- 8 -
1st January
First morning of the New Year
There was no sign of mist or fog as is usually the case in this season. However, small pieces of clouds were hovering in the sky. There was minimal cold. Even though Ramesh and Rani had slept around 2 o'clock in the night after celebrating the ‘New Year’s Eve’, still Rani woke up as per her routine. She completed her daily morning chores. Thereafter she came out in the lawn to offer water to the sun. The sun was not visible yet, but from the eastern horizon, the golden rays of dawn had started rising slowly towards the sky. The rays of the rising sun seemed arising from below towards the sky as if the spray of a fountain had become slanted instead of straight due to the strong gusty winds. The grey colour of the pieces of clouds was turning pink and golden due to the light of the Sun’s rays. Due to the mixture of the colours, some pieces of clouds looked like the best scenes of natural painting created by the God Brahma. Seeing this unique sight of nature, Rani suddenly remembered the words of a filmy song and she started humming in her lips, ‘Ye kaun chitrakar hai, ye kaun chitrakar….?’ (Who’s this artist, who’s this painter …?). After a few moments, the Sun was seen rising upwards from behind the upper branches of the trees. Rani had seen such a beautiful sunrise in this season for the first time in her life. She felt overjoyed. A desire arose in her mind that the whole year should be filled with such happiness. She offered water to the Sun. She touched the water spilled on the floor with her middle finger and applied it on her forehead and came inside.
Ramesh was in deep sleep. There was still no sign of his waking up. Once Rani thought of making tea for herself, but the next moment her mind said ‘no’, it is the first day of the New Year, you should wait for Ramesh to wake up. To pass the time, Rani sat in the drawing room covering herself with a shawl and started reading Amrita Pritam’s ‘Raseedi Ticket’ brought from Patiala. It must have been half an hour when Ramesh was heard calling. Rani folded the page where she was reading, closed the book, kept it in the cupboard and came to the bedroom. Ramesh was sitting covered with the quilt. On entering the room, Rani said, “Happy New Year, Ramesh Ji.” He said ‘Same to you’ and on seeing Rani already ready, asked, “Ready so early? Are you planning to go somewhere?”
“Not at all, where would I go at this time? I thought that it’s the first day of the New Year, so, I woke up on time and took bath so that I don’t get lazy. I was waiting for you to get up so that the ‘Morning Tea’ of the New Year could be enjoyed with you. But I didn’t think it proper to wake you up from your sleep. Now freshen up, then we’ll have tea together.”
Without paying attention to Rani’s unannounced New Year’s resolution - ‘to wake up early in the morning and avoid laziness’ - Ramesh said, “Sorry, you had to wait. First day of the New Year and on top of it, it’s Sunday. Today, I’m not going to desert the warmth of the quilt in a hurry. You make omelette with tea. In the meantime, I get myself freshen up.”
Saying this, Ramesh went to the bathroom and Rani to the kitchen. It took Ramesh around twenty five minutes in the bathroom. Meanwhile, Rani made omelette for Ramesh and sandwich for herself alongwith tea. Rani came to the bedroom with a tray in which an omelette was kept in one plate and the sandwich in another alongwith kettle of tea and two cups. On seeing only one omelette, Ramesh asked, “Only one omelette? Won’t you also take it?”
“I’ll take sandwich only. I’ve decided that from today ‘no egg, no meat’.”
“Why so dear, why this decision?”
“I’m getting old. I’ll take only veg food now onwards because it’s light and gets digested easily. With the advancing age, the digestion process slows down, and eating non-veg gives rise to many types of disorders. Hence, I’ve made a resolution of ‘no egg, no meat’.”
“What’s all this? You’ve been saying since yesterday, ‘I’ve grown old’, ‘I’ve grown old’. Today you’re talking about giving up non-veg; you didn't even take beer or whiskey in the party. Is it the effect of the sermons of some saint or the influence of the company of your childhood friend, what was his name?” Ramesh asked sarcastically targeting Rani’s friendship with Alok.
Rani realised that replying to Ramesh’s reference to Alok could lead to a heated argument, so, she ignored Ramesh’s remark and thought it better just to say, “As far as the age is concerned, we can’t turn a blind eye to this truth that I’m in my sixtieth year. Secondly, to make a good start, no matter where from you get inspiration, it’s always good to follow it.”
“Okay dear, as you wish,” saying this, Ramesh picked up the plate of the omelette.
While sipping tea, they received ‘Happy New Year’ calls and SMSs from many friends and relatives.
After finishing tea, they also made several similar calls. The talks continued for a long time even after they had wished ‘Happy New Year’ to both of their daughters and sons-in-law and their children. When they got free, Ramesh said in a slightly sarcastic tone, “Wish your friend ‘Happy New Year’, too.”
