Tempest

Tuesday, 2 January 2007

A moment in the middle...

A lot of new years come and pass. The next year blends in very smoothly into our lives and all it signifies for most of us is a good must have party. January 1 is just like any other day, the holidays are over, your routine falls back into place and you live life the same way. But some New Years are different from others. Sometimes you cross a year where you just turned 21, where you just entered a whole new unknown mysterious era of your life. Sometimes you cross a year where a whole lifetime has passed, where so much has happened. Not in terms of just events but in terms of lessons you've learnt and those that have changed you as a person. The coming of 2007 was one such New Year. It was momentous when the clock struck 12. We were standing on London Bridge, the fire works were going off, everything was lighted, the cars were rolling down in slow motion, people were hugging each other and many snaps were being taken and amidst all that a wierd kind of silence and stillness was enveloping me. Time had frozen in no mans land. Thoughts unbidden were coursing my mind, flipping at the speed of lightening, some of the days gone by and some of the days to come and yet it all felt like I am in a place where the force of gravity is considerably small...everything was fast yet wierdly slow, everything was huge yet wierdly minute.

Life had changed drastically. One moment I was living with my parents in Delhi, taking my dogs for a walk, gossiping with friends, complaining that my London applications were taking so long to come through and the next minute I was here on London Bridge wishing a whole bunch of new friends all the happiness in the world. New bonds had been formed, a new routine was being lived in a whole new country, new plans were to be made none of which would touch your previous life directly. It was symbolic, the most hard hitting symbol ever of all things NEW to come. It was scary, exciting, thrilling and petrifying all at the same time.

And along with the realisation of a new dawn was the remembrance and spreading warmth of the all the lessons learnt recently in the past year...understanding the level of faith and belief your parents can have in you to take your word for it and allow you to embark on such a journey, revelling in the strength of love you and your friends have in spite of the distances and the growing differences in life, realising that you can live life alone, make new friends and take adult decisions in the smoothest transition of your life. Realising that there are no ups without downs, there is no happiness without a bit of sadness, that there is no triumph without the bitter taste of loss and failure and that all of this contributes to making you more wholesome.

And then there were major events in 2006. We moved house, our dogs got separated, we graduated from college (that did happen phew!), worked in a 'proper' job for the first time, my first salary got stolen in a blue line (small event but seriously learnt the value of money from this one). I understood for the first time what determination and wanting something is while applying and researching and knowing for the first time with conviction that I 'wanted' something...I wanted to study in England (was the longest event of my life), Last street play in College, winning the first prize in LSR...the excitement in triumphant build up, last lunch with friends, buying my first cell phone, last noodle soup with Neha, digging in a bag of treasures with Neh and Tanu in Nehru Park, Saying bye to Pulkit in South-Ex without words, the joy of planning with mom Joile's expected puppies, not being able to share with her the loss of that precious dream, the silent gratefulness to the greatest parents who have taught me everything I know by letting me go free.

So I barged into the new year,
with a smile and a tear.
its been a jump, a bound, a leap,
and I will my promises keep.
So, heres to living life sincerely
with the aim of
laying down the world at my mom and dads feet,
loving and supporting my friends untill beat,
and a dedicated hope to learning lifes lessons fair
and having the strength to live it the only way I dare.
To be honest, strong, faithful,
to be true to those in my life and to life itself.
To carry forward all that I have learnt
to embrace with open arms the others to come.

Welcome 2007.

Labels: New Year

Posted by Pavitra :: 00:52 :: 5 comments