525,600

So here we are again!  At the end of every year, it’s kind of become tradition to listen to this song on repeat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj7LRuusFqo

                        

If you gave it a listen, you probably noticed that they kept repeating a number – 525,600. That’s the number of minutes in a year, and trust me on this, the more you stare at that number, the smaller it gets. When you really think about it, its not a big number at all! I listen to this song every New Year because I love being reminded of how limited our time is. Last year, on the same night, I wrote about resolutions and how the New Year gives us the power to really accomplish our goals. This year I want to remind you how short a year really is, and how our goals should be tackled now, because sooner than you think the year is going to flash by.

People always say that their lives changed when they realized how fleeting and precious time is. Often it was dangerous situations that lead to those realizations, so consider this your pain-free wakeup call! Life is short, and this year my wish for all of you is to seize life and accomplish everything you’ve ever wanted to!

Tonight is the one year anniversary of the Godswood and I would like to thank everyone who has ever read any of my posts. Thank you all so much for the support and encouragement!

It’s time for a toast!

Here’s to seizing life and all the opportunities that come with it. Here’s to everything we’ve learned this year, and everything we will learn in the next. Here’s to all of you reading this, and another amazing year ahead of us, hopefully full of new stories and adventures to share!

Here’s to the Godswood!

Until next time,

Bianka

The Chennai Floods

It’s over. At least the worst of it is, I hope.

Hey guys. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and if you’ve seen the news recently, you’ll know why. My city is underwater.

Accurate representation of the mood over the last two weeks.

Rain poured for nearly 3 weeks, strong and unrelenting – rain like I’ve never seen before. In the beginning it never occurred to me the gravity of the situation – I was just happy we had a rain holiday! But then the stories came pouring in (no pun intended) and it hit me just what was happening - for the first time in my life I was bearing witness to a massive natural calamity. I looked on horrified as people lost their belongings, their homes, and some their lives. Then the power went out. The cell towers lost connectivity, and the internet and phone lines were down. The roads around my home filled up and for the first time I understood what it meant to be trapped. I was suddenly made aware of the importance of things like warm water and electricity – things I take for granted every day.

It’s safe to say Chennai wasn’t expecting this either. The city hasn’t seen anything like this in over a century. The city was consumed and, well, blindsided. We lost over 260 lives.

You never really understand situations like this till they hit your city. You never really grasp the gravity of natural disasters till you live through one yourself. I never truly understood it till now. And I can honestly say in my 16 years, I have never been prouder or felt closer to this place I call home. The people rallied together and as rescue missions carried on, the stories that came to light truly restored my faith in humanity. The military came to the rescue, the government pitched in all its resources, and kind souls from surrounding states flocked in to help. This city came together in a way I’ve never seen before, bound equally by shared tragedy and shared hope. Slowly but surely things got better and as the sun rose over Chennai again, I think all of us who live here rose with it, changed by this forever.

Between this and my last post, it seems like terrible things keep happening to the world. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that good things are happening too. But seeing the way people react to situations like this and the way in which they so freely help one another has me convinced that everything is going to be OK.

 What happened was truly a tragedy and I cannot express how grateful I am that no harm came to me or my loved ones. Thank you to everyone who checked in and everyone who came to help my beautiful city get back on its feet. There is still a long way to go, but together we’re going to make it.

Today, I looked out onto my street and saw the water level receding, as people from my neighborhood headed to the local shop to pick up supplies. As I watched everyone around me return to normalcy, one very happy thought entered my head:

Chennai is back!

It’s going to take a lot more than rain to hold my city down.

Until next time,

Bianka