Valued Values . . !

So, this is gonna be a busy day - expected to be TOO busy! Hence, Waking up "early" morning, as early as 06.45 IST with the help of thrice - snoozed alarm is the first thing to happen in the morning! Getting ready and gearing up for the day, is in need a big BIG thing! Thanks to the one year of familiarity at the current habitat, few commuting helpers are really, very familiar!

This guy Sharath kumar is one of the very rarely found autowalas (you will know why, read on) and I with a couple of my colleagues would prefer to travel in this auto for the next 9 KM ! Sharath who should be probably in his late 30's or even early 40's, is supposed to be a very ardent fan of M.G.Ramachandran, for, whenever, I get into this auto, I find MGR smiling amidst a bunch of flowers - fresh flowers! One can never hear - "it is twenty five rupees since this morning madam" "yakka enna meedhi kekkura"(why do you ask for change?) "This is the regular charge that everyone gets" "Have you ever traveled in an auto?" and all those phrases which is quite commonly attributed to the contemporary auto walas. Hold on, the rest is yet to come! The auto will only have 3 + 3 + 2 + 1 seating arrangement (excluding the poor driver) while you can easily spot all the other autos with 4 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 1(on the door as well) - to put it simple, over loaded! Fine,this is something that makes me to travel in this auto! Okay, things do not end there as such! Since I am a musical mammal, one can never find me without my ear plugs listening to music of my taste (Oldies real oldies and classics) during my travel in a vehicle (don't get me wrong, I don't wear a head phone while crossing road or self driving). And, if I am in this auto, I shall not be spotted with an ear phones plugged to my auditory canal via my auricles, that is because of the melodious music that fills my auditory canal and touches my ear drums so soothingly that you never feel tired of travelling! 

OK coming back to today's happening, I was in a hurry to go to office (stop saying "as usual", was in a real hurry by 8.00 am as such) and as this guy saw me standing all alone, he halted. Since only guys were occupying 3+3+1(1 empty), Despite me telling I shall take the next auto. the guy sitting in the front was now asked to occupy the back doors with all the other guys so that, I sat in the chairs and all pride :-) !

To my surprise, I heard some shrilling voices on the tape, singing something too damn spiritual. Enjoying the innocence in the voice and divinity in the lyrics, ( I had to fight over, to resist myself from asking what album it is) I started the journey. Half way to office, the auto was almost empty, left with only a couple of passengers. With so much of hesitation, this driver asked me, “madam, is it any holiday today? I usually will have my second trip by now, but even first trip is not loaded as well”. I was equally amused as he spoke in a shattered voice. I responded that there was no such “holiday” declared (I wish it was). With another cinch of hesitation, “madam, I am an illiterate. I drive this auto for my livelihood. I do not want more money and more crowds. Can I ask you one thing?” When I was taken aback and confused with the coherence and cohesion of his statements, he continued, “Can you tell me, how I listen to music without changing the CD in my auto? Every time I had to change the CD." He showed me some CDs, Man, they are rare collections he had bought, A kids album on GOD, selected songs of KJY, SPB, P Suseela, TMS, and so on and so forth. When I was examining the bunch of CDs, he continued  "I want have some of my favorite songs, can I record them in one CD but people say so much cannot be there in one CD. Also, all these albums are bought. If I freely buy from the internet, I am not doing justice to the singers who had been pleasing me and soothing me endlessly with their hard works. They will not have money to survive la madam! Can you help me please?"  "I do not know anything “proper” about music. Nevertheless, I like to enjoy music and start my day with music. I am asking my girl baby to learn music too. If you know someone who can teach good music to my girl, please tell me, madam. For, Music heals. Music alone heals neither time nor people”

I was spell bound and left wordless. When we are too bloody proud of cloud computing, DNA chips, Ethernet and all that, there are people who still worry for the different level of people in the society. While getting down, I paid the exact change for the travel, while my heart realized, I learnt something more, priceless, valued, more than the twenty bucks! I understood, every value has a value only when its real value is valued by valuable people! 

