Happy New Year
I don’t remember who told me this, but for the longest time, I believed that whatever action you performed when the clock struck midnight on Dec 31st is the action you’d perform for the rest of the year. It didn’t matter that I’d spent a whole year wasting my time or that I’d watched what Doordarshan called entertainment till 11:59. I’d take special care to not cry in that one minute, or to laugh too hard. The laughing bit didn’t have everything to do with the New Year’s Eve action concept. That was thanks to another superstition – whenever you laugh very hard, the only possible thing that could happen next was that you’d cry very hard. And I didn’t want to start crying at 12:01 or 12:07 for that matter, for who knew how long the New Year-action period lasted.
By midnight, I’d make sure I turned the TV off, and picked up a suitable text book, preferably of my current favorite subject. I’d ‘concentrate intensely and study’ for the next couple of minutes. I never thought back about this during the rest of the year – but now that I do, perhaps the superstition was right after all. I did spend a number of years pretending to study.
The last few years, I haven’t had assorted Gods of learning to appease. New Year’s Eve usually finds me at someone else’s house, where one does the obligatory count down and the wishing everyone a happy new year. But old beliefs, especially old superstitions die hard. And at the exact moment when the clock struck midnight, I took care to set down the glass or plate of food or whatever I was holding. No one wants to spend a whole year drinking or eating cake. And yes, as planned, I have indeed spent the last few years pretending to be on a diet.
Last night, there was no party. And contrary to my friends’ expectations, I did not get all bundled up and trudge down to Times Square to watch the wondrous effect of gravity on a silly ball. I spent the night in bed, reading Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder. Hopefully this year, there will be fewer pretenses, and more joy.
As for resolutions, my most important one for this year is simple but tough – to avoid the one hour crime drama in every one of its devious avatars. Given that it’s a brand new year, let us be optimistic and imagine that I actually succeed in my lofty goal – I figure this will automatically free up so much of my time that am sure that other goals such as learning a new language, trying a new author every month, listening to more music or going to the gym more often will have no choice but get accomplished.
Happy new year, everyone. And wish you the very best of luck with your own resolutions.
Comments (7 comments)
I grew up with the exact same notion of “what I do in at the stroke of 12 - I shall do for the rest of the year..”.
neha / January 2nd, 2007, 6:20 am / #
Can sure empathise with this feeling…
BTW,what have you done to Karthik?Like, tied him up in a forsaken ‘godown’ and gagged him for good measure?
Happy New Year and hope Karthik finds time for the blog..
raj / January 2nd, 2007, 8:26 am / #
Neat post.
Raj, I am here
And I swear, I’m working on a post this very moment. And I swear too, I resolved to write as much as I could this year.
Happy new year everyone.
Karthik / January 3rd, 2007, 12:52 am / #
We tried avoid getting any kind of scolding, bashing from parents and friends, fearing it continue till the year end.
This led to Guerilla attacks from friends and we end up having a fight on 1st Jan.
Karthi / January 3rd, 2007, 1:20 am / #
Neha: Is it a Tam thing, you think? This whole stroke of midnight thing? Anyways, it’s in too deep to get out now…
And as someone with admin rights to this site, I can vouch for his claim about a post. Looking forward to it myself 
Raj: Happy new year to you too. And as you see, I haven’t done anything at all to Karthik
DoZ / January 3rd, 2007, 5:13 pm / #
Karthik & Doz, hope you didnt mind the leg-pulling . I just love Karthik’s style of writing - content doesnt matter :-). Man, the way you write, I can read with relish even if you do a weather report
I even commented on Manoj’s blog that his is the second funniest blog behind Stochastica and he replied saying Karthik keeps reminding me of that all that time
Anyways, thanks for the dope. Hope to see more of you.
raj / January 4th, 2007, 9:45 am / #
oh goody! so it wasnt just crazy me studying at the strike of the clock!!
Neha / January 15th, 2007, 3:19 am / #
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