STORYTELLERS

I would go and stay in a hill station with some books. Enjoy morning walks, read a lot and connect with my inner self! Vimala De Souza If I could take a long sabbatical from everyday life, I would prefer to go on a spiritual journey which would detox the body, mind and soul. I believe this leads the way to happiness and contentment, helps in getting rid of pride and egoism. Vineetha Sasikant A long sabbatical from the mundane routine life, for me, ideally would be getting a cottage in Hunza Valley in Pakistan. Heaven on earth, a place full of nature’s beauty. Among the mountains, sparkling rivers, splendid green meadows. Taking along with me the books on my ‘to read’ list. It would be just me, the mountains, the books and hot kashmiri tea. Ummehani Habiby This week we want to know: What have you done to change your life this January? How has it gone? Be honest! Email your replies to friday@gulfnews.com, or comment on facebook.com/FridayMagazine. Answers may be edited for clarity and/or length.

Each week, we’d like you to share your thoughts, views anecdotes, or stories. Last week, we asked you what would you do if you could take a long sabbatical from your everyday life?

A sabbatical will enable me to fulfill my desire to do some social service that would be beneficial for society as a whole. I will divide the days and months to devote to causes that have been close to my heart.

The rapid degradation of the environment and the increasing use of plastic is a growing concern and every time I hear about an innocent animal being a victim to swallowing plastic, my heart winces with the thoughtlessness that we have got accustomed to in our daily routine life. I would volunteer for cleaning beaches one day every week to clear off the littered plastic and trash. I will create an awareness drive against use of plastic and spread the message of recycling the plastic and newspaper, magazines and books from the households. Going green is another message that I will like to spread and if the school authorities permitted, I will involve the primary and middle school children to create their own garden patches and grow plants of various kinds such as flowering plants, vegetable plants etc. Last but not the least is that I would like to set up a library for the neighborhood for children. To get back children to listening to stories I will assign a day in the week where I would read a story or tell a story to children from my neighbourhood. Natasha Prasad

First I will go for my honeymoon to Bali. Then I will go for an adventurous trip with my best friends, something that we’ve been planning for past few years – Phuket or Goa, then I will go on a trip with my family including my grand mother.

Fathima Ajmi

My everyday life is something like home-work-home kind of thing. Except for weekends where it can be home-homehome, home-mall-home or home-church-home, I basically wake up to go to work, and sleep after making sure I have done my work for the day. I came to Dubai for work, so naturally I spend most of my time in the workplace.

If given a sabbatical from my everyday life, I would rather go home to Philippines for a nice, long vacation to spend time with my kids. There is nothing more fulfilling or lavish than the time spent with my 3 angels in life. We can explore places where we have never been before – like hop on different islands in Palawan, swim in different beaches in Boracay, or simply discover new attractions in our humble city of Baguio. We can eat in restaurants where our taste buds have never indulged before. We can go to fun parks where they can leash their childhood and just play all day. Their happiness is my happiness!

Ruby Ann Albert If I had a long sabbatical from my everyday life I would like to meet a famous fashion designer and work with her/him. Muthukumaran Jayaraman I would travel across the globe and cover places that have forever been on my bucket list, Paris, Tokyo, Pakistan, New York, Vietnam, Berlin, Switzerland and Copenhagen to name a few. Also work on my fashion look book at my own pace gathering inspiration from all the places and people I meet along the way. I would travel with my husband as he needs a sabbatical more than I do. It would certainly be a refreshing change for him. Qashish Dhiraj Mehta

If I could take a long sabbatical from everyday life and am financially able, I would travel the world with my family. Go to a remote village for couple of months, learn their culture and be inspired by every little thing they could offer, and certainly try to learn the language. I believe travelling would certainly change our perception of “what we think of others, and other counties” and give us a fulfilment that cannot be taken away by My deepest desire is to travel around the world, know other people’s culture, food, marriage rituals and lots more. Normally we get so entangled in our day to day life, our children, their studies and then think let them settle down first. But by then we get older, weaker. Not me, I will grab every chance I get in life to enjoy the world and always feel young at heart.

Fathima Kauser

I would love to solve puzzles, try out logical questions and do math which is my favourite subject. If possible, I would take math classes for students as well. Lakshmi Anuradha

the miseries of day to day life. I truly believe that the best investment in life should be to spend money on travelling and gathering knowledge from the world. You never know what is out there till you experience the world. I’ve probably travelled to 10+ countries by now, and my wish is to share the same joy with my family and keep on discovering life till the day we depart forever. Nadeera Jayaratne