“Music heals. Music alone heals. Neither time nor People . . . !

I am not doing justice to the people who had been soothing me endlessly with their hard work . . ! ”

Soul Mate - In pursuit of unvealing an enigma #1

All of us, have come across, this word - SOUL MATE - quite often. Kith, kin, friend, foe, lover, husband, wife, fiancée, Ex -, room mate, bench mate, project mate, class mate even glass mate , all these words have been very well around the doors for long. But, this "soul mate", is some thing new, a fantasy, or what ever damn you name it! 

Driven by curiosity of knowing what is this all about, I had to 'interview' certain people, talk to some more, read a bit more than that and then, here I go, now, writing to you all MY opinion! 

Many people come in your life. Many touch your life so softly and firmly that you can never forget them for life time. Your soul shall even feel odd and bad for having met yet another few bunch of people, as well. Right, in all these categories, where does the soul mate fall in . . ?

My first fascination is, O Henry's "The Gift of Magi" Oh My God, What a flawless, fantabulous piece of writing! I did fall hard for the characters - both of them Della and Jim ! That was an enthralling divine love they shared - priceless - just a dollar and eight cents can not reduce their love by a bit! So, to me here, Della and Jim are soul mates! 

Right, here is another classic - which is supposed to be a adventurous fiction, but i managed to admire the love of Sir Percy Blackeney for his wife, Lady Blackeney and the affection of St.Just sibblings! Yes, it is  Baroness Emma Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel where love is portrayed during a war field! 

Fine, here is one another inspirational fantasy for me - all of you will know this heart stealer - Krishna - the Krishna Sudhama Pair and Meera Krishna pair from Hindu Epic - that simply just simply leave me wordless! The pride when Sudhama has upon seeing his friend as a king, the enduring love Meera has for Krishna - I fall short of words to write! Yeah, Krishna is supposed to be a very lucky guy, I say ! Because, I am damn sure, He is a very best buddy for very many of you reading this and also honestly, a good friend to the one who writes this as well! :-) 

I was indeed captivated more by the idea of this Krishna Sudhama pair whose vibes match more perfect. So, that makes, the soul mate concept more broad - broader - to encompass a different spectrum of relations - no umbrage conjured up !  The unexplained connection between two souls that have been inextricably entwined by love, brings in the concept of soul mate! Many psychologist, scientists and laureates have disproved this concept, contemporarily. But, I believe, a soul mate need not be only your life partner!

A soul mate is need not necessarily be one with whom you share an erotic love, a romantic cliché. But, an eternal care, a divine bliss, a platonic affair also holds too good to be a soul mate. The vibes must match, the soul is beautified when you are with your soul mate.  You might not know anything, I mean, NOTHING - literally nothing, about who they are, what they are, but at the very first sight, you will definitely bemused and transfixed , yes, at the very first sight! You sit at their feet! You will recognize each other the moment your eyes meet! You will find, your soul being so very compatible with them. 

Soul mates can flow in, from all areas of your life - friends, parents, kins, kiths, mentors or whoever.It is just a matter of a heart beat, a silent twinkle, an internal quiver, that makes you realise that you have shared a bond for ages! You make silent promises - to see the beauty of the soul even if the body bends and the faces wrinkle - to shoulder the feelings of the other during any catastrophe - to take on all of the other person's ; love, fear, friendship, temper anything and everything - will make the person a priority coz the rarity of love is understood well - Yes, so much of silent promises in the list. Shall add on some more in the due course!

Though I am not concluding right now, I would let you to think more about this soul mate ! Go deep within, find out with whom you share an unconditional love, find out without whose mere thoughts and presence , your existence is made tough! It might be your mother as well, for, every relation that you make on earth, the one with your mother is 9 months more! It might be your father, your brother, your spouse or who ever ! 

. . . To be continued . . .

