2017 – Hope & Optimism

Globally 2016 was a year ravaged with many calamities. The chaos that seemed to spread so quickly across the world was too hard for anyone to miss. When I look back, however, 2016 was NOT a miserable year. In many ways it was a good year for me.

I think the word “good” might be understating it. Personally I was able to live a life of better standard in the UK. It felt like quenching thirst after many years of being parched (financially speaking). Although nothing comes without a price.

I could feel that, my family have struggled more than me in terms of coping up with the culture and environment. Our folks at India have to deal with separation. The kids also lost out on learning their mother tongue or home culture; but are now putting more effort to bridge the gap.

Professionally, I felt more comfortable at work than ever. Credits (much overdue in my humble opinion) started coming to me. Challenges arose and were matched. It was a year of uplift for my battered and bruised ego.

My life apart, the world over seems to rejoice 2016 is gone. If the expectation is that Jan 1 2017, will free us of the crime and violence we had to witness, think again; every day and minute was a new moment for us. It will suffice to say that what did not change in 365 days will probably not change overnight!

But 2016 was that sort of year. Thanks to the largely negative coverage by media, public opinions (read “Brexit”) and national elections seem to have taken the form of devils or demons. A nation who could bear a decade of mis-governance and corruption seemed impatient by the day.

So much so that even my so-called “sensible friends” seemed to poke and twitch with every new law that was passed, to cut the dishonesty or trim the greed. It was as if we developed an aversion to change (for the good or bad). Eventually I was so fed up with the bias and polarized views that I read everyday that I gave up on my social media existence.

Nonetheless an eventful year has passed. We step into 2017 with new hope and optimism. Hope that is desperately needed to keep the flickering flame from extinguishing and an optimism that can challenge the raging storm which seemingly approaches humanity from all sides.

Stuck in the bottomless pit,
A nadir so low, so low;
A dark shadow is cast on us
By every single passing cloud.

Shoulder of trust to lean,
A will to defy devil within;
A mind forged in ray of hope
Shall brighten our collective soul.