As the sun sets on 2008, we look forward to 2009 and beyond

The sun sets on one year and prepares to rise on another… Always a time for introspection, self evaluation and resolution… This year I have decided to take this a little further. Since I have crossed the halfway mark of my mortal life, it is a good time to see where I am and where I wanted to be!

Well I am on a software project in Kazakhstan where the high temperatures are minus 10 degrees centigrade and the lows plummet to minus 35 and lower, preparing for “Go-Live”. These “go lives” as any one associated with the software industry knows are a regular part of our lives. As each impending “Go-Live” becomes a part of our focus we are driven further from the what should have been our life's focal point. (There are always exceptions in software folks who love their jobs and as you can tell, I and my small circle of colleagues are not one of them!)

As I left the college portals with starlight in my eyes, if someone had told me that this would be my future, a quarter of a century or more down the road, I would have told the fortune teller that he was insane. But then that it is where I am!! Many a time we end up doing what we never intended to … It all boils down to what the caterpillar at the crossroads told Alice “It does not matter which road you take if you do not know where you want to go!”( Lewis Caroll in Alice in Wonderland)

Consolation is that I am not alone and that perhaps it is the story of quite a few folks who hit middle age before they realize it. But then we still have half our lives left to get the radar right and reset course! What is life without a few challenges or should I say opportunitiesJ

Well for me the first priority is to set the radar for the rest of my life by the middle of next year and then plan and chart out the course in instalments of three yearsJ

While I am busy finalizing the big picture there are other smaller resolutions like finding more time for
· Reading, Writing, Music and the Movies
· The sick, the underprivileged, the orphans and the aged
· Society as a whole to perform my role as a citizen rather than be an armchair critic of politicians and their ilk
· Take care of my oldest and most faithful friend my body and his various components especially the lungs (less Tobacco) and the liver( and less alcohol!) and the bones and the back ( and more exercise) !”
· To give the job on hand my best shot
· Travel and learn more about different lands, their peoples and cultures and enjoy multi-faceted hues of nature
· Sunsets, sunrises, rain drops, dew drops, flowers, fruit trees, paddy fields, mountains beaches, deserts, cliffs, canyons and whatever else Nature’s Munificence has to offer. (The picture is of a sunset on the Atlantic, from Africa where I was a couple of years back)
· For family and friends
· Blog regularly and let off my steam and frustrations positively -J
· And finally for the music of life, to take it slower and savour and enjoy it before the song is over as a famous song exhorts us to do.

Now that I have made a public statement of intent, here is hoping I will be able to follow them in some degree. As I sit and pen my dreams, I find that they have hardly changed over the years, which reminds me of an old song by Mary Hopkins which is one of my all time favourites:

Once upon time there was a Tavern,
Where we used to raise a glass or two.
Remember how we laughed away the hours,
Think of all the great things we would do.
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose,
We’d fight and never lose
We were young and sure did have our way

Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I’d see you in the Tavern,
We’d smile at one other and we’d say
Those were the days… O Yes those were the days…

Just tonight I stood before the Tavern
Nothing was the way it used to be

Through the doors there came familiar laughter,
I saw your face and heard you call my name
O my friend we are older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same.

Those were the days my friend…O Yes those were the days…

Here is wishing all of you and your near and dear ones a very happy, safe, healthy and prosperous 2009 and beyond. While celebrating and ringing in the New Year, do take time to pray for all those who are less fortunate than us and include them in your thoughts and celebrations as well as in your plans for the year and times ahead