Wrapping Up a Whirlwind Year & Welcoming 2023!

2022 is over and now as I sit back to reflect, I have got only three words- WHAT A JOURNEY! Though I do have to admit the wheels set in motion with my wedding last year in November (same thing, right?). So here is a quick wrapping up of what I would call a whirlwind year.

A little over a month after being married, my partner and I moved to Hyderabad and found a beautiful house that we turned into our first home. Navigating the new waters of a marriage while exploring a new city made things all the more exciting.

In the meanwhile I also published my debut novel Meera.

Three months later, with the funniest twist of fate we decided to move to Melbourne, or atleast thought of doing it. And so began the mountains of paperwork while still travelling between Chandigarh and Hyderabad to see our family. By the end of April, we moved back to Chandigarh (and did a 5 days road trip!) to be together with our family once before moving abroad.

But that was not an easy road, mind you. Remember Australia had closed its borders for over 2 years when Covid happened. No one could fly in or fly out. Now that it had re-opened, it also meant huge backlog of cases and umpteen visa delays. We waited for close to 2 months for ours to arrive while my partner had left his lucrative job at Deloitte, throwing his professional career in a bit of an uncertainty.

But I distinctly remember the morning of July 14 when it actually came. Our spirits were down as we had planned to be in Melbourne around 10^th of July, our tickets booked and cancelled, when he checked his phone, ran our numbers and saw no updates. In the next few minutes, I was logging into my work and out of habit I opened the Home Affairs website to check for myself and there it was- our visas had arrived! And I was screaming at the top of my lungs, jumping with joy.

My partner in the other room had to confirm it 3 times and look at the screen himself while we were hugging each other in joy and crying happy tears. His parents had moved abroad before us to Portugal, while waiting for our visas to arrive for the longest time.

And so began our process of packing and unpacking, staying with my family for a week, celebrating my first festival of rakhi after the wedding before the actual festival, and landing in a country far, far away. But a country that I instantly fell in love with when I first stepped out of the airport, dead tired might I add.

We celebrated all our firsts alone, thousands of miles away from friends and family, but we were never alone- for we had each other. There’s something really special about being away from it all. You grow closer to your partner even though it is impossible to imagine that there was actually room for that- turns out it is.

First Karva Chauth, first Diwali, and so much more. Strangers looking at your henna’ed hands with curious but admiring eyes telling you how “sparkly” you look was definitely an experience in itself.

And of course, our first anniversary trip in Bali that was truly a dream. The best stays with the best food, experiences that I can still pinch myself over and mesmerising sunsets. Wow. Then coming back home, enjoying our first Christmas with larger than life decorations- we truly did it all.

From seeing fairytales come to life at experience bars to live music in the streets, celebrating 100 years of Disney in the streets and the World Cup- it was truly one of the most eventful year of our lives.

And now we are about to embark on a new journey here as well- our new home at the end of January and I am already tingling thinking about the various ways I would like to decorate the place and make it ours. Turns out home, indeed, is not a place, but a person. Your person. And if you are lucky like me they will take you on a journey that you would not have imagined for yourself even in your craziest dreams!

So long, 2022. You’ll be missed for the year that changed our lives forever.

Until then, feel free to follow me on my socials: Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok.

P.S. I just released my debut novel, Meera. Check it out here.

P.P.S. Read more about me here.