Welcome 2014

Wish you a very happy new year once again. It is remarkable how fast time is flying. The last time I remember a year lasted a year was in 2006. This was when I graduated from University and started working and after that wishing New Year seems like a weekly thing. 
So 2013 - in a way for the World a less tumultuous year than the one's preceding it - uprisings of 2011, 2012; World Cups of 2010, 2011; Coming to power of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012; financial crisis of 2008, 2009 and beyond - but still full of its own excitements at least for India and me. 

The rise of the AAP was a phenomenon unlike any India has seen in the last few decades. Yes there was the government of JD which dethroned Congress briefly, yes there was the laughable musical chair of Prime Ministers in 1997-1998, yes there was the rise of Kalam to the Presidency of India but a mass revolution coming from the very grassroots of India without a drop of blood being shed has to be more remarkable than any of the above events in the history of Indian politics or India for that matter. 

For me personally it was a refreshing year. I moved into a new job, moved to a new country and got married. Traveled to new countries - Australia and New Zealand and came this close to going to Korea and Thailand but that is for another year I suppose. All in all a good year. Of course there were missed opportunities; things I could have done better, different; friends I could have kept, people I could have spent more time with but fortunately not all is lost and nothing that was missed in 2013 is forever – so thank god for that. A gentle reminder though that this might not always be the case. 

Getting married was by far the most exciting thing this year. And to be very honest in spite of my dislike for the Indian wedding traditions and the fanfare I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my wedding. I went to my native town after 7 years and met people I had not seen in decades. It almost felt like homecoming after living like a nomad for the last 7 years. The jet-setting around the World and the exposure to so many new cultures, countries and people had somewhere forced my “can be taken for granted” roots into a backseat. Meeting my family made me feel alive again. People have  changed – kid brothers and sisters have grown up, uncles and aunts have gotten that wee bit grey in their hair, some are no longer around but still in their company something felt eternally standstill. Memories of my childhood have been preserved in the common space that spans their and my mind – and soul. It is worthwhile mentioning that a core part of my family (with my great-grandfather as the patriarch) has lived in the same city for over 100 years and in the same house(s) for about 7 decades so there is a lot lingering between those walls. There are many secret hideouts that we frequented as kids and that have remained intact in the intervening years. All this only magnifies the emotion of separation and homecoming – something in those house(s) waits for me – unchanged. 
So what does 2014 has in store for us – quite a bit I suspect. Not everything that we expect but nonetheless new and exciting propositions God or someone has in store for us. The problem with having lived for close to 3 decades is that one cannot be sweet-talked into believing that all will be rosy and so it won’t be in 2014 but whatever it will be will present a chance to us to be humble in success, courageous in failures, enduring in tragedies, grateful in blessings, inspired by the winners, compassionate to losers, a little more kind, a little more helpful, a little more ambitious, a little more relaxed and above all a little more human. 

Best wishes!