A classic beginning of the year - all by myself in a room, the sounds of celebration from all over the country pouring in from a news channel on the television, my laptop on the bed with a couple of technical PDFs open, and a phone kept beside it in expectation that it will ring and some voice from somewhere would wish "a happy new year".
The reporter on the news channel kept on describing the events of a party in some chaotic pub in
The phone though was not exactly silent - messages from office colleagues, ex-colleagues, and college mates kept arriving, but they did not do much to turn the mood from somber to jolly. Those were just SMS-es forwarded and re-forwarded to groups saved in the phonebook of the sender's mobile, sent by people whose names are only reminded during similar occasions (because of their habit of sending those SMSes). No personal touch, no hint of an expression which would say "this is just for you".
Finally the atmosphere within the room became suffocating. I seized a shawl and covering my head with it come out of the room. A sudden chilly wind hit across my face making my teeth rattle for a few seconds. I wrapped the shawl tightly across and moved towards the railings on the veranda.
I gazed up into the sky, into the multitude of stars shining in the vast black expanse. Suddenly, my loneliness vanished. There I was, standing all alone. Yet, there was with me the whole universe, the billions of stars and planets spread across uncountable galaxies staring down at me.
I looked above and mumbled to myself and to them all "Happy new year guys".
And the stars replied back in unison, with a twinkle, "Happy new year, my friend".
