counting the last hours...

"It's that time of the year again..."
"...ringing in the new year..."
"...goodbye 2008..."
"... what's your new year resolution?"
"... and how long will you be able to keep that resolution..."
"...what's the scene, yaar?" (with a typical Punjabi twang for just the right effect)

... these and many more cliched statements become de rigeur at "this time of the year"... as you venture out in the chilly air, nipping at your nose and ears, numbing your fingers and toes, you can catch snippets of certain key words sprinkled generously in conversations like sugar and coloured frosting on your favourite warmed-up, soft doughnut...words like "Christmas tree, passes, parties, farmhouse, outfits, couple-entry-only, Goa" become the only connectors in each conversation you "happen to overhear" and you catch yourself uttering them frequently enough...a new year will creep upon you silently or jiggle itself conspicuously in your face, depending on how discrete or dramatic you wish to make the occasion... somehow it gives us the impression (or the hope?) that a different digit in the unit's place while writing the date would gently whistle in a pleasant wind of change for us all... our lives, loves, jobs, family, relationships would all race steadily on an upward trajectory of satisfaction and success... new year celebrations bring to us all the shimmer of confetti-like hope trapped inside the pressured balloons of our lives, pin-struck at JUST the right time all across the time-zone to release that glittery tinsel, which is such a necessity in our stressed-out lives... Do things change after January, the 1st each year? Do people turn over a new leaf? Do frustrating situations in our lives miraculously alter for our benefit? I doubt it... all the same, the forthcoming new year brings a smile to our faces, a bounce to our steps, an excuse to stay up all night partying with people we love most, an urge to take an hour off for that much-postponed pedicure, a promise to ourselves to change at least one unacceptable part of ourselves in the future (mostly broken within the first week, but at least we face up to the challenge!)... it brings hope, strength and unadulterated joy... ok, maybe not totally unadulterated, considering drinks and cocktails are on the house!!!

So, six-and-a-half hours before I proceed to hug everyone within a 7-foot radius of my own dancing (albeit unsteadily) self... six-and-a-half hours before I scream out the old year and "ring in the new" in drunken revelry... six-and-a-half hours before I shamelessly kiss that someone special (whole-heartedly attempting to be discrete, in vain)... six-and-a-half hours before we officially bid goodbye to yet another calendar year and spend the rest of the month trying to get used to writing 2009 and not 2008 in all our communications, I raise my fictitious glass up high and cheer on every single year that has passed by and every last week of December, which manages to transform the sea of usually frustrated humanity into the rarely seen pleasant, joyful, forgiving, hopeful, celebrating, self-indulgent individuals... cheers :)