First thing First. How are you celebrating your New Year’s? I have decided to spend mine at Golden Temple. Buzzkill? No, I didn’t have any concussion and neither am I on some sort of medication. The ‘atrangi’ that I am, this was even a surprise for me, but considering my roller coaster 2018, I decided to give 2019 a more peaceful and spiritual start.

2018…ah the drama!

Well, there was enough of it – from job change to my own transformation. Well, even though I like the first change and I can certainly say I love the second. Losing 15 kgs in about five months was the kind of waste that I needed! As my best friend would have said, it was as good a surprise as rain in the desert. Not because, I was incapable of it, I was just stubborn and determined not to do it…. when discipline was the real need of the hour in my life!

Look how it all turned out:

• From 32 to a 28 (I am talking about my waist!)
• From trying everything from my mom’s wardrobe to feeling the pinch of disappointment in finding out that losing my weight also meant letting go of the luxury — that were her clothes.
• From having trouble to choose from the wide delicacies that restaurants and bakeries offered to screwing up my face trying to keep track of the calorie count (when my mathematical skills aren’t the best clearly).
• From never hearing the end of ‘plus size’ taunts to people asking me for weight-loss tips
• From my cheeks oozing chubbiness from everywhere & literally touching my eyes to getting sharp cheekbones suddenly!
• From being seen as a ‘Tomboy’ to people finally recognizing me enough to ask me out on dates (yeah right, good luck with that!)
• From thinking of what others would think/they like to suddenly focus on myself and my choices.
• It has been something to reminisce over…again and again and again. No, I did not get liposuction or spend half my day at the gym. It is just ‘Low-Carb’ diet and a heck lot of patience, willpower and self-control.

Trust me, watching a person who successfully loses weight and transforms is more inspirational (in my opinion) than listening to a fitness coach who has a perfect body.

After a brief stint with Bengaluru, I left for Ahmedabad – my home. It was strange, yet an inviting feel – to be back in my hometown after five really long and eventful years. To be back in the place where I did my schooling and college, where I left my old friends and family. I was back in the place that made me feel warm and laid-back and totally mine! Weekends in Gujarat can only mean a cup of hot tea/coffee with friends, chill out with them on a highway or spending time with family.

I like the atranginess in my life, but sometimes it is even too much for me to handle. Like landing a job about Luxury travel without ever getting to travel and don’t even get me started on the luxury bit. I have already spent months here and I haven’t even had a sniff of it yet.

So, after a sort of home-coming, skipping a few kilos and a jump landing in the field of travel writing and public relations, it is safe to say – I am not having a field day of it.

Quite a few things learnt in these past 6 months: