As the sound of blaring Bolly songs blast through my tightly shut windows and the joyous revelry of people enjoying the latest ‘DJ hits’ of the season mix with the happy shrieks of children who have been allowed to play on into the night, I sit at the cusp of another transition, ready to take my belongings and move into the embracing arms of 2013 leaving behind memories and much more with 2012. I am sure I can spy a hint of melancholy in the corner of her eyes as she gives me away ever so lightly, without the littlest of commotion and melts away into the background, forever.
‘Ring out the old, ring in the new’, someone had once said and these words reverberate in my mind as I see another year passing by, only to be succeeded by yet another year, the old and the new blending into an eternal march existing only in our collective conscious. The only truth seems to be the journey as we move on. We move on with our successes, our failures, our joys, our sorrows, our moments of exhilaration, our moments of despair, our hopes, our disappointments… the very fabric that constitutes our being. Moments that define us, make us who we are and what we exist for and yet are nothing but mere specks in the cosmic play being enacted in the universe. A million years hence, would my joys and sorrows, my hopes and my biggest fears bear any meaning? Did they mean anything a million years ago?
2012 was a good year. Ofcourse it started with a foreboding that it could be the last for humankind as doomsayers had a field day predicting the fall. And though the majority knew for sure that we were only deceiving ourselves, no one really did mind a little fun at the expense of the fear of annihilation. The Mayans may be turning in their graves at the number of attempts by the ‘specialists and experts’ to decipher and interpret their calendar. And with a sprinkling of good old Nostradamus thrown in, it was quite a spread. Did a Mayan elder ever imagine how his calendar would engage the attention of a modern civilization thousands of years later?
2012 also saw the world trying to come to grips with the economic downturn. It seemed an apt example of the axiom that the more things change, the more they remain the same. I am sure that there would be a rebound soon enough and the recovery would take pace and ride on to the crest before yet another fall. In between, the markets would heave like the bosom of a Bolly starlet in a masala song of a Southie remake. And the common man would keep on losing money trying to make sense of the mumbo-jumbo that market specialists peddle as ‘expert advice’ while the super rich would make even more money hedging their risks with yet more… yes you got it…money. Meanwhile our politicians are on the job as three of the brightest were caught watching porn while the assembly session was on in a State legislature while on the other hand the Indian Parliament turned 60. Time to claim senior citizen benefits.
The year also saw the Olympics. And millions of Indians proved that we are ‘true’ sports lovers tuning in to matches of all and sundry while our athletes kept on getting chucked out in the preliminaries. Yet, there were bright spots and these can be nothing if not harbingers of greater things to come… err… that’s what our Sports minister wants us to believe… for the moment. Meanwhile Sachin, our undisputed claim to fame, finished one innings to start another. So no more Sachin Tendulkar in blue overalls, though for the time being he would still play the tests. Maybe we would now see a little more of Sachin, the parliamentarian, though the chances of which look as bleak as Suresh Kalmadi taking over from Anna Hazare. My heart goes out to the generations who would not be able to see the great man conjuring up his magic in the shorter format on the cricket field any more. Maybe they should consider suing their parents.
We lost quite a few stalwarts this year… Rajesh Khanna, Yash Chopra, Sunil Ganguly, Jaspal Bhatti, Dara Singh and the Pakistani stalwart janab Ajmal Kasab while Queen Elizabeth regally strode into her 60th year of reign. The search for extra-terrestrial life goes on with the Mars Curiosity rover being the latest warrior on that front. Though someone quipped the other day that Nasa is wasting billions in searching for extra-terrestrial life in other planets while a bunch of aliens live in a round building in New Delhi shouting, jostling, shoving kicking and frequently charging to the well of the house.
RIP, young lady, who put to shame all the males of our country, that is, if we have any shame left.
(The ideas expressed are purely personal and do not subscribe to/ espouse any ideology. If hurt/ affected please treat it as fiction or watch TV instead.)
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