New Year Mantras

Every year on this day we start with new resolutions trying to bury past — especially the brutal incidents like terrorist attacks or riots or tsunamis or whatever tragic that had run a tremor in our mind questioning our values, meaning of life and death.

Everyday, we try to get to the roots of our survival; every morning, we pray that nothing untoward happens to any of us; every night, we go to sleep after watching gory scenes of murder and rape on the telly; we are so self-centred through the day that we don’t even bother to know where this had happened, when and how; we are so accustomed to inhuman existence in our life that even the death of an old lady next door hardly brings tears to our eyes — we still chase our dream to be richer by the day!

Still we apparently defy all odds and make an effort to join the sea of humanity during the mad office hours — we scarcely care whether a beggar asks for a coin or two; rarely we leave a seat to a 55-year-old man in a crowded bus or train; rather shoving becomes the rule of the day for millions of us. We join the rat race to come top in every exam, to claim the chair of the boss in office, to see an unforeseen successful face on the mirror before going to sleep — but how many of us exactly count the means of emerging victorious?

Confusion is the key word, so is chaos. Yes, the world is more chaotic than ever before… whatever happens nowadays is unprecedented… be it the floods or the avalanches, bomb blasts or terror attacks… the list is endless. The air we breathe is polluted than ever before… the food we eat is contaminated than ever before… the race we compete is tougher than ever before...

Human nature is just the opposite we can think of. The moment we think that we are ruined, an old man on a small boat would remind us that it is not; the moment we think that we are lost forever, one can see a southpaw proving everybody wrong with batting brilliance in the middle. Boy, it’s brave new world everyday. This year, let’s hold our hands together and take the oath to be more courageous, more sensible and more humane.

Happy and prosperous New Year 2009 to all readers of this delirium.

2009 ©Supratim Pal