It has been a few hours since we have stepped into another new year in the Gregorian/Julian Calendar. At least half a dozen people who have bumped into me since this morning have wished me "A very happy new year!", Of course many thanks from me for these wishes.
Instead of moving on, I scratch my head and ponder. Had these people not crossed my path by some strange stroke of ill luck, would they have really wished me to have a happy new year? Maybe, may be not. I am not sure of this, but one thing that I am sure is that I cannot imagine a person wishing a not so happy year for an individual they know (If they do then it is not worth knowing them). The new year eve and the subsequent celebration is commonplace for any culture the measures yearly calendars.
At this point in time I remembered my phone, at least a few dozen text messages and a few more "ScrapAllYourFriends" wishes on Orkut. The advancement in technology lets one forward anything and everything to anyone and everyone on the phone's contact list (I guess a few of us are still left to champion the cause of screening the To list). The other technology bestows on one the luxury of comfortably forgetting a friend's birthday provided they log in every day. Oh my god! These wishes that I have been receiving are not personalised anymore. I think I should thank the ones that sent me the new year cards via the snail mail and so many others who have tried calling me since zero hour (Have we become so jobless? I guess they were all better off at work forwarding those endless emails.)
So what is the "funda" behind all the festivities? Why does an average youth attach so much importance to the countdown (this usually reminds me that my time on Earth is running out)? Why does one spend monstrously enormous quantities of money for a few hours (I am to understand that in India the youngsters on an average spend anything around INR 10,000)? Why are we interested in increasing the sales of IMFL and why the juggernaut of a drinking spree? Why scream your throats out? Aren't we selling Strepsils anymore? The police of course issue the mandatory statement that the security is going to be beefed up and this year will be stricter than ever before, Of course we know how many law and order violations cases happen.
Starting from the first of January the new year can commence even up until the twenty fifth of December. Of course lots of them are meaningless and have no significance. Too many Roman emperors have meddled too much with the calendar. The 1st of Jan was observed as the new year only since 1752 in most of the British Empire. However several of these dates have a lot more meaning than the first of January. The Chinese new year or the spring festival popularly know as Chúxì is entirely based on the lunar calendar that is astronomically defined so the drift of the season can change the range that usually is between 21st Jan and 21st Feb. This is very similar to the Vietnamese Têt Nguyên Đán and the Tibetan Losar.
While I am still searching for all those who wished me a happy 2007 just to tell them it was not really so happy; I get this masterpiece from nowhere. Times like these and the timing especially makes me believe in the Grandmasters hand behind all these. The only wish this year that made sense was from a dear friend....."To all my friends who send me best wishes 4 2007 - it did fuck all . . .So for 2008 could you please send either money, booze, porn or petrol vouchers!" He sure had a rough year, so rough that he calls me on my birthday on the stroke of midnight to tell me that he has crashed his car. I think it is a better idea to wish people a happy new year on their birthday (sounds much better than dude I crashed my car can you come here?), after all it is another year that they are entering.
By the way if some one meets him please do wish him a Happy New Year 2008 from the Heart of my bottom. Lets see if this makes a difference!
Instead of moving on, I scratch my head and ponder. Had these people not crossed my path by some strange stroke of ill luck, would they have really wished me to have a happy new year? Maybe, may be not. I am not sure of this, but one thing that I am sure is that I cannot imagine a person wishing a not so happy year for an individual they know (If they do then it is not worth knowing them). The new year eve and the subsequent celebration is commonplace for any culture the measures yearly calendars.
At this point in time I remembered my phone, at least a few dozen text messages and a few more "ScrapAllYourFriends" wishes on Orkut. The advancement in technology lets one forward anything and everything to anyone and everyone on the phone's contact list (I guess a few of us are still left to champion the cause of screening the To list). The other technology bestows on one the luxury of comfortably forgetting a friend's birthday provided they log in every day. Oh my god! These wishes that I have been receiving are not personalised anymore. I think I should thank the ones that sent me the new year cards via the snail mail and so many others who have tried calling me since zero hour (Have we become so jobless? I guess they were all better off at work forwarding those endless emails.)
So what is the "funda" behind all the festivities? Why does an average youth attach so much importance to the countdown (this usually reminds me that my time on Earth is running out)? Why does one spend monstrously enormous quantities of money for a few hours (I am to understand that in India the youngsters on an average spend anything around INR 10,000)? Why are we interested in increasing the sales of IMFL and why the juggernaut of a drinking spree? Why scream your throats out? Aren't we selling Strepsils anymore? The police of course issue the mandatory statement that the security is going to be beefed up and this year will be stricter than ever before, Of course we know how many law and order violations cases happen.
Starting from the first of January the new year can commence even up until the twenty fifth of December. Of course lots of them are meaningless and have no significance. Too many Roman emperors have meddled too much with the calendar. The 1st of Jan was observed as the new year only since 1752 in most of the British Empire. However several of these dates have a lot more meaning than the first of January. The Chinese new year or the spring festival popularly know as Chúxì is entirely based on the lunar calendar that is astronomically defined so the drift of the season can change the range that usually is between 21st Jan and 21st Feb. This is very similar to the Vietnamese Têt Nguyên Đán and the Tibetan Losar.
While I am still searching for all those who wished me a happy 2007 just to tell them it was not really so happy; I get this masterpiece from nowhere. Times like these and the timing especially makes me believe in the Grandmasters hand behind all these. The only wish this year that made sense was from a dear friend....."To all my friends who send me best wishes 4 2007 - it did fuck all . . .So for 2008 could you please send either money, booze, porn or petrol vouchers!" He sure had a rough year, so rough that he calls me on my birthday on the stroke of midnight to tell me that he has crashed his car. I think it is a better idea to wish people a happy new year on their birthday (sounds much better than dude I crashed my car can you come here?), after all it is another year that they are entering.
By the way if some one meets him please do wish him a Happy New Year 2008 from the Heart of my bottom. Lets see if this makes a difference!
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