How does it seem to be away from parents? #2

It is definitely okay, for all these informal things at the office, there is also a place where you dwell in, your room! A solitary reaper is just enthralling, awesome or what ever. You are on your OWN! Yes, on your own, mathlab, you are responsible for getting up late as well! And this room of yours, is going to be a igloo kind of thing for you, you go and crash out, but for the laptop and the portable airtel modem, you stay awake! There is logic in this rooming, you know, cupboards are meant for stacking up clothes whilst the floor is meant for spreading the books. Any body, any damn human, who enters the holy room, all of a sudden, shall only feel, that A Tsunami had hit your place alone ! ! ! That is simply because; your quilt being surrounded by books of hell a lot of genres, which never go with each other – A romance, A classic, A revolution, a History, A poem, A fiction, A novel and an epic as well - all these in different languages that you can comprehend!

On week days, all you know is, 7 o clock is the early morning, after the ten time – snoozed alarm is put off and all you know is to rush, rush, rush to the work place as soon as possible. You will be breaking the fast, at office, buddy! Your parents will realize that they are missing you, only in the morning when you are impetuous in getting ready to office, that they dial you up, and for every unanswered calls from them, you know for sure, that you are to have a BIG very big lecture. But, heart of heart, You will really feel bad for missing their call then, and would make a resolution, that you shall get up a little early, from the next day! Now, forget the resolution after it is made!

And, here is the ultimate thing! Only Indian mothers can do! When u r away from home n ur battery died while answering ur moms call, she will dial up all your friends to ensure you are alive!  When u r about to get ready to office in time, she will Flood ur ears with so much of "come soon " "don't be late" and all those free advices, that you actually land up getting late!!  When she visits u, she will get all groceries, toothbrush, paste, water bottle, juice, biscuits as if Chennai is a damn remote deserted uninhabited place where you don't find any of these!!  And, u , being the craziest creature on earth will never resist freaking out her baggage to find all these, take out them and smile slyly, then come out of home n write a status/ tweet a say/ post a blog - coz u are a daughter!

Nights generally mean 01:00 am or even late than that and till then, movies, writing and all those high energy needed unwanted works you do! Strange fact is that, the next day, at the office, you are stamped as hyper active and a person with a contagious energy level! If all these happen on week days, During week ends, you know nothing but sleep, sleep and sleep – rest till you rust and then, cleaning the room to make it unclean in the forth coming week!

The only heart throbbing moment would be when your tongue badly pleads for a tasty food; you are to check up with the neighbors or the friends for a good food outlet because the upset stomachs are just round the corners! Sometimes, the festive and special tagged foodies are what you will badly – very badly miss! So, the flash backs and a throwback sessions would help in for a nostalgia and then, you have to act normal, without having any vices!


Some festival seasons, where your presence might be inevitable, but you ought to witness only the photographs and the updates a.k.a running commentaries from your cousins and those local folks around.  Thanks to the skype, face books and the mobile phones, your loved ones are just a call/ sms/ a post away ; though it can not give the warmth of a mom's hug, the fervency of a dad's kiss and the intimacy of your sibling's words!

To wrap up, Life has to go on! The joy of being Self dependant is blissful at the same time, the lacuna felt by the heart for not having your family around, is hurting! But, the learning is, Life has to be balanced! 

So this is how it is, to be away from home !

Cheers !

How does it seem to be away from parents? #1

Yeah, I know, you have read it perfectly right ! It is almost an year plus a month of managing the show independently self dependant - Hell with your memories that recall my mother's visit to my 'room' a.k.a. home!!!

