For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      -TS Eliot

01/01/2018

It’s the first day of a new journey; precisely the first dawn of the new year. There is excitement in the heart looking forward to the immense possibilities and anxieties in the mind thinking about the uncertainties. As I sit on my favourite spot of the room which acts like a muse most of the times, I look out from the window. The eyes working hard to penetrate through the foggy winter morning of the capital city. While on my side of the window, there is an absolute silence; on the other side, the fog with all its might is slowly embracing and kissing everything around one by one. The trees, the jogging track, the bushes, the rocks and the sand – slowly and steadily everything gets obscured from the vision. My solitary friends in this hour who probably came to wish me a great start were visible on the tress cooing slowly just a moment back but now they are also engulfed in the foggy blanket.The murmuring music of their voices still reaching my ears is getting distant and gradually fading away!

The clock of daily routine hasn’t started yet and most of life around me is still fast asleep engrossed in their reveries. What a contrast! Going back just a few hours in time, there were people all over partying and cheering heralding a new chapter in the book of their lives as if trying to leave all uncertainties and confusions behind with the year which was going by. The mobile phones were beeping with messages, animations, videos of all kinds – as colourful and cheerful as they could get. The sounds of cheer and laughter over phone calls created such a rejuvenating ambience—local, distance, long distance—everyone just trying to reach their loved ones as if that precise moment was so opportune that no dear one could be missed to be a part of it.

That still will continue today and for a few more days to come—wishes and prayers! There is another world which is still flooding with them—a virtual world where mankind exists these days; in many cases with a different personality and a morphed identity. This other world whose boundary with the real world is diluting day by day, is still active as someone in some part of the world is up, partying and sharing on FB, Instagram and Twitter.

I take a deep breath! The air around me has been full of so much love, gratitude, and positivity during the past few days. Something symbolic about this time of the year, time of a logical end and a new beginning full of hope and dreams. Everyone around seems to be in cheerful mood wishing each other those three magical words. More meaningful and comprehensive, words which are quintessentially prayers. Invisible but with the power to make the impossible also possible! Isn’t it the only time when there are wishes and prayers from all around and from everyone—caste, creed, economic strata, religion—everything just goes to the back of the mind! There is gratitude; there is forgiveness and there is hope. The time when it seems even ying and yang have become friends. Isn’t that magical?

I take another deep breath. A part of me wishing to just capture the beauty and peace of this moment and like a child carefully lock it in a safe place and seize it in this form so that it remains even when the times are difficult and not that hopeful through this journey during the rest of the year! How I wish I could use some part of it bit by bit to counter-attack that bitterness and contempt which tends to engulf us every now and then!

Time is a continuum; time is powerful but breaking its might through the structure of hours, days and years give a new meaning to it. Moments are created and moments add magic to the matrix of life! Surely makes us, the immortals, more productive. This time is also special since there are resolutions all around. A fancy term; a buzz word or a cliche but there are all varieties around. But aren’t resolutions a very strong and a great way of connecting with your inner self, the true self which is pure and innocent; making promises to yours truly—as chaste as a promise to God?

Resolutions help one look forward to touching a milestone, making an impact and reaching new horizons. But resolutions are funny too, literally yes but also when you see people around making the same resolutions year on year and some of them being weird, too. Still, resolutions bring power, they bring hope of achieving something which has not been done or has been difficult to accomplish in the year which we are bidding an adieu!

The challenge of achieving something not yet done brings hope and hope is a cause to the effect of many big achievements! But resolutions which are feel good and don’t have any measurable goals tied to them are bound to fail. I remember the term SMART from my management class—short, measurable, accurate, reliable and time bound! Breaking resolutions into SMART goals for the year makes them possible. I have my to-do and I am reminded of how the two munchkins in my life aged four and eight got excited just the other day when asked to pen their new year resolutions as they enjoyed the process and the result was a list ever so reassuring.

My musings snap as the first dew drops start appearing on the window glass. Pious and fresh! The first ray of sunlight is struggling to manoeuvre its way beautifully piercing the fog as it tries hard to make its way. The music from my friends on the trees has again started to reverberate as if feeling triumphant about making their way out forcefully from the foggy blanket! Each bit of nature around is trying to get out of the tyranny of fog and reclaiming its true colorful and beautiful self. The early risers group in the yoga park has slowly started to gather. The bells of the cycles of doodh-walas and safai-walas have also started to come from a distance. The neighborhood uncle and aunty are locking their home for their annual ritual of visiting the gurdwara every first of the year.

The doorbell rings as my maid makes her way — all beaming and vibrant in her new clothes and her matching makeup — Happy New Year didi!

Welcome to the new year! This is life getting back into action in the new year, 2018.

Today is special; today is new. It is as fresh as dew. As innocent as a child’s mind—let me take these cues and lock them somewhere in my heart so as to remain with me all year through!