Happy New Year!

Yet another year…

Every time the calendar flips to a new year we have parties, make resolutions, wonder how the year went by, et al and added to that we build up aspirations, plan things-to-dos and many more that gush our minds for yet another new beginning.

As I slouch on the couch this chill December afternoon, my thoughts are racing back to the incidents, words and occasions that made up my 2010.

2010 will be etched in my mind for ever because this will be the year I will remember letting our son go from our nurtured nest to the wide, wild-world.

This threw in a lot of travel, hopping from one flight to the other. From the cuddle class to the business class…the former seating, a perfect arrangement for the young and “in love” people whereas the later, comforting for the aging ones with not obeying aching bones to stretch in those traveling hours.

Recession, how can one forget that? Economies crashed, huge job losses, a few ones known personally succumbing to it. Was it the same in India? Not really, at least I didn’t see. It seemed everyone I know there, especially the younger lot, was doing better in their respective jobs, a few had climbed one step ahead and the brand new Engineering grads had landed lucrative placements. Is India booming…..?

How can I forget the underbelly especially in a city like Bangalore? Horrid traffic, all kinds of weird looking people and more people every where, where were they a few years ago, no, they weren’t there and where did they all come from now?

The most disturbing scene at every traffic signal is the eunuchs, maimed child beggars and glycerin smeared old haggard ones. Was told by one cab driver that these people earn nearing a thousand rupees a day!

Talking about money, a blend of Indian and Roman letters making our Indian rupee get a new symbol and joining the elite currency club, a thing to be proud of. I’m looking forward to when that symbol will feature on my computer keyboard. The wait will not be too long I guess.

Yet another thing to be proud of is, so many world leaders visited India this year, I will not name them, for you know already.

My vocabulary may not be too vast but being a fan of the English language, what did I discover? Double rainbow!! Can be now used (slang) to refer to something amazing and of course a whole lot of other meanings. Want to know more about it, hit Google.

Getting to know a new instrument this year, buzzzzzzz… guessed already? Vuvuzela. FIFA World Cup brought in this long plastic barrel kind of a piped instrument which gave a sound that invaded the stadia and our television sets at homes across the world. What will Brazil give us in 2014? Let’s wait and watch.

Going back to Bangalore, my latest craze is ‘that’ very happening place, the Café Coffee Day which has sprung up in every area.  Come to think of it, it can be used as an instant office simply because you can find smartly uniformed youngsters (don’t’ feel like tagging them with the word ‘waiters’), spacious couches to sit, comfortable low tables to keep one’s laptop, good electricity, Wi-Fi, everything for free and at the end of it you pay only for coffee – it’s a steal. Times have changed but I can figure out which generation I belong to.

Can’t call myself computer savvy or a technological peasant but did manage to have my own blog this year and the credit for which go to the person who helped me.

“The Big Tin Clash”, the term I have coined for the dreaded word “Accident” was an experience in itself, the tin got crushed beyond recognition but not me. Thank you God!

A little shy of hitting the half a century mark in 2011, I can feel I have mellowed down a bit, more relaxed than before, able to laugh at myself at times, think of my age before I pick up a new dress, new silver strands added to the existing ones on my head and crows feet getting deeper, a few unpleasant memories lingering on … yet with all these, getting more excited about the coming months, fantastic plans of “must-do”, feeling much younger than before, no qualms about trying out brighter colors to wear and all set to usher in yet an other new year with hopes, aspirations and  good cheer to you, me and everyone else.

A very Happy New Year!