WELCOME 2009.... we have been expecting you!!!

I absolutely LOVE new things… be it a recent best seller {novel}, stylish handbags or flashy shoes! I adore the excitement it holds and cannot under any circumstances save them for a special day or time! I HAVE to use it at the very first opportunity…. Flaunt it a little, parade around with it. As a kid, I used to really look forward to the first day of school (that enthusiasm lasted for a total of 5 days alone)….. adorned with the crisp school uniform (hated the chocolate brown color…. Had to wear it for 12 years….. Had ENOUGH of it….have never bought a brown shirt/trouser/dress since then!), shiny new school bag, slightly better shoes; the rainy ones (hated canvas shoes…. As I do not like the concept of closed shoes), brand new books ( love the “new book smell”), fancy new lunch boxes and water bottles........carrying all that, I used to skip to school, singing a merry tune {La..la..laaaaa…la)!

So it comes as no surprise that at the end of each year I await the start of a new year with bountiful of excitement and enthusiasm! I plan and plan and plan so that at New Years Eve, at the stroke of 12.... I can be at some place screaming “YEAAAAY” !! Both my aunt’s birthday and parents anniversary fall on the 31st of December and for the last many years we have been celebrating it together. Our families gathered at my aunt’s place with some other family friends and we partied all night... my family is mercifully full of enthusiasts...( it’s in the genes I tell you) and we used to have a fabulous time!

Then I moved to the US for the much talked about master’s degree and for the last two years am celebrating it here! Many won’t believe it (some won’t agree), but it’s more fun in Mumbai than here.... I miss the familiar raucous that accompanies New Years parties, the general sense of celebration that is almost contagious, the array of fireworks, drunk uncles ranting some silly songs and recollecting certain anecdotes entertaining us all except their respective spouses.... : D : D!!

The common thing between New Years Eve in both countries is the way I feel at midnight.. Jubilant... as the New Year to me is a blank slate to be filled with wonderful things; another opportunity to do things I want to! Also accompanying it are the fat promises in form of resolutions.... for some peculiar reason, I have never made resolutions... somehow I feel, resolutions has a “this is going to fail” ring to it! But this year I am going to make one! “To live a healthier lifestyle” and am deliberately declaring this publicly which means my will power is at test! Let’s see how long this lasts!