the watering ritual. They sing and dance, hop and skip and carry on chasing moths and worms, without bothering about my presence.   By then the Bulbuls and the Sparrows start lini...
17 comments
Read more

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...
2 comments
Read more