Ignoring Ramesh’s tone, Rani said, “I’ll do that,” and with the intention of changing the subject of the conversation, she asked, “What would you like for lunch?”
Maintaining the sarcastic tone, Ramesh said in a joking manner, “Oh Ji, I’ll eat whatever you make. Guests are asked about their likes and dislikes. I’m not a guest. It’s said, ‘Ghar Ki Murgi Dal barabar’.” (Familiarity breeds contempt / No man is a hero to his valet).
To avoid further discussion, Rani got up and went to the kitchen to cook the food while Ramesh got himself busy in bath etc.
Ramesh and his five-six friends gather at someone’s house every Sunday afternoon and have a marathon game of cards till late evening. In the meantime, the rounds of eating and drinking continue every other hour. Some snacks are brought from the confectionery shop and the responsibility of making and serving tea, pakodas etc. rests on the host housewife. After having lunch, Ramesh left for his card-party. Since it was the first card-party of the New Year, Ramesh also purchased a box of ‘Chana Dal Barfi’ (a sweet made from Gram-flour) on the way.
After finishing the kitchen work, Rani went to the lawn to read the newspaper, but came inside within a few minutes, because the heat of the sun was unbearable. She had never experienced such heat on the first of January. The main headline in the newspapers the next day was, ‘The hottest first day of the New Year in the century.’ But when she came into the bedroom, after a while, she started feeling cold. It felt good on taking the blanket. She picked up her mobile to wish Alok a ‘Happy New Year’. She called Alok. As soon as she heard ‘Hello’ from the other side, she said, “Alok, very very happy new year. I wish you a long life full of happiness in the times to come.”
“Thank you for your good wishes. Rashmi’s departure had created a kind of void and desolation in my life. Saints can live alone, but for a worldly person, loneliness becomes very horrifying. Even though it’s not possible for me to forget Rashmi, yet after meeting you, it seems as if life has got a new direction, life is no longer meaningless for me. I’ve found a partner with whom I can share my feelings and thoughts without any hesitation:
Sooni sooni theen jo rahen
Ban gayeen hain pyar ki bahen.
(The paths that were desolate
Have become the arms of the beloved.)
“Rani, by the way, I don’t consider this ‘New Year’ as the real ‘New Year’. Had I believed it to be so, you would’ve received the New Year wishes from me earlier than others. There’re solid reasons behind it. Social consciousness, enthusiasm and gaiety are the essence of celebrating a festival. There’s only vulgar joy in celebrating the New Year on 1st January. There’s complete lack of social consciousness and enthusiasm. Although today is not as cold as it usually is on the first of January. In this season, the bitter cold and gusting winds freezes the bones. In such an environment, welcoming the New Year by extinguishing the candles at midnight is completely irrational and foolish. What kind of a welcome to the ‘new’ by blowing out lights? According to the Indian culture, there’s a tradition of welcoming and greeting the ‘new’ by lighting a lamp. Lighting a lamp means spreading the light, removing the darkness. I consider celebrating New Year on 1st January as a reflection of our slave mentality. If this is not called misfortune and madness, then what can be said when the entire country has become a victim of the blind following? This morning I received a poem on WhatsApp, in which the poet has beautifully expressed these thoughts and feelings. I’m forwarding this poem to you. Read it at leisure and ponder over it.”
“I’ll read it and ponder over it, too. A good news which you’ll certainly be happy to hear - we, Ramesh Ji and I, had gone to Marriott Hotel with the members of our kitty party to celebrate the ‘New Year Eve’. I didn’t even touch beer-whiskey during the party despite the fact that Ramesh Ji and many of the kitty-members insisted for it, because earlier I used to take beer-whiskey occasionally in parties or weddings, but now onwards I intend to stick to this resolution. This morning I’ve also resolved to take ‘no egg, no meet’ as a ‘New Year’s resolution’.”
“Rani, this is indeed a good news. Congratulations to you for your determination. Your resolution of ‘no egg, no meat’ is very good because non-veg food is not suitable for the structure of human body. Many people who’re accustomed to eating meat often make the misleading argument that a vegetarian diet doesn’t contain enough nutrients. The study of intestines and teeth of carnivorous and herbivorous animals has proved that they’re completely different from each other. Secondly, whenever you take a good decision, it’s good. There should be no need to wait till ‘New Year’ to take such decisions. Still, stick to the resolution you’ve taken, this is my prayer to God and my heartfelt wish, too.”
When the conversation was over, Rani opened WhatsApp and read the poem sent by Alok. She felt happy after reading it and she sent her reaction to Alok immediately.
******