A 'baby girl' with all guts and courage put away from home, listen to the heart speaking, sharing and of course, some times, bleeding :-) 

The day can never start so awesome, if it is not a yell call from ur dad for sleeping so long, literally, till 8 ish and here, please beware, you have to punch in, officially by 9.15 am. Staying single, is a blessing, coz, you got nothing to do, yeah, wake up, refresh, wash yourself clean, grab the box that your mess aunty had kept at your door step and rush to office! The hair dries on the way from room to office, so never mind! Any how, you are under cover, with scarfs and all that, so no body gonna see how beautiful your face is! Of course, after a short refreshing session - the face washes, hair trims and all that, you can have breakfast at your cabin! Again, please beware, you must finish getting ready, before your reporting authority or any body else, comes in.

It is indeed irritating to commute amidst the high traffics and the roads are blocked for every damn reason, metro constructions, one ways, school zones, road works and every damn ! It is as if the "sorry, work in progress" board is more like a magical fairy, or something that can conjure the people to take diversion, making a fifteen minutes travel - extend up ten times more ! When you keep wondering what is so crippling about the Chennai roads being flooded with vehicles of all possible models, you are now allowed to take on call on which to chose for your commuting! A share auto, A white board bus, A green/blue board bus. a Deluxe floor bus or a volvo A.C. And now, all these commuting rathas will be fully loaded :-) The greatest challenge lies in clinging on to the foot board atleast, in the bus or the Back doors of those share autos or the conductor seats in volvos :-) Every signal shows a red alarm, whenever you are about to pass by, and having struggled all the way from your home to office after solving those " tender exact change please", "it is twenty five since this morning" , "Extra twenty upon meter madam", "Go inside -------(sorry censored senthamizh of singara Chennai) you rush and reach the work place, ek dham solid !

Names, boss, manager and all those corp tags became so familiar now that madam, sir, akka, blah blah sounds Greek and Latin. Never mind of the age, for there is a Chinese proverb that says, all are equal in age ! Yes, you might as well experience your heart popping out our your mouth, when you find that client with whom you had been conversing, is seriously older elder or big or what ever than your father and you had been addressing him just with his name! There are few new comers with you, there, the theorem works out fantastically, strangers put in new place together at the same time, tends to be thick friends! The intensity of the thickness depends on the languages commonly known! Yea, so the friend making story gets little better here!

Thanks to the Cafe Coffee day's replica, the brewing machine, and those holy pious white bags with tea dust, you remain energetic through out ! Now, its mandetory for you to be aware of,  the vending machine operator looks u as an alien only when you ask a third glass of milk for the day, but smiles fleetingly for every cup of hot water once in an hour too !

Fine, when you realise that our small intestine is about to be devoured by the large intestines, you ought to definitely rush to the cafeteria and find those limited subsided meals, in those big plates, without any choices left, you are supposed to fill in the growling tummy! Else, it is a catastrophe; for, the confectioners right in front of your gate, shall know nothing but placing one cucumber slice, semi chopped tomato, scoop of cheese and sprinkled salt in between two king sized bread pieces and name it - Sandwich! A point to add, this costs really 20 minutes of your precious precious time, 40 bucks from your wallet and if some of your colleague catch up on the way spotting you with the cover, then you are their side dish ! 

 . . . TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Rains Beautified . . !

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. ~Langston Hughes"

How good will you feel, to hear the drops on an old pan! The heavenly gift splashing upon the windowpanes; you find your soul intertwined to those drops, dripping from the roof! The refreshing feel that the rain bestows, makes you feel resuscitated! The drops hit you, bathing in the morning light, sprinkling it upon your lips, letting it to be tasted by the taste buds. The smell of the rain when it's about to fall, will be a ravishing feast to the nasal cells, the pavements developing spots – strangely, very strangely all of a sudden, those melodious thunders, dazzling lightning and all that !

It would be more euphoric if the rain is experienced, in a place where the mother earth is covered with greens, and mountains filling your aqueous humor, the cleansed plants and kingly animals roaming in the fields, shrugging their shoulders and You are left to dance – dance happily – dance to your hearts’ content – unquestioned – That’s beautifying rain!

