I wrote this on the 1st of January, and should have posted it then… but could not. Anyway, here I am sharing my thoughts with all my Iland friends.
The Day began just like any other day – ‘Dauda, dauda, bhaaga bhaaga sa…. Waqt yeh saqt hai, maanga maanga sa..’. Always in a rush.
I like commuting to my workplace on days when most of the colleges, private offices are closed down and the roads, the buses are relatively less crowded!
The bus stop had youngsters all dressed up brightly in party wear. Ah! Probably celebrating the New Year, I thought. And for a few moments, I was lost, reminiscing my college days when December 31st and January 1st used to be the two special, ‘most happening’ days!
I looked out of the bus, and saw brightly dressed young men and women moving about among the crowds. I noticed most of them were dressed in red. There’s something about the colour red. Youngsters usually wear it on the Valentine’s Day. But here they were, one among five dressed in awesome red. Red Skirts, red saris, red t-shirts, red shirts, red slawar suits…
I was delightedly amused. Red- the colour of life. With the passage of time, the dawning of the New Year, for me, has been reduced to just a change in the date. Every day is a new day and every day is a new beginning in itself. January 1st is just a pretext for celebrations. When each one of us wakes up from the deep slumber of complacency and indifference, a new era is awakened.
I shook my self out of this reverie of grim thoughts and got down from the bus. I hurried through the short cuts I discovered to my workplace. I noticed in that narrow lane of the ‘basti’, I cross when in a hurry; there were rangolis with bright hues. Some women and even a young man was squatted making rangoli designs. I was amused. And I actually marveled at the enthusiasm these people had. Another girl passed by in red. Soon I lost track of the persons wearing red.
My colour is also red but the backdrop is always the same. Grey. My cell rang. A friend called to wish for the New Year. ‘May our dreams come true this year’, she said.
‘The New Year – it always revives hopes. I smiled cynically as I nearly stepped on the rangoli right in front of our office building!
I shook my head in bewilderment. Just as I was entering the gate, I saw a little boy playing by himself with a ball. I called out to him and asked him to throw the ball to me. We played throwing the ball to each other for a while till the boy dropped the catch. He was amused, so was I. At my impulsiveness! Well, I was 2minutes late. But what did it matter!
At the office, all my colleagues were busy shaking hands vigorously and hugging each other. Some of them were dressed in new attire.
‘May the new year bring us good luck’! ‘Wishing you peace and prosperity’ were some of the things we said to each other.
But the cynical bug was still buzzing inside my head.
Do we need a January 1st to wish good things for each other? Did it really signify something or was it just tradition? Was there anything new at all about today? Every damn thing seemed the same. As the cynical bug was buzzing out these rotten thoughts, I noticed the latecomer dashing in, dressed in a red slawar suit!
Ha! Red again!
Yes, the day gave people something to be cheerful about, some reason to cling on to hope, some hope to wish for peace in these turbulating times, a dream for prosperity in these times of inflation…
It is all a mind set. One that converts an ordinary day into an extraordinary day and call it the beginning of newer, nicer things. The cynical bug had quieted down….
Happy New Year to u all folks (though it is a bit late). And wishing you all happiness, peace, health, sanity to prevail against the odds of life, good times ahead…
Hey, I hear the cynical bug buzzing again…………
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New Year – Just a change in the Date?