Saturday, December 30, 2006

The year that was

A whole three hundred and sixty five days have almost gone by. There is just a few hours before we start another one. It at these moments, that people normally sit back and think of the many things that they have done and the many that havent. Better still, about things that they could have done better than how they did, or how they shouldnt have done something they did.

Why talk about people, when i can talk about me ? Lets start with resolutions, i have given up on new year resolutions, because, in my experience, these resolutions are meant to be broken. The sooner the better. Usually new year resolutions are taken by weak people, who have to wait for a specific day to start a good or perceived good activity, and i am not weak. For me, any day of the year is a good time to take a resolution. This allows me greater flexibility in breaking them, and not worrying about the time of the taking or breaking the resolution.

Clothes and shopping are another thing associated with ending of the year and beginning of the new one. In the west or christian families, it happens before the year is out, to coincide with their biggest festival of the year. Here in India, Jan 1st has been a day to shop and die. I too fell prey to this culture and greed, and did my shopping, albeit just once. I soon gave up, when i figured out, deals can be had through the year, and i am going to get ripped off anyway. So, why jostle with the crowd, chase the lone appliance on the counter, run after coupons and from store to store to be ripped off. Its worth relishing such a feeling at other times during the year too.

Years come and go, actually it is calendars that come and go. Old ones wear out and new ones will replace these. But in this age of electronic calendar, there is no replacement, it just rolls over. When i go into work this coming tuesday, i will have a fresh new calendar on my computer's organizer (outlook), without me having done anything. And then i start the work day, without any change of the week or year before. There is of course the painful part of writing the correct year on checks you write, if you write any these days.

I think every friday is a day of celebration, if you dont have to work that weekend. And every monday is the perpetual hang-over day, whether you drink or not. What New Year, lets live life a week at a time. It makes life even more exciting, 'cause a new one comes every 7 days.