Celebration !!!

I woke up all dizzy today morning… While my cup of tea was brewing I looked around my house. From the row of colorful balloons tied across my living room to the blue one that was dancing at its own tune, the yellow one that was as lazy as me and a series of four-five balloons who were missing from the middle. Immediately that pulled my attention to the floor to find the red, white, green, blue balloons bursted last night in full enthusiasm… And there it goes… The smile on my face recollecting the great party we had last night… The empty glass, the pen drive attached to my TV and people sleeping all around sound the house ,  fully drowned me to the moment of fun… I was almost lost when I heard that boiling sound from my kitchen and I was wide awake running towards the stove…

If you get to visit my place you will come to know that it’s just so windy in the morning and evening… Well ! to decide the direction of the architecture I leave up to you. But the point was not that... The point is to get over that mild headache I was having for quite a long time, I preferred to sit on the bean bag in my balcony and sip a cup of hot tea than trying some pranayama for a long term relief…

…And right then there was a beep at my mobile wishing me Happy New Year 2016. This led me to build my own memory chain reminding me of making handmade-cards for everyone on New Year during my childhood… The wishes got transferred to the landline phone when I was a teen… Then came the massive world of sms which eventually led to wishing Advanced Happy New Year to avoid network congestion and some extra penny… And then there is now, today ! when I am on my smartphone accepting public wishes on Facebook and personal wishes on WhatsApp… That’s right ! we don’t call each other much now a days. And Oh Yes ! we are running into the fast changing technically challenging world… And eventually this has changed the meaning of festivals and days and time… But Really !!!

The faint memory of New Year back from the time I have, when early morning on 1^st January there was egg boiling on the stove, I was running around the house to find my multi color ball to play. Everyone at home including my grandparents were busy packing all possible raw material to cook. All the entertainment packages were the responsibility of my Uncles and the badminton racket with shuttle was a no miss. Soon I along with my sister (of course with my “the multicolour ball”) was thrown in the Jeep like all necessary stuff and the next minute we were heading for a family picnic. As soon as we reached the spot we both jumped out of the Jeep and started running around as if we wanted to inspect the place before anyone stepped into it. I was always this chubby delicate princess of the house which decreased my time of taking the round of the ground to half as compared to my naughty sister. Every year we used to go to different places but the way it looked to me was always the same… There used to be green grass ground followed by tall trees around… I had to lie down on the ground to see their top… And there was a small stream of water flowing with fishes in it. We were always in search of the water stream trying to catch those fish with bare hands. I hope I do not get sued for this but honestly I was never able to catch any. By the time we got bored of not having a single fish and felt stupid enough as we were trying to fit them in our tiny hands so we ran towards our mom… Kids have this typical tendency of running back to their mom after committing any such act or after finishing any act that can land them in any kind of trouble… I still do that !! So there we go running towards mom where she is preparing lunch for us with lots of talks and laughter around… I still remember that Jaipuri bedsheet we used to carry to spread on the grass…

Memories !!! They are so special and play such a big role in our life, making us feel more human and alive !

So the time passed and going out for full day picnic with family was no more considered safe and fun filled relaxing activity. We now moved to society culture. So again we were preparing for different acts like singing, dancing, acting quite ahead to expose our not so hidden talent on New Year’s eve. Since there was no hassle of cooking so it was everyone’s full participation in the show to make it a memorable night for everyone in the society. Mostly all Dad felt like Raj Kapoor and Mom like Nargis… We kids were either small enough to feel like any star or rather smart enough to be a superstar oneself. 15 seconds before midnight the lights were turned off. The only light was the light of bon-fire. At the backward count from 10 to 1 lights were turned on and we wished Happy New Year to everyone. We hugged each other for a minute and then cake cutting was followed by warm good bye with a smile for everyone. This was my first encounter with the midnight celebration of any occasion.

Yes that’s what I mean… The Culture was changing… we were changing !! Good or Bad is so relative but of course we were technically evolving !!!

And here we are today again in different modes and moods. We go out for DJ nights, Ghazal nights or may be few have their own House Party like ours this time. What has changed is not how we celebrate but the meaning of few simple words, If not in dictionary but in reality. Going Crazy has traveled a long journey from being interpreted as anti-cultured to entertainer. The stupid lyrics is the hit party songs and the one holding some meaning behind are now mostly for heart breaks. The ads designed are targeting emotional quotient of the audience and the product is losing its integrity. The value of time has been distributed in two words quality and quantity. The purpose of dream has taken the shape of monetary benefit and we have become the target of few jargon in life which we ourselves do not understand just like any other scientific term defined in the engineering book.

I still fail to understand and keep it an open question to all of you, Where are we heading to ? If this is what evolving means then why there is a difference on the basis of gender, cast and sexuality ? If this is the time we wanted to gift our children then are we being fair to them ?

Aah! The smile on my face was changing to wrinkles on my forehead and there I stopped… Took a sip from my cup of tea realizing I have given quite enough time for those blowing wind to cool my cup of tea if not me. I can also over hear some talks around being married and its implications from my living room. I think the time has come to get another hot cup of tea, serve few to the highly thoughtful awakened minds inside and participate in the new laughs of the New Year…

Before I join the gang I have some wishes for and from this New Year…

I wish we grow not by age but by thoughts… I wish we act sensible towards society and not only towards family… I wish we take small step daily towards a healthy life than wealthy life… I wish we appreciate others more for their action than their big talks… I wish we become more sensitive towards crime against any living being… I wish we evolve for a happy life with peace of mind… I wish we respect everyone’s individuality and space… I wish we become the change than trying hard to change the world…

God Bless All… A Very Happy New Year 2016…