A very warm welcome to the start of yet another year. Am always amazed as to how excited we all are at the start of a year that we feel will bring in new joy, success and happiness in all our lives. The ways to welcome the coming years have evolved, the rules of partying have changed but yet the childlike enthusiasm of everyone greeting almost everyone they meet on the morning of the January 1st of every year if nothing else still bring a smile on our faces. How the new year celebrations have changed ?? Read on ...
Personally for me the modus operandi of bidding farewell to a whole good year that passes by and giving a warm welcome to the new year that look straight at us offering warmth, freshness, hope and joy have evolved from indoor family gatherings to some crazy college new year parties yet to a celebrations with family and a few friends friends. Of course that has gone through a whole lot cyclic phases en-route.
Of all those phases of celebrations I still distinctly remember of the new year celebrations of my childhood in Delhi. Every year I would eagerly wait for a comfy Dec-31 evening with all the family members (add relatives & few neighbors) sitting in one big room in front of our old Black & white wooden encased TV set standing on its four legs (that was a quite decent if not an envious possession at that time BTW ) waiting for “Tabassum” to kick start the evening full of colorful programs lined up on Doordarshan. The day would start with a heartful breakfast of “Aloo paranthas with Butter” and tea while still in the warm bed, followed by entire mornings & afternoon of cricket with friends in park in front of my house. Followed by lazy late afternoon with activities alternating between lazying of on the roof and stealing the “Chini & Khowa” mix from kitchen while mom would be busy in grating the carrots for the “Gajar ka Halwa” treat for the evening. Of course the evening were booked by going with mom to the market to get the supplies of “Moongfali” (Groundnut) and “Gachhak or Gud Chikkis” (Jaggery sweet with peanuts) to last for the night. The two things that mom would without fail reiterate every year on our way to market were: 1. “that we will be taking less of both as she remembers that we took way too much last year” & 2. “that I wont be getting pani poori and tikki from that famous road side stall for i would lead to sore throat”. And yet every year without fail we would get enough moongfallis & gachakk that would last for a week after the Dec-31 night and I would have both the road side delicacies to my hearts desire ! And that was every year.
It was so simple. So ridiculously predictable every year but yet now in retrospect I see how special it was.
Not ages have passed by but things have changed around. Loud hip-hop party circuits have replaced the closed family gatherings, more often than not posh drinks-some crazy tiny winy snack have replaces the gajar ka halwa and tea. Now people work hard all year and party even harder to celebrate the achievements of it, the 24x7 channels have made the wait for the night long shows on Doordarshan on dec-31 night redundant, the age of information has thrown the lives and celebrations of the celebrities & influential's at our face and we want to emulate them, not all are driven by that trigger but then too our lifestyles have changed & better planned nights & parties have become affordable and the in thing, the norms to greet and celebrate have changed -- we have changed. For better of worse is on individual perspective. I personally love this evolution, I like this change, am a part of this GenX and we’ll keep on evolving not to tune with time but to take time itself forward with us.
But even in today's magnificent age of speed, information, communication & web2.0, sometimes on one-off leisurely afternoons like today when I have the luxury of time to look back -- I still miss the romanticism of those simpler times.
And now as I sign off with that nostalgic thought, Wish you a very happy and prosperous year 2010 ahead !!!
1 comment:
Beautifully written and it does bring back some nostalgic feelings especially that of the first TV set we had at home :) the nostalgia at my end is of a different form however. From my childhood days as far back as I remember the way we celebrated new year was partying with friends and neighbors. We used to pool money and have these new year parties with loud music, games, dancing, food fun and ofcourse crackers ! we used to paint the town red at the stroke of midnight and then come rushing home to view the last of new year special programs. What has changed for me is the parties have gone out of that comfy zone to discs, theme restaurants (I went to a rajasthani village setting this new year with my family) and lounges where there are more strangers than known faces but the fun continues ...
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