Last evening in San Francisco, after a long day of driving around with my son, we got back home tired but content. Like most people, I did what one does in that in-between state—mindlessly scrolled through YouTube shorts.
Then one clip caught my attention.
A street interviewer stops a well-dressed man and asks if he can chat. The man turns out to be Vikas Khanna, the famed Michelin-starred chef. The interviewer doesn’t know it. No fuss, no celebrity vibes. Just a normal conversation about food and food memories.
At the end, the interviewer asks a simple question: What message would you like to give the world in your mother tongue?
Vikas Khanna pauses and says two words: Sabr and Shukr. Patience and gratitude.
He then speaks about The Shawshank Redemption—about Andy crawling through 500 yards of darkness to reach freedom. That stretch, he says, is life itself. No shortcuts. You crawl. You endure. You keep going. Sabr, patience is the virtue.
As this year closes, I see my own 500 yards. The struggles, the friction, the slow progress. And also the moments that deserve gratitude—health, family, time together, one more year lived fully.
If I had to carry just two words into 2026, these would be it.
Sabr. When the tunnel feels endless.
Shukr. Whenever you emerge into light.
Here’s wishing you both, in good measure, as you step into the new year.