Waking Up To 2013

So, the world did not end in the year 2012 as per the Mayan Calendar and I live on to see another year. I don’t know if I ever believed in the apocalypse in the first place but I guess I am kind of glad to see this year off. Perhaps it is the human tendency to pass things onto another day and hope that somehow a new sunrise shall usher in fresh promises and a new streak of happiness and luck altogether.

Today on this first day of year 2013, as I sit with my morning cup of coffee and retrospect the year just gone by, I clearly see the divide between the time spent in the first half as against the last six months.

JAN – JULY 2012: This was the time I was still camped in US and tied to my office routine. Life was hectic but still simple. The work week went at the usual pace and the weekends were spent travelling and sight seeing as a normal course. Riddhie had however started becoming more vocal about her likes and dislikes and more often I ended up planning the weekend for her than myself. With the project winding up and we finally deciding to come back for good by end of July, the last couple of weeks were spent shopping and packing and going through travel hassles. If I think from my daughter’s perspective, she has virtually been on move ever since she was born. I don’t mind travelling myself but I guess it has come to a point where I have been finding increasingly difficult to manage all the luggage and bags that we now need to carry even if it is a weekend trip.

AUG – DEC 2012: Riddhie has been basking in the sunshine of her grandparent’s attention ever since she landed foot back in India. With the family back home eagerly awaiting for her, she has been the focus of all adulation, pampering and love over all these months. Things have otherwise been slow on the work front and a few ideas on the professional side have taken ages to roll out and materialize. I still have not been able to finalize on a housing space for me nor have been able to kick start anything new on the creative side. In fact with all the shuttling between the office and home and everything else has left most of these last six months as a blur but a few things stand out and this is how the report card looks like:

Trip to Lucknow Two Trips to Hyderabad Riddhie’s Photo Shoots New 50 mm prime lens New smart phone One short story, couple of good posts on the blog Sold two photographs Japanese Classes	Updates stalled for riddhie’s blog Failed weight management (again) Flat/House still elusive Procrastinated BIG time New 50 mm lens mostly unused :( Laptop crashes Persisting health issues No new venture

ABOUT THE WORLD & REMEMBRANCES

This year has been a shade of grey overall. The political turmoil and scandals and scams aside, the year touched a new low on values with ministers watching obscene clips in the parliament and politicos making insensitive statements on issues that affect people, lives and nation as a whole to the year closing to a heinous gang rape in Delhi and the victim finally succumbing to grave injuries after a 13 day long battle. I had refrained to write anything about the Delhi gang rape case and the sad demise of “Nirbhaya”, “Damini” or whatever the media chose to call the unlucky victim all these days simply because too many people were already talking about it and none of the talks have led to any action so far. The last couple of weeks have been sad from that perspective. To rub salt into the wounds, the ‘dented and painted’ remark by the president’s son and the PM’s ‘theek hai’ show ticked an entire nation off.  While the Time magazine openly declared Dr. Manmohan Singh as an underachiever, hanging Ajmal Kasab was perhaps the only silver lining to this otherwise dismal year.

Few notable personalities passed away this year Dara Singh, Rajesh Khanna, Yash Chopra, Jaspal Bhatti, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Verghese Kurien, Bal Thackeray, Vilasrao Deshmukh and ex prime minister IK Gujral to name a few. If this wasn’t enough, Sachin Tendulkar decided to hang his one day boots and Indian cricket team kept touching new lows.

THE YEAR AHEAD

Personally, this year begins with a bout of cough and cold but that not withstanding, I just hope that I am able to turn a few things around on the personal front. There are no new year resolutions again but just plans that I wish to execute so that I am able to fare off a little better than last 12 months. For once, I want to keep myself engaged on things that I really want to do and manage my time better than the last year. I guess I will only know when I sit back and account for this year in about 12 months from now.

For now, just like last year here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2013. May you have the best of seasons, life and love all through next year and all times to come.