The year-end revelry, rather madness, is about to begin. Where to let the hair down and whom to shake a leg with. This is the biggest question worrying the well-heeled. One wants to get immersed in the frenzy and wish away the blues.
Big hotels are already arranging programmes to ring in the New Year. Some call it a new chapter, some a new beginning. But is it really so? The year never ends or begins—life just goes on. Will it be any different in 2019? You are living in a fool’s paradise if you say ‘yes’. Simply celebrating the New Year won’t change the shape of things to come. The elusive window of well-being will not open just because a new year has dawned.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. Nothing changes unless one brings positive changes in oneself. But the things most of us do as the New Year approaches are appalling. Elaborate parties are planned, venues chosen and menus selected. Some are busy jotting down New Year resolutions. It’s a ritual one wants to go through and get done with. At the stroke of midnight, a big cheer goes up, bottles are uncorked and the effervescent liquid gushes out. Next morning one gets up bleary eyed with a slight hangover only to find out that things have not changed a wee bit.
This, however, doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t celebrate. But this can be done in a meaningful way. Why not resolve to be nice with everyone? Charity should begin at home. So let the first beneficiary of your good behaviour be your parents, wife and children. Go for an image makeover and give a big surprise to your colleagues by sharing their work. Why not resolve to shed that extra weight and feed the poor? For a change let’s put off airs and be fair with everyone. These acts look small but they have a lasting impact and liven up people around us. Don’t get fooled by the calendar. There are as many days in a year as you make use of.
The other day a friend of mine jolted me out of complacency when he explained how people are going bonkers in the one-upmanship race. New years or birthdays, he says, are not occasions to celebrate but time to take stock and do mid-course correction. Every time we tear off a leaf from a calendar, we are tearing off a month from our lives, a fact few are conscious of. And none knows how many years are left in our kitty. There is no way we can change the past but we can certainly make a fresh start and change the ending.
J S Ifthekhar
Email: jsifthekhar@gmail.com