These were the words that were printed on the majority of the cards that came to my father at around this time of the year. I spent long hours hanging them one after the other on strings tied to a window or across a doorway. The pictures on top ranged from birds and flowers to the staid army shield symbols. I loved them all. I preserved some of the ones that were strikingly beautiful or funny. The Mr is an expert in buying cards but hopelessly inefficient at sending them. So we have a set of beautiful Christmas cards sitting on top of our small TV set in the bedroom which will be sent only next year (hopefully). There are all manner of cards stashed away in the various nooks and cranies of our house which never got sent!! My father is worse than the Mr, not only does he not send any cards, he does not even bother to buy any!! Even in his hay days he used to buy only a few cards and sent it to a select group of his friends. This time I was in Calcutta during the new year and I found that his friends are still sending Baba new year cards (regardless of his inability to reply to them). The first card to arrive always used to be that of Bony uncle, for as long as I can remember, so it was even this time. Baba and uncle are don't meet very often now a days but he still thinks of Baba. It is so heart warming to see this kind of friendship.
On my visit to Calcutta this time I met a few of my old school and college friends some after many many years and it was a wonderful treat!! We talked and talked and talked. We watched our kids play together, we relived all the moments we had spent together...it was miraculous...Nita, Prakriti, Anjana, Urbashi...thank you dear friends for making my trip so special this time!!