It would be even more an ecstatic feel, if the putter patter on the roof which is so cozy, is listened, sitting in a closed cubical, seeing the rain drops speckled upon the glass windows, a lot of life like stuff – working on something that interests you! But heart of heart, longing to make love with those heavenly drops, realizing that it is not possible at that instant! Beep – Beep – Beep – that is a message from your loved one, telling that you are being missed by your loved one !

What more ? ? Rainy day is Beautified ! ! !

Whenever it rains you will think of her. ” ― Neil Gaiman

PERIOD

Un fame the Fame !

If you term me as creative, then I understand, I am definitely stamped as Crazy! Creativity is a wild - wilder form of craziness which when practised with lots of dedication, takes you to fly up in the sky! But, almost - not all creators are famous - almost not all famous ones are creators, as well! 

I never had a dream of writing! Yep, you read it perfectly right! I never thought of writing so much! Forget about the ‘professional’ touches, if at all they were there, I never imagined myself to have articulated things better! Never, never ever, I swear! But, now, this writing has become a passion to me! I jolly well spend time happily in writing things that happen in my imaginary world, in writing things that I wish had happened to me in reality! Some other times, I capture the pulse of any incidents that occur around me, to quote the importance or whatever you say!

I am kind of a practical person, in reality, focusing more on the nuts and bolts but I could never stop myself imagining or to put it right, creating a world where it is only me and MY fictitious characters live in.

Well, of recent, I happen to hear of questions from my 'Friends'' circle, "Gaanz, how famous are you in your passionate field? How famous are you in your professional field?" (For those who do not know, I just love myself for being a biotechnologist.) In both the arenas, I create! I try creating solutions for existing problems or create a world that can cajole me up, without harming me, nonetheless! At my professional front, I sit and meddle with the genes, genomes, cells and tissues and bring out something 'deducible' or 'understandable' At times, cranky too! At my passion front, I am THE queen! I am the subject! I am the mother of MY people whom I create, virtually! I am the kid of those too, at times! A crazy imaginations as well!

To me, writing, is like building a palace; which has soulful concern in placing each and every brick of it! Writing brings a possibility of penning down what your mind feels! Writing brings alive, an arena of probability – the probability of creating people / incident and making others witness YOUR CREATION! You can feel your dopamines highly active in bringing the pituitary to the vitreous humor through the paper! That divinity, that high degree of extraversion, even higher levers of energy to have openness to explore and experience, shall never be a know – how, if I had focused on ‘fame’!

As JK says, "We want to be famous as a writer, as a poet, as a painter, as a politician, as a singer, or what you will. Why because we really don’t love what we are doing. If you loved to sing, or to paint, or to write poems — if you really loved it — you would not be concerned with whether you are famous or not…"

Yes, when you do what you love to, you would never want to be famous in it! If you want to be famous, then you do not love what you do! Simple, blunt and straight forward! Admiring what you do, falling hard for what you do, is simply the best attribute – the best attitude that one can have! Just practice being visceral in doing your work, that’s just the source of bliss. Learn to be driven by the curiosity, enamoured of the jouissance ! Forget about the pride that you have, never mind, u need not face lime light at the same time, if you really love what you do, you will never be incognito!

Going incognito . . .

Don't you think they deserve?

Commuting has become far cry now a days. And on 'special' days, the 'festive' seasons, its become a practice for all of us, yes, every one of us, to travel to our own destinations - posting statuses like, "here I come, my home town", "family get together " (when it's together ly, man, u call 'it' a 'family'), and all those fancy sayings which simply indicate that we are bunking the offices, we are taking bonus leaves, we are going to 'enjoy' a long weekend, we are going to have fun with child hood friends, we are to be 'pampered' by our 'family'! Hopefully, you are not, yes, the one reading this piece, you, are not going to deny that, most of the 'working' people, do have all the above mentioned souls and lives in their lifetime! 

Now, working does not only imply, sitting in a cubical, breaking ur head with the 21 inch light emitting diode screens, exciting your neurons to the 'meta stable' state! 

