2004. The year that was.
We could with a sweeping glance recapitulate all the world events – but enough will be said of those by others. That leaves us with events that make up individual lives, of which we can know nothing for it is your life and your share of infinitesimal moments, one chasing the next, as packed with upheavals and miracles as those that belong to the larger world-order.
Instead, let us take our attention elsewhere.
A new dawn. A new day. A new year.
Does it mean anything to us? Does it do anything for us?
Some would believe that a new year is a man-made creation to psychologically rev oneself up from the slow pace of a fading year. Perhaps. But it can be a lot more than that. It can be an opportunity to shed old clothes and slip on a new garb. It can be a chance for us to fulfil old dreams and dream new ones. It can be the moment to make important decisions, shirk habits, turn inside out. It gives us a sense of validity, almost sanctifying ‘change’.
There are others who believe that a new year is just another morning in the lifetime of a man. That also may be true, for as we have often said, we don’t need the gong at midnight as an excuse, as every moment heralds change and makeovers.
Irrespective of what one believes in, the fact is that a year holds within it, a chest full of treasures, which we can use to our advantage if we so please. If we use them, the new year means something. If we don’t, we will end up waiting for the end of the year even before it has begun.
