2015 Here I come!

 

 The New Year begins on a sedate note, as did the previous year and the year before it. Sedate is how I view it, in spite of all the brouhaha that people in my world are currently throwing up. We need reasons to get excited, don't we? And an otherwise normal Thursday, except that a calendar has to be bought anew, sends us all into delirium. But we are social animals, hence the craving to socialize. Amid this din, I feel surprisingly calm and serene. Maybe it is because that I have many plans to make this year mine. Maybe because I hope to achieve whatever I set my mind to. Maybe the rush of many ideas, hopes and dreams, through me, of which some may see completion, some fall by the wayside, some will conveniently be forgotten and some abandoned due to difficulty. Having no impractical planes to ascend in the 15^th instalment of 21^st century, I have a particular path charted out crystal-clear and is very easily scalable. The post has my random thoughts on this year's targets, hopes, dreams, and many more.

This brouhaha I mentioned, that involved quite a few incidents, though many would argue the use of 'incident' after reading them. My peers undertook a flash-walk, if it can be called so, for they all were constantly walking around the corridor unplanned, glued to their loved ones wishing "Happy New Year". Apparently, many of them have a lot of loved ones apart from Mom, Dad and siblings. Then transpired another incident deep within me, of maintaining relationships, mending broken versions and creating new communion. Of those three, I am fairly sure of the first's success, very sure that the second will never happen and the third remains a mystery. There is the 'shocking' news of Dhoni's Test retirement right at the end of the Boxing Day test match at Melbourne. In any case, every critic, wisdom immaterial, wanted him to step down because of uninspiring heavy defeats overseas. He did step down, and gloriously, that too. He relieved himself of the rigours of the five-day version, in a silent bang. The silver lining of a defeat occurs very rarely. But to this young Indian team, putting up a fight and showing their tenacity in difficult conditions and against the verbally and skilfully marauding Aussies, drew such a line. The unpleasant incident of Phil's death by a bouncer shuddered us all, right at the tail of 2014. And closer to my surroundings, I am quite bemused with our use of technology, so much so that we shoot Whatsapp texts to friends who are away from our location but a few steps. My friend, who had to only do so much as take two turns and two steps to wish me, stayed sprawled wide on his bed in his room and texted the wish with a lot of smileys as escorts! Academically, I enter into another semester with renewed vigour and hunger that I fervently hope and make an effort to sustain it.

Reading costs a lot, but unlike how we always associate cost with paper or electronic money, the cost that we pay is time. And come to think of it, don't we waste a lot of it? We all reflect on our lives, on our days, randomly, and then always end up feeling regret over the time that we could have spent in other ventures. This year, how about tweaking that to lead an improved life from that we led in the 14^th instalment? Mull on radical shifts to your normal mode of operation, and I guarantee you that you will relapse before Republic Day dawns on us. Slight adjustments on a consistent basis will help you. The everyday scenes we see, the everyday incidents that we read on papers, tell us all of the gory details of a rape, of a murder, of an honour killing, of torture, and what not. Amidst such disturbing scenes, we do deserve a generous dose of happiness and joy daily. Reading books of the genre that interest you, be it superheroes shooting creepy weapons from their lunula or iris, or be it of relationships that stand the test of time or of the intellectual stimulant that help fictional detectives unravel a crime, or of simple yet deep or complex yet flat words that a Shakespeare or a Milton's work possesses, will transport you into a world that gives pure, unadulterated joy at the cost of nothing but time. Why don't we, for once, try investing in it? There is nothing to lose or gain monetarily, but a lot to imbibe.

Up till three decades of our existence, we indulge in any of the many physical sports. Once that mark is crossed, a lack of enthusiasm, the onset of boredom, so-called maturity, and age-related issues step in. But, I wonder. Age-related issues arise only if you have not exerted yourself physically, right? How can that be both the cause and the reason for your refusal to indulge in physical exertion after 30? We do not need reminders. We already know "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." But it isn't only for Jack. So, stop whining and start playing something. Or if you already are doing the latter, make sure you don't stop.

Politically, the youth of today, including me, are completely ignorant of our leaders, their actions, of the schemes that the Government passes and duly forgets, of the scams that rear with alarming consistency, of the occasional success and joy that a movement delivers, and of many other activities. We are taught to show apathy and not empathy or sympathy with the not-so-lucky individuals in the society. And this lesson is taught by our parents and our teachers, the two groups that profess themselves to be moulding the 'new' generation. These are generalized statements, and hence exceptions are always present. Instigated by the high incidence of women-violation cases in our nation, different sectors like science, politics, education, parenting, even economics, have joined hands to fight this menace. Young scientists have come up with novel gadgets to empower women. Leaders launch awareness programmes in villages, rural and urban, to spread the agenda of stigma caused to the victim socially, the compensation, if possible, that she may never get, the justice that the perpetrator may never get, and of all other issues. The system in place to educate the present and future youth has a glaring loophole that has repeatedly not been addressed. Sex education is mandatory to prevent such crimes in the future. We cannot control the past, but the future is definitely something that we can. Parenting is another case in neglect. While sons are allowed to roam the city freely and act according to their whims, by their parents, daughters are advised against such activities. Not that they too should be allowed that privilege, but that sons should be taught to uphold moral values. Economically, if we are unable to safeguard our own women, how can a foreigner gain the confidence to have fun and be safe simultaneously, in our land? This, in turn, affects tourism inflow, and eventually the GDP of our nation. We have a long path ahead of us to ensure this menace is eradicated completely, and the fail-safe solution is educating of our sons and daughters, of moral values.

I complete two decades of my life today, and for that I thank God. With every passing year comes added responsibilities and the added challenge of maintaining our sanity and childish verve throughout. This, I hope that every reader of this article achieves. Wishing you all a very satisfying 'Happy New Year-2015'!