Working does not only mean, sitting erect in a closed air chamber as a fully packed person, inhaling, only 'sterile' air, stuffing up the tissues in a flask, letting it to proliferate and then intoxicating them!

Working does not only sum up those numerics, tallying all the strokes and curves, mathematically, trying to balance things despite ur unbalanced state! 

Working also describes those men and women in browns, with lion roaring in their caps and stars in their chest, whose brain tissues never get into a synaptic cleft when their ears are filled with 'festivals' and holidays! 

Working is also used as a verbal language to explicitly explain the toils of those two legs stamping the mud, and those two hands harvesting a full feed for other's tummies but starving themselves to death!

When you are tired of 'working' sitting in a fully airconditioned cabin and want to sleep, aaram se during ur trip to see ur beloved ones, there are these two lives, who has to stay awake to ensure that you are safe during your sleep after 'hectic' work! And, trust me, these people are also 'working'. 

Last, but not the least, there are also people 'working' for you to 'work' casually! They are armed men, but their families go unarmed if they kick their buckets! Yes, the army, navy and the airforce people! Yeah, the previously mentioned 'working' people are the cops, the food giving gods and the driver-conductors!

As you walk around any bus stations today and for the coming days, for that matter, you will find, for sure, some of these people 'working' for you, 'working' for me, 'working' for all of us! Do they know you? No! But, they take good care for you to cross the road safely. They make sure that tiredness doesn't hit them hard to crash out while driving. They ensure that you enjoy your 'festival' with your beloved ones. They never mind of their hungers but feed u!

So, what are you going to do about this? When someone is away from their cherished circle, for u and me, when someone is being missed badly, very badly, by their 'family' members, you and me are busy tweeting, updating, worrying about Shankar I, asking for i Phone, I pad, I gold and all I! 

Halt a while, give a smile, say "festival wishes" and proceed! Do not waste food, for heaven's sake! If possible share a piece of sweet or a get 'em a cup of juice! Appreciate their work - show some gratitude! No medals required - just a ' thanks' is sufficient! 

Don't you think they ‪#‎deserve it!? I Do! For, I am a Human being and en route being human! 

‪#‎Festivals ‪#‎wishes

For, we are, JGHV – REFRESHED!

When life goes on in digging up some precious possessions called the memories, it is up to you to take a call on what memories to be taken and what not to be! I used to sit down in my room, which ever I dwell in, and have a look at the eidetic memories that few folks have given, the memories smelling too fresh despite the decades that has gone by! This eidetic memory of mine will always keep my dwelling place beautiful with the familiar scent of warmth, a feel of living with favorable past and what not !

Out of the blue it was joyous to see and to hear from people who filled most part of your child hood days – your school time. I did hear from an umpteen number of people! It was more like music to me, when few of my best buddies dialed up, pinged me on and off! Thanks to those groups of whatsapp and the community of the face book!

When I was led to believe that school time reunions were really a BIG deal, Janani made it happen! To me, then, it was only meant to rub in how enjoyable I would be, to those big ugly bore faces of those I hated during my school days. Reunions, to me, then, were meant to know how your benchmate, project mate or home work group mate would be! In any case, to me, personally, then – I do personalize a PAST thought – School reunions were just the impossible ones and that too after decade – has the Zero Certainty to occur on earth!

But, Janani, awesome admin she was, to kick start an event, ketchup a clan that dwelled together, a decade ago – literally! So the wheel started rolling, a couple of weeks ago with the puna:Milan and ethiad, grouping guys and gurls, the weekend activities and group challenges and all that! To put it simple, it was just excitement in air! Excitement of meeting best buddies, those childhood crushes, those unknown smarties ;) friends, foes turned friends, friends turned foes . . . ! Excitement to see, was the friendship still clinging on . . ! Was it just a puppy love or a crush . . ! Were all of us well settled . . ! With so much of questions lingering in the mind, all of us started ‘registering’ ourselves for the Grand Day!

