The idea of a New Year’s Eve

There is something about the New Year’s Eve. The charm, the aura, the excitement, the anticipation, the nostalgia…but there is something. That buzz, that festive fragrance in the air, that December chill…but there sure is something.

I don’t know what is it about the evening but it definitely is the most talked about in the last week of December. Everyone asks your New Year eve’s plans and you too ask whoever you know about where they are headed. There are parties happening all around the city and newspapers are splashed with the best offers and packages from the restaurants and hotels for the 31^st.

So many of my friends and colleagues have packed their bags and have headed to places outside the city to ring in the new year. One is en route to snowy Shimla, couple of them already in exotic Jaisalmer and one in the big bad city, Mumbai. Those in Delhi are headed to some parties in farmhouses and swish nightclubs. 

I wonder if given a chance, would I like to spend it any different than the way I presently ?? For me, usually the last few days of the year are spent in some introspection in retrospection (though I do it all the year around as it is!). I, more often than not, end up looking at the months gone by, how they went, what could have been better, some memories here and there. But my new year’s eve is more than decided all the time. It has been same all these years. Come back home by dinner time, dig into the yummy dinner made by mom followed by gajar ka halwa (making its presence felt over the years and now an important part of the evening’s menu!!), watch Victoria’s Secret fashion show late night and retire for the night. No complaints, whatsoever!

Personally, new year’s eve to me is expecting some niceties from the coming year, hoping it is better than the one going, hoping I achieve a few of the goals I have set for myself (if at all I manage to set some), feeling a little low for things that went bad in the year, about people who left and some such things. 

All that partying, celebrations, dining and wining are the ways to bring in the new. Even though symbolic it may sound, but in the end, we do need a break from the hectic, brain-wrecking 365 days that are just about to end and a wish to have a fresh start to a brand new year. May be it’s just another reason to party, but when did it harm anyone?? Definitely, to each his own. 

So, I am sure all of you have good plans for tomorrow evening. Whatever you are doing, wherever you are headed, wherever you have set your bon-fire – home or hills, just live it up. And take a minute out for those who are not so privileged. If it is your old woolen or a blanket or the excess food that you ordered in or barbecued, take a step further and help the needy on such a day. You will feel satisfied, happy and blessed. :-)

Read this quote somewhere. Loved it. So apt!!

‘For eleven months and maybe about twenty days each year, we concentrate upon the shortcomings of others, but for a few days at the turn of New Year we look at our own. It is a good habit.’