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Spectator by Seema Goswami: The year in rear view
We made it past all the curveballs and plot twists that 2025 threw at us. So, what are you thankful for, this year?
I have written in earlier columns about the importance of keeping a ‘gratitude journal’, in which you can write down all that you are grateful for at the end of every day. It is, I believe, a good way of keeping a positive perspective on life because no matter how badly things may be going, it is always possible to find glimmers of joy in every single day. It could be in the birdsong that you hear on your daily walk; it could be the dimpled smile of a bouncing baby you encounter in the market; or even a passage from a book that you are reading. But if you are actively seeking out moments of joy in life, moments to be truly grateful for, you will always find them.
It is in that spirit that I have decided to compile my own year-end version of the ‘gratitude list’. So, here, in no particular order of importance, are the things that I have been grateful for this year.
Early this year, a respiratory tract infection triggered my asthma after many years of it being in remission. I spent weeks struggling to breathe, pumped full of antibiotics and steroids, spending sleepless nights because I couldn’t lay prone without triggering a coughing fit. Ever since, the asthma has never quite gone away, and now, thanks to Delhi pollution, it is worse than ever. So, why is this on my gratitude list, you ask? Well, because if I had been born a couple of centuries ago, without recourse to the wonders of modern medicine, I would probably be dead by now. So, being alive and being able to breathe – albeit with difficulty – is kind of a miracle, and something to be truly grateful for.
A few months ago, a college mate of mine set up a WhatsApp group for the English Honours batch we were part of in Loreto College (Calcutta). I duly signed up and so did many others of my batch, from as far afield as America and Canada. I can’t begin to describe the giddy delight we all experienced as after many decades apart, we began posting about our current lives, our memories of college life, our experiences with our professors, and so on. The best part, of course, were those grainy photos that popped up intermittently, as we went through our photo albums from our college days. But while the photos may have been faded, the memories they evoked were as fresh as ever. Reconnection is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
And last but not the least, this was the year when one of my most cherished dreams came to fruition. Ever since I read Tracy Chevalier’s masterful book, Girl With A Pearl Earring, I have been burning up with a desire to see the Vermeer painting that inspired it. I made many plans over the years but for one reason or another, they fell through. But 2025 proved to be my lucky year, when my husband organized a trip to the Mauritshuis Museum in the Hague to coincide with my birthday. As I stood there mesmerized in front of the canvas, I felt truly grateful – not just for the genius of Vermeer but for my privilege in being able to witness it.
From HT Brunch, December 27, 2025
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