As the year ends

It always seems silly to me to make such a big thing of the last night of the year...or the first morning of the next one. Yes, I did my rounds of New Year parties when I was younger and less blase, but never saw the point of drinking oneself silly, accepting physical affection from complete strangers and generally making a total ass of oneself, just to show that a year has ended, another begun and one was there to see it all happen. But each to their own, I agree, and so I smile sweetly when required to, laugh, talk, dance and hug when needed and keep the fervent desire to be at home in my own bed and fast asleep at the unearthly hour locked firmly in my own head.

This year, the papers - and presumably the other media - are full of how people feel terrible about celebrating after what happened in Mumbai last month. As far as us Mumbaikars are concerned, I can see full well why, since we are the ones who felt a deep sense of violation when those ten men came into our city and created mayhem. We will almost all of us have lost someone in the attacks, directly, so many times removed or as familiar strangers. And we are all still, collectively as citizens of this wild, weird and wonderful city, angry and outraged and incredibly hurt that this should have been done to us so deliberately, cruelly, evilly. Even as we go on with our lives, we are conscious of that small voice of conscience inside us that wonders whether so many people who lost loved ones are in any condition to enjoy themselves celebrating the sliding of an old year into a new one.

But there is the other school of thought, the one that says any form of joy, of laughter, of anything but tears, will help in the recovery process. For those who mourn, a touch of merrymaking will not come amiss, as a harbinger of better times, perhaps. That does not mean a wild party into the wee hours of another morning, but a quiet get-together of those who matter, meeting to wish, to hope, to maybe even pray that the new year will be a good, happy, healthy and safe one.

That is my wish for everyone I know and don't know: health, happiness and the knowledge that someone, somewhere is watching over you, keeping you safe.