If I could Fast Forward

As we bid adieu to 2008 and wait for the dawn of 2009, I wonder what all this fuss about New Year is. It is after all the end of a month and the beginning of a new month; it is not as if everyone is going to wake up as a different person on the 1st of Jan 2009. Anyway sometimes we just have flow with the tide and accept a few certain things and one of those being reflecting on the past year.

2008 must surely be one of the most eventful years in Indian History. On one hand, we tasted joy with moments such as India claiming its first gold in Olympics whilst we were also left downtrodden and hapless by the terror attacks and financial crisis.

To, firstly reflect on the moments which filled us with joy upto the brim and every time I mention that there is only thing that comes to my mind. That is, finally, hearing the national anthem during the presentation of a gold medal at the Olympics. Yes, it was a huge victory for Abhinav Bindra, but a bigger one for India for it would never remain ‘that large country’ that has never won a gold medal. I would spoil myself for the moment and indulge in wishful thinking and hope that India triples its gold medal tally in the London Olympics. The other high point for India in the last year has been the performance of the Indian Cricket team. Cricket is a religion in our country and finally ‘the gods’ playing the game heard the prayers of our fans and gave us something to cheer about.

From a political point of view, the high point is surely the signing of the Nuclear Deal with the U.S. The deal might as well go a long way in deciding the course that India takes on the path to being a developed nation, over the next decade or so.

The later part of the year had been marred by the cowardly and daft terror attacks and the financial downturn. Going by the terror attacks in the last year or so, it appears as if there is no end to this atrociousness. The terrorist are truly ‘The Joker’ in the real world, they just want to watch the world burn. The less said about the financial crisis, the better . Much has been documented about it over the last couple of months and information on that front wouldn’t surely run in the shortage mode anytime soon.
For me personally though, I had the opportunity to celebrate Manchester United’s success on the field, I had the pleasure of watching Dark Knight , one of my favourites, again and again, I passed out from the IIT, rather reluctantly though, as the years spent there would always be my best. I was blessed with two glorious new friendships in the last year and indeed how I treasure those and how much they mean to me. Other than that, 2008 has been a year of utter wastefulness, in terms of time, and a pathetically slow year. A snail could have beaten the hell of it. Only if I could fast forward.