When 2008 dawned, I hoped it would be better than 2007. If anything, it has been worse.
Now, as 2008 closes, I find myself hoping 2009 will be better. Surely, anything should be better than 2008, right? Shouldn’t even a half-decent year would be better than the year that sent the economy into a tailspin?
So I hope. What was that Shelley said? “We look before and after, and pine for what is not”.
He must have been describing my annual ritual at this time of the year.
I wonder, though, at this arbitrary divide I am placing on my fate, and the fate of millions of others. Why should Thursday be better than Wednesday, just because it’s on a new calendar?
Then there is the question of whether January 1st matters. Which calendar I should really be using? Why the Gregorian? When I am thinking about the economy, should I use the custom where the business year starts on Diwali? So has the New Year already begun?
Or should I use the Hindu calendar, where the new year will only arrive in March/April? Going by that, we are now in the year Sarvadhari, which sounds better than the new year – Virodhi. What will a year called Virodhi (meaning foe or enemy) bring?
This line of thought doesn’t pay. Perhaps at some level it doesn’t even matter. So I will go back to doing what I do best – looking before and after, Janus-faced, and hoping that 2009 will have better days for all of us. Hoping that all our tomorrows will be better than today.
On that note, I wish you all a very happy New Year!
Odis Sorel
Savvy Aggarwal
Maria
Arindom Borah
Patrix
Thanks for the wishes, Lekhni, and wishing you, your family and your readers the same.
Your post really spoke to me because it conveys so well how I feel about the New Year this time. I’m finding it really hard to summon up the cheer! But, as you said, 2009 has got to be better, so I will end this year on that hopeful note.
Cheers
Kamini.
Thanks for articulating that feeling better than I did! I do have mixed feelings about the New Year, but let’s hope it turns out better
Wishing you a great new year ! It doesnt matter any calendar you use…i mean..unless it is one of those Vijay Mallya sponsored calendars..you know ..THAT type..!
Well, they can give you some START !!
Well…great to see your posts. And wishing you a fantastic new calendar year !
Thanks; I haven’t seen the Mallya calendars, but I guess I know what you mean!
Then instead of wishing you for a date on the calender, let me just say that I wish that every tomorrow is better than today.
Thanks
And yes, I think that’s just the right sort of wish for this year.
Lekhni
Happy MMIX to you too.
Here are my ‘fixes’ for this arbitrariness:
I buy 16-month diaries that run from August of one year to December of the next. They help because they provide greater continuity than 12-month diaries. Which also means I usually renew diaries between August and November, and not in January. (Yes, I use diaries. Record-keeping for tax purposes is easier if it does not look easily fiddleable.)
And since I run my own business, I use the tax/ accounting year as a bigger marker than the calendar year. For me more ‘closure’ and ‘newness’ come with that than with December/ January.
I am sure others have their own ideas on this
You are right, the school year or the fiscal year is just as meaningful as the calendar year, if not more, as you can see some tangible “new beginnings” in a new school/ fiscal year.
Happy New Year….
Thanks, and wish you the same again
Happy New Year to u too!
I feel basically the year academic or financial starts in April so no point making resolutions or celebrating in Jan!
That makes a lot of sense. In the US, the tax year for individuals and most companies starts in Jan, but that’s not the case in India. For a teacher (cum student
) like you, the academic year would make the most sense..
Happy New Year, even if it’s just another day!
Thanks, and wish you the same too!
Happy New Year to you too. May 2009 bring more sanity and wisdom to all of us.
Thanks, and wish you a Happy New Year too! The wish about sanity and wisdom is certainly appropriate for our times – we have never needed them more.
A very Happy 2009 to you and your loved ones
I would like to share with you one of my favorite quote, “Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday Dale Carnegie”.
Yes, that’s a great quote. But there will always be a tomorrow that I continue to worry about
I think humanity likes to give itself reasons to hope and to celebrate- so we celebrate something as arbitrary as a new calendar year!
May all your days be good ones, Lekhni:)
Thanks, that’s a great wish, a very nice way of putting it
You are right, where would we be without hope, and celebrating every new beginning?
Hey there, wish you a very happy new year!!! Your blog is one of its kind – am totally refreshed after a reading marathon here! I agree with your thoughts on the arbit rollover from Dec 31 to Jan 1. Without sounding like I’m trying to promote my blog, check out this post I’d written around New Years eve of 2008: http://sachinsworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year.html
Cheers!
I read your post, and I can see we share the same sentiments about the New Year. Splurging to party in the New Year is not my favorite way of beginning the year either
I would prefer introspection over mindlessness.
Wish you and your family a great year ahead, Lekhni. You expressed what I normally feel too.. the hope never dies right…wishing and hoping the days are better than whats been. The days would’ve been great, but we always wish for better things to happen!
-Srivalli
Yes, we always want the future to keep getting better and better