A New Year(in particular New Years Eve ) always evokes a
festive atmosphere .Now that I have
grown fairly old ,and on hindsight ,I really cannot see a reason why it should be so
.As far as I am concerned ,it signifies the chopping off of another branch from
my tree of life .Though I don’t exactly feel bad about a year gone past –I
don’t overly get excited about a new one .I cant for the life of me see why
people dance ,hop ,drink and eat as if tomorrow would not come .I must admit
however that I was equally wild and Bohemian when I was younger .And I now
wonder why I was so on a particular day .!!I cant forget one New Year eve party
in Defence Colony ,New Delhi ,where after a bout of gallons of drinks the host
(a highly placed executive in Otis ),took us to the Hyatt which had just opened
in Delhi .After eating our food ,I could see him pull out his credit card to
pay .I had never seen a credit card (we did not have credit cards in India then
–nor debit cards those days .I still remember his was a HSBC ONE !!),and
through a foggy mind , blurry eyes and a slurry tongue said (with a giggle !!)
“Pradhan (name changed ),you have given him your visiting card”!!.Visiting
cards were common those days .Pradhan ,because he was so drunk thought that he
had actually given his visiting card .He did not know that I did not know the
difference between a visiting card and a credit card .!!So he started searching
for the credit card !!He was obviously not going to find it since the waiter had taken it .And the waiter took
about 20 minutes to get it back since it used to take a whole lot of written
work to note down the number ,the name ,address,etc .It was not like these days
that one just had to swipe it !!Anyways ,the matter was resolved and I was
educated about what a credit card actually was !!
The way we greeted each other those days was different
.We would receive a lot of cards and occasionally telephone calls wishing “A
Happy New Year” .But you were sure that anyone doing so was at least thinking
about you .For whatever reason .!!And sometimes ,your very near and dear ones
would drop into your residence with a cake or pastries .And with lot of hugs
.!!We would sit around TV and watch Ramu Damodaran with his baritone voice
recount “A year that has gone past”.(Incidentally Ramu did History Hons with me and went on to top the Indian Foreign Service list and is posted in New York !!)And then watch black and white
entertainment programme on DD which dot at 12 midnight would show crackers
and fireworks for a couple of minutes .Everyone would then get up raise their
glasses and clink them saying “Happy New Year”. We would all dance as if we
were accompanying a baaraat –very bhangra style !!-on music played on tapes which sometimes would get mangled .!!Mahesh my cousin would
whistle by putting 2 fingers into his mouth .The fellow never seemed to tire !!
Now its so different .Yesterday I sat down to see how many
sms es I got .I counted them .Till early morning I had counted 869 messages
from my “friends”.Nonsense !Most of them I could not recollect .And leaving
aside 40 or so –none of them probably knew me .Yes –they must have met me
somewhere and we would have exchanged our visiting cards ,which must have been stored in their phone or
sim cards .All they probably must have done
was to have gone on their
“contacts” list ,and then enter “select
all”,or “mark all”,write or copy a typical message “Wishing you and all your
loved ones the very best for 2013.May the year ahead be filled with peace
,prosperity and good health.Have a great day”.After doing that Mr Khurana (name
changed ),must have pressed the function key “send to all”.And hey presto –so
nice of Mr Khurana .He loves you .He sends good wishes .He remembers you
.Imagine he is so sweet –he did not forget u .!!Wow –you are so important for
Mr Khurana .!And you don’t even know who he is .!Big deal –not that Mr Khurana
knows you .You are just on his phone book .Period .
There are however some really interesting messages that do
the rounds in bulk .Here is one sent to me from someone I cant seem to place .
“Tamam Sabuto Or Gwaho Ko Madenazar Rakhte Hue Aaap Ko Dhara 1/1/2013 Ke Tehat
Ek Din Pehle “HAPPY NEW YEAR” Kehte Hue Zindagi
Bhar Khush Rehne Ki Sazaa Di Jati Haih.”My wife got the same message and
my son got the same message –but from
different people .
I never feel good about such bulk message .I love it when
someone sends me a simple message like “Happy New Year Sir”,Or “Happy New Year
Mr Kain”.At least the person knows who he/she is sending mesages to .There are
some people who will never send me messages that are” forwarded”.Just inserting
a “Sir”,or “Mr Kain” makes it evident that the person was at least having you
in mind .!!To those kind of messages ,I go overboard .!!I always reply back to
them by name and always insert a smiley –a heart ,a hug, a wink ,and sometimes
even a kiss .To all the others ,I select them 10 at a time and insert a message
“Thank you very much .Same to you”.And press the “send to all” button .!!
So inspite of getting 869 Happy New Year Messages ,I know
that there were only 40 who actually thought about me .And to those 40 ,I would
want to say “Thank You very much X,C,K,N,N,M,and many
more”.I am privileged to have so many friends who actually wished me well .Lots
of love to you .God bless and Happy New Year.A smile ,a hug ,a heart and a kiss
.!!
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