A Sad and Happy Day!

My earliest memories of the last day of the year constitute of chicken and Preeti Sagar. While most of you are familiar with the former, I have strong reasons to believe that not many know about the latter. But more of that later.

I remember the cold, the layers of warm clothes on me which I absolutely did not agree with most of the times, the delightful aroma of chicken roasting in the small electric oven and an overall sense of well being. It used to be a normal day for me, just like any other, only happier.

The party used to begin in our living room with our prized B&W EC television at nine in the evening. Tucked inside quilts with a blower working overtime to keep the temperatures in the room from falling, we would settle to watch whatever Doordarshan had decided for us. And they most certainly decided on Preeti Sagar. “My heart is beating, keeps on repeating….” Anyone?

Soon the year changed. Times changed. I changed.

It’s that last day of the year again. There will be chicken, wine, ribbons, music and dancing. There will be joy, excitement, fun, laughter and games. And there will be the one thing that kicked in as I grew older - the sense of time.

So now the last day of the year is not a normal day anymore. There is happiness, but not without a pinch of sadness - of a year gone by, good or bad or both in equal or unequal measures. Of time that passed. Of time that would never come back again. Of weaknesses and strengths. Of the best and worst of things. Of struggles and successes. Of births and deaths. Of loves and losses.

But it is this sense of time that makes me want to look forward - to find out what the New Year holds for me, us, the world. Pretty much like the feeling when you are in a roller coaster and it slows down, even stops, before the final plunge. You want it to start and stop at the same time.

My heart is beating, keeps on repeating….

Happy New Year!