Here are my 2018 highlights!
Achievements this year: 2018 wasn’t a great year for personal achievements. Most of what I achieved tends to center around writing manuscripts. I had three book chapters published in three different books by Elsevier Publications (with one more from Springer that is pending). I also co –authored 4 different papers – so a productive year from a publishing stand point but little else.
Books this year: It wasn’t a great year for good books, either. Despite reading a ton of romances (The Hating Game, Josh Lanyon’s books) , mysteries(Sherry Thomas’ Holmes series, Antony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders) , non-fiction (Educated by Tara Westover, the feminist manifesto by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) &  and travelogues (Travel as a political Act by Rick Steves), I found that there were few that I could recall at the end of the year that made an impact or landed in my must recommend to others list. I did manage to collect a huge To Read in 2019 pile, so I have hope for next year.
Travels this year: We did a lot better with travel this year, though. We had a great vacation in UK this summer visiting London and Scotland. My sister, mom and cousin joined us and it was a nice family trip. My mom took Annika back to India with her for the summer. Seejo traveled in August to get her back and was caught in one of the worst floods to hit my home state – Kerala. The pictures and stories that were coming out of Kerala were horrific and I was so thankful to have them back home safe and sound. In the fall, we visited Utah by combining a work trip with a mini vacation and managed to see Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park – the two parks that we had not seen in Utah. We also some local trips to different DC destinations such as the National Arboretum, Glow DC and the Gaylord Ice Sculptures through the year but we crowned of the year with a nice relaxing resort vacation in Punta Cana. Work travel was especially heavy with trips to Atlanta (combined it with the first birthday celebrations of my twin nephews) Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston & New York (an event at the CNN building that ended up being evacuated due to bomb threat). Such exciting times.
Highlight of the Year: My undergraduate class had about 30 students, and 16 of us ended up in US. I keep in touch with 12/16 – some frequently and some infrequently. When we planned a get together of our undergraduate batch, I expected a few of my classmates to get together but was gratified when all 12 of us could meet. Folks flew in from west coast and some drove down, most everyone came with families and I had the pleasure and privilege of hosting all of them for the weekend. Although I had met everyone in the past couple of years, there were several folks who hadn’t seen each other since we left Mumbai. And it was so good to see that everyone is doing well. We all had a great time – the kids and spouses too!
Update from the kids: Annika started her first grade and to my eternal joy has discovered the magic of books. She goes to the library and picks up 30+ books and reads them all in less than three weeks. She is enjoying reading the “Fairy Books†and the “Owl Diaries†and even managed an Enid Blyton! Her days are full of multiple activities. She is doing well in swimming and now can swim freestyle and backstroke comfortably. She is continuing her Bharatnatyam and although she hates to practice, she loves to do the dance performances. In addition, she is also learning Hindi and coding and surprised us by saying that she wants to learn JavaScript soon! Meanwhile she continues to fight with us on TV time and fight with her brother on everything else. The fights last till I take a stance and then they quickly band together against me.  Tanay has started expressing himself well. He now reads a few words here and there, can trace a few letters and can name pretty much any sea creature with its habitat and special characteristics. He enjoys eating mac and cheese, taquitos and Danimal smoothies, loves bath time and playing with his cars and hates going to sleep.
Overall Summary: 2018 was a year that sped by so fast that I didn’t feel that I managed to make a mark on it.
