New Year ?? Which One ???

A friend once wished me happy new year on my birthday which falls in August. I thought that it might have been due to slip of tongue and thanked him for the wishes. But later, when I gave it a second thought, his wishes sent me on a thinking spree.

The new year need not necessarily fall on 1st January. My friend might have wished me some other new year, as there are a number of them, and more so in our country, inhabiting a number of communities. The business community, particularly in western part of  India, celebrates new year on second day of Diwali. Then there is Parsi new year, Buddhist new year, Assamese new year called 'Bihu', Bangla Nav Varsh called 'Poila Baishakh', Marathi New Year called Gudi Parva,  Punjabi new year (on the first day of Chaitra and not Baishakhi as is popularly believed by many) and such many more. Only the rituals to celebrate these various new years differ from community to community.

While the Christian era new year is marked with 'spirited' revelry, carrying out surveys of the past and prophesies for the future, and distributing calendars and gifts, the celeberations for the other new years involve religious ceremonies and folk festivities.

Some of our official calendars show two more dates along side the Gregorian ones ie., from 'Vikrami' and 'Saka' samvats. One of these is much ahead of our times and the other one, as much behind. No wonder the former is the 'samvat' followed by the business community and the latter, our 'sarkari' one, which is showing 1932 this year and sure enough, the look inside some of our 'sarkari' offices match that age.

Coming back to the new year's wishes that my friend conveyed to me on my birthday, well ! when there are so many calendar years around, why can't you have your personal one. In fact one's year commences on the day when one is born. The day one lands on this beautiful planet, one is taken by the big 'Merry-go-Round' on a ride, which rotates around its own axis to make one pass through light and darkness every twenty four hours, so that one can work and rest accordingly (though some of us make wrong use of the journey through darkness and instead of taking rest they create trouble either for themselves or for others).

The same 'Merry-go-Round' also takes one on a longer ride of 365.25 days, year after year. Its axis is so carefully tilted and the orbit so elongated, that one does not have to suffer the monotony of the journey and is exposed to various seasons and other kind and unkind acts of Mother Nature. Well, in fact, on one's birthday one can precisely tell that how many rounds one has completed around the 'Big Bulb' - that eternal source of light and energy.

However, today at the dawn of one of the most popular new years, I take this opportunity to wish all my friends a very Happy New Year, whichever one it may be.