Window Seat: Happy New Year

Prameyanews English

Published By : Prameya News Bureau | January 01, 2022 IST

Happy New Year The new year arrives amidst growing cases of Omicron, growing hostility among countries and worsening effects of climate change. However, mankind has a potent tool to fight against all despair: HOPE. Cling to it. We have overcome many crises in the past. We’ll also overcome the crises facing us now. I am a habitual optimist. I believe we can and shall live in peace. May the new year usher in that state of being. Past, Present and Future On 2022 I’ll be 62 and Independent India will celebrate its 75th year.  I was ruminating over this, suddenly a realization dawned. It’s the ‘aha’ moment that poets, thinkers, innovators and lunatics cherish. My God I was born in a country  which got independence just thirteen years prior to my birth.  Only 13. On  1961 when  I was born, on 1976 when I completed my Matriculation,  1947 seemed  so distant past. But now it does not seem as so distant a past. I realized as we grow old, past comes nearer. Its like something written on the rear view mirror of car:  the object that you see may be nearer to you. So the past which seemed very distant at some time comes closer and that is  probably why we get more connected to the past as we grow old. Past becomes dearer. Past becomes what we want to hold on to. However, as we grow old we also  look at future: what the future will hold  for  us what the future will be like. Somehow the present does not really matter. What concerns us is the future. So we are in a state between past and future in which we  tend to forget  where we are presently positioned. We look at future with hope also with some kind of trepidation and anxiety, and in the present situation probably fear. The seemingly never ending pandemic scare us. The climate change scares us. The way families are disintegrating scare us. The way the world is moving towards hyper nationalism scare us. And that brings us to another very interesting aspect. Modernity was defined by the supremacy of reason over faith. However, we see technology growing at a rocket speed many of us have turned to blind faith. Technology is being used to propagate faith. That is one big paradox  of modernity of present times. As 2022 arrives I am thinking of the past, the future, sitting at the present. Tailpiece Last night I went to a wedding without an invitation. The bride side asked me : "From whose side you are from?" Almost simultaneously the Groom's side also asked : "From whose side you are ?? Gathering my wits about me, I simply started counting the persons around me & said calmly, "I have been sent by the police station to count the number of people who are in attendance here for the wedding." Soon thereafter.... I got a special chair and treatment. At the end of the day, on leaving I also got a wallet of ₹ 11,000 /-. I'm going to be attending a lot of such functions hereon. (Courtesy: Social Media) About the Author: Journalist turned media academician Mrinal Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He also writes fiction and plays. He can be reached at [email protected]

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