Image: Zach Doty  Unsplash

A different year; a different start!

Ah! Routine. The date changes, the year rolls over and a new one slides in, not exactly inconspicuously, it isn’t allowed to. The night skies are a dazzle with the crackling radiance of firecrackers. Lumos! The magical wand of the new year swishes and everything’s a sparkle. Parties pickup a frenzied rhythm and folks greet each other as of they were meeting for the first time ever! So routine, isn’t it?

But my New years? Was way different from the rest of the world! I thought I’d keep it exclusive! You know, just me and….. the new year hugging each other in a welcome embrace. Now that’s different, isn’t it?

And why was it just the two of us? Well, two is a company and there wasn’t enough space for a third. When rejected by the ever-loving mother, I was compelled to find shelter and comfort beneath my quilts. Mother Ganga had turned down my overtures of being by her side, enjoying the grace of her august presence, in entirety. Why? Must have upset her, in some way. So shunned by the mother, this dejected daughter dived deep into the arms of what was kind of half welcoming. Cosily ensconced, my nostrils breathed out fire, almost literally when having left the friendlier climes of Mumbai I had travelled to the brittle cold of North India, which did welcome me but in a manner that clutched me in an embrace so tight, I couldn’t break free. I needed this rest, you see. The year that had gone past had been a bit harsh on me and the best way to ensure that the one on the way isn’t rough on me, I was rolled and wrapped in blankets and quilts and left in the company of the changing year! Strangers staring at each other, unsure what to say or how to react.

What a way to begin the year! What an irregular welcome it had been! What a note the music had taken!




Not quite.

It was an unusual symphony. The music of quiet, the notes of solitude, the tenor of compulsory confinement yet the luxury of enjoying the company of the changing year singly, not sharing it with anyone else. Way to go New year! Way to go 2019.

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