The month of Janus enters into its third week today. During these first few days of the New Year, I have survived approximately one bad haircut, suffered two minor headaches, uttered three profanities, and gathered up enough courage to endure four baths, which is not bad at all, considering that I'm still on holiday mode, and I have no obligations and commitments to anyone or anything whatsoever for the next three weeks or so, after which I can formally look forward to the familiar stress and strain that will make up the rest of the year, or of life in general, until the next hard earned vacation, which is not to say or mean that life is bad, but it certainly hasn't gotten any worse yet, and so I can sit back, put my feet on the table, and ponder over what life has in store for me over the coming weeks and days and months of this year.
Life in Manipur is mostly a series of disagreeable events, and this year will most surely have those of us with less thicker skin seething at some point in time over seemingly inane incendiaries like roads, telephones, electricity, gas, money, jobs, life spans, and other local rarities which we would have normally had in abundance, but for our unfortunate status as masters of decline, which is actually a most peculiar state of being - a state for which every step forward, there are the inevitable step backs and setbacks and turnarounds, which are fast becoming the bad habit which no amount of resolutions and memorandums can realistically hope to undo.
This year will also see multiple situations that will interfere with our having a decent life and pleasant experience, and almost all those situations will have their roots in bad policies and politics, whose seeds were sown much before this year, or the last, or even the year before that. I do not look forward to those situations or issues, because they further re-affirm my conviction that every human being in this state is entitled to live in fear, uncertainty, and discomfort in some form or the other without ever learning or realizing that there is no compulsion, either in law or ethics, that forces them to accept humiliation, doom, and despair. Normally, we fall into the age of change right around this time of the year, but we will probably be no more motivated, no more optimistic, profess no new wellness regime or make any promises to ourselves to change anything that we did the previous year.
Janus was the Roman God who gave his name to the month of January. Janus presided over openings, beginnings and doorways. The god with a double face, one turned towards the past and the other facing the future, Janus was often depicted with two faces because he could look backward and forward at the same time. We can, during this period, assess the last year, learn from our experience and make new resolutions to change our life for the better.
This year, however, there is such devastation in the world that a sort of depression and air of hopelessness surrounds many of us. The incredible destruction of land and loss of life created by the tsunami in Asia has warned us how little control we have over our lives. The sunbathers, swimmers and inhabitants of the islands never dreamed the sea would rise up and kill them, take their families and homes and leave them permanently scarred by the experience. It has been a little difficult to exchange New Year's greetings with complete confidence.
Even the New Year as we know it, has a beginning somewhat fuddled and confused in its applications and origins. During the middle Ages, most Christian nations in Europe observed New Year's Day on March 25th, Annunciation Day. They did this to break away from the pagan Roman New Year's tradition. Later it was moved to April 1, so its celebration would not overlap with any church holidays.
In the 16th century, many nations of Europe and their colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar, which placed New Year's Day back on January 1st. In 1752, England, along with its American colonies, adopted the Gregorian calendar. Since then January 1st has been the standard for New Year's Day. And so here we are, following a date and time and calendar that is overwhelmingly and realistically colonial in nature
So what does the year ahead have to offer? Not one of us can answer this question as fully as we might like to. We cannot control all the variables in our own lives or the lives of our loved ones. Today, somewhere in our own state, a mother buries her son. Two years ago she never dreamed this would happen. Another father will spend the day at RIMS investigating newly diagnosed leukemia in his child.
In the coming year our families will surprise us with things we would rather not hear. Our jobs may be more difficult than expected, friends will disappoint us and health issues will slow us down. Reactions to the unexpected are the only things we can control, and the reactions are what make the difference in a life worth living or a life that becomes mired in despair and controversy.
But the question really is, what would you like to see and experience in 2005? While I claim most of the time that "I do this for me", I'd be crazy to ignore the people who read here on a daily basis, who leave comments and send me nice e-mails and whose readership enables me to boost my self-esteem. But in a nice kind of way, as far as possible, do have a fun year, as far as possible try to stay alive, and keep reading my ranting and ravings. And by the way, I take most suggestions seriously. Most.
* Thathang Lunghang , a resident of Kangpokpi - Manipur, writes regularly to e-pao.net
This article was webcasted on 20th January 2005
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