Thanks to those initial eyes breaking contests in the group, we knew everyone. Sure, we weren’t all buddy buddy but for me, I liked everyone.  Everybody appeared to be really great to me. I decided this get-together was going to be exceptionally a good time for me in light of the fact that I will get to see these individuals once more. Some of them I haven't seen since graduation. Some of them I simply didn't generally stay aware of.

Lemme confess, the ketchupped clan was simply lovely. Almost all of us recognized each other. I was lil afraid too, that there might be MANY names and faces that I would just not recognize at all. But that never happened except for two folks for they came in after I left the school! Seeing so many grownups(!) was really great! Err, I should again confess, I was, a teen ager again! So, were all of us! Hype in air, an ecstatic feel, A great going thought, those photo sessions, Self intro sessions (though I missed it, should have been definitely awesome!)

Those who attended could have made excuses. We could have put it off. Some of us waffled – we all have projects going and could we afford to take the time off? But yes, we all did! We all also remembered, reminded of those who missed to join the party. And the high school clicks were really forgotten at this great grand reunion; all those silly and petty reasons stated for hating the others were pushed ASIDE – the other side. The Egos were let go off! For we are GROWN UPS now, Adults and yep we finally mature! Though I never thought I would be dreading it, I also never thought, honestly, that I would be cherishing it as well! It was for experience and that experience will be cherished ever in the days to come! Every one of us was really happy to see each other and all of us had a blast, just taking a nostalgic ride down the memory lane. And now, for one day, it was a HIGH SCHOOL DAY again!

And for the first time in a while, all our shoulders were relaxed, and that was at the end of the day, because those shoulders were really tensed – tensed up from having been braced for so long before. A breath was let out – A breath that none realized of holding so long, a sigh of joy and a sigh of relief that came after having met all those best buddy buddy friend!

For days to come, we shall have, a grand time, for, now, we knew where people are, how to link up and organize better. I am again confident that we shall join hands to make this society enhanced! For, we are, JGHV – REFRESHED!

Let us start - A fresh one !

Dear 2015,

You’re another year in my timeline, but a very special one. This year, I celebrate a quarter-century of my “successful” existence on Earth, so I’m rolling out the red carpet just for you. I’m truly glad you’re finally here—I’ve been waiting for you!

You’re the year of my school reunion, a get-together of friends who shared so many joys a decade ago. It’s incredible to think how quickly time has passed since high school, and now we’re all reuniting in 2015.

I’m counting on you to bring success and recognition to my cherished people in their professional lives—and that includes me, too! I’m also looking forward to a new twist in my own career, where I hope to continue thriving alongside my beloved science.

You’ll help my “little boy” become a great doctor, and I’m incredibly excited about that. He brings so much joy and beauty into my life. He’s more than a brother—he’s my kid, my kutty payyan, my father, my mother…my everything. He’s one of those rare gems who can fill any role in my life.

You’ve made quite an entrance, and I’ll never forget it. I can’t wait to see the bliss and joy you bring to all of us. At the same time, though, there are worries. Each time a new year arrives, people (myself included) get overhyped, forgetting that life largely stays the same; it’s only the calendar that changes. We’ve made so many plans—often piling our burdens on you—so please help lighten them, especially the worries. We don’t want to spend all year drowning you in tears.

I have a few more requests, dear 2015. Could you help us balance our emotions, maybe nudge us to forgive and forget when others wrong us? Could you intervene in our wonderfully complex brains so we remember only the good and let go of the bad?

I know it’s a lot to ask. Yet every new year, people carry resolutions and the hope of becoming better versions of themselves. Here’s my biggest wish: when you’re ready to leave, I hope we can all say, “Dear 2015, you were such a darling—thank you for being so good and lovely!” If most of us feel that way, then you will truly be the best.

Fingers crossed for your miracles.

With love,
Riya