Winding down

‘tis the season to be jolly; and, probably, also the season when productivity is at its minimum! Can we not be jolly and productive at the same time? 

And so we spend time in pondering on the year that is slowly, but surely, slipping away, soon to be remembered in retrospect. Personally, this is the time I love – the weather is lovely, the spirits are high and hope finds a new meaning. 

It has been an eventful year – I’ve made some academic advancement, professional gains, become more socially aware and active, travelled, opened my mind to newer experiences, created some cherish-worthy memories and added some more lessons of life into my kitty of knowledge.

It’s wonderful how new age networking mechanisms help us connect and reconnect with people – friends from childhood and the growing up years, those who know the secrets of our misadventures and those we give ourselves a chance to discover and rediscover; it’s also getting a lot noisier, though. We seem to be getting more opinionated and more vocal about it, too, and somewhere, the etiquette in communication seems to take a back seat.

New words got added to the Oxford English Dictionary and selfies create the space for self-indulgence; so what if it be at the memorial of a highly respected world leader! Democracy just proved it’s a wonderful concept and added hope to both ends of its spectrum – a well lettered commoner and an astute politician who ran a tea stall. Social movements proved their might and forced the law makers into wearing their thinking caps. A tragic environmental disaster shook us up from our slumber and a close-to-war situation was averted through some good diplomacy.  

What’s a year if it isn’t wholesome in its offering? Forget that we encountered people not nice enough to know, or events that left us feeling hopelessly inadequate...

As the year draws to an end: Raga Saanjh Kalyan, Pt. RaviShankar