Jottings : Slice of Life - 80 ( On new years eve..)

Jottings : Slice of Life - 80 ( On the morning before new year..)

Another chronological year comes to an end, and almost all of us will rejoice, entertain each other, make new promises and resolutions ( some will reaffirm promises made years ago), renew relationships and start counting 2017 all over again in few hours from now with the firm belief and conviction a fresh, unwritten page in the book of time has opened, and we are free to scrawl our own destinies upon it. Its a beautiful thought. Truly Human and utterly naive!!!

In the year 1752, the English Parliament cut down eleven days of that year to synchronize it with the Gregorian calendar in use all over Europe - September 2nd 1752 was followed by 14th september ( skipping 11 days). There was revolt from the public. They believed eleven days were actually taken away from their lives, and wanted it reinstated at any cost. The revolt failed, and it took some time for them to understand that chronological time and resulting calendars are merely functional human conventions, like meters and miles, and have no bearing on reality whatsoever

We are no different from our English brothers and sisters. We too are inextricably bound by our blinding devotion to years, hours and minutes. A new year means a "brand new" time of our lives. As if the universe decides to unwind itself, at the stroke of 12.00 AM and bloom forth afresh. I wish it were so. Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, the next day begins like any other, without an iota of change - internally or externally - for all of us. At most, we have a blinding headache and stomach disorder, after all the alcohol and food that recklessly went in.

For years now, I have stopped viewing 1st of January as any different from others. Apart from the fact, it takes few days to get used to writing "2017" on documents and letters and bank slips, and not slip into writing 2016 as matter of habit, nothing changes "because" of a new year. This is me, and I dont speak for anybody else. For other, a new year may be "transforming". I dont know, but will wish them good luck.

However, I personally believe it is nice to take stock of ones life each chronological year. After all, It is a nice round number 12 months, 365 days- to account for what you done with yourself. Beginning 2014 , I started keeping an account on how many books on my reading list and personal library did I actually read, how many movies (not commercial blockbusters, but movies with substance) I got around watching, and more importantly how many essays I managed to write. Not that any of these numbers mean anything beyond what they are - just numbers; but I do look forward with a palpitating heart ( hahaha!) to take stock on where those numbers stand. Just for fun.

Well here is the final tally :

Books Read : 21 books of Non fiction and 20 fiction. Hmm. That is about 3 complete books a month besides the enormous amount of undirected reading I do.

Movies Watched : 58 full Movies ( approx. 2.5 hrs in length each). out of which, 8 are movies in Indian languages. Well, I would like improve on that Indian number in 2017.. Hopefully..

Essays written : 96 essays on my blog and posted on facebook in parallel, ranging wide variety of subjects. Each essay, on an average of about 1300 - 1500 words. Also, I did manage to research for a book I am writing and wrote four chapters of it. I also see I have accumulated about 80 full length pages of analysis and findings.

Those numbers dont look bad at all, considering all this was done in between an intense software-techie's life I lead. When I sit back and think how all this was possible, I understand the reason pretty quickly. On an average, I wake up between 4 - 5 AM most days and regularly go to bed only around one in the night ( including weekends, holidays and festivals) with a brief siesta of about 30- 45 minutes on some days. Therefore, with only four to five hours of deep, relaxing and absorbed sleep most of the year, I do have quite a bit of time to do what I want to do.

Well, as a parting note for this year , I do wish all my friends, family and readers from all parts of the globe a wonderful, joyful and fulfilling chronological 2017. Hopefully, you will make the most of every infinitesimal moment of time packed into this year, and enjoy whatever you are doing.

God bless...

yours in mortality,

Bala