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Though 2020 almost literally shook the ground beneath us, we're very close to a new year. So here's to a year of hope, joy and more love!
Though 2020 almost literally shook the ground beneath us, we’re very close to a new year. So here’s to a year of hope, joy and more love!
Most of us perform a ritual as the year comes to a close. We look back in retrospect at the bygone days and gaze forward in anticipation of what the future holds for us.
The year 2020 held us all in a threatening grip. If we were to analyse 2020 and assess it, we could say that it has been an extremely tumultuous year. Considering the global impact and spread of the COVID-19 crisis, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the virus turned the world topsy-turvy.
It was mid-January when I got back to the United States after a relaxing holiday with my family in India. Not even for a moment did I think that there would be such a dramatic turn of events that would literally shake the world.
It touches my heart every time US President-elect Joe Biden mentions the empty chair at a table in his speeches. All of it is so visual and real! How heartbreaking is it that so many families all over the world had their loved ones being taken from them? With a breakthrough in COVID vaccines, let us hope and pray that precious human lives are saved and that they are no longer at the mercy of this deadly virus.
A crisis always gives us the opportunity to look at life from a different perspective. We either fret and complain about what we are missing out on, or we end up being thankful. This is indeed the time to take into consideration the fact that things could have been much worse without anything that we currently have.
I do not believe in making resolutions for the New Year. Instead, I would like to end this year by concentrating on anything good that has happened in my life. The pandemic has reinforced with greater strength what I have learned in the past. Gratitude, positivity, and acceptance are the values that I have made my mantras.
Looking far beyond anything that did not work out well or has made me sad, I am grateful for every joyous second I shared with near and dear ones. I consider myself blessed to have been bestowed with those moments of happiness. Similarly, I am equally thankful for all the days of good health that each of us have enjoyed.
Writing has always been therapeutic for me. I have written at a greater frequency during this entire pandemic period compared to previous years. I consider myself fortunate for the friendships I made over the course of this year by communicating my thoughts.
These are lovely individuals who reached out to me after they read my articles and poems, either on my blog or on platforms where I shared them. Their words of encouragement gave birth to a desire to write more, and I’m always grateful to them.
I am extremely happy to be a part of the writing community at Women’s Web. The platform has allowed me to express my opinions on women empowerment, culture, society, current events, and a myriad of other issues.
As we look forward to 2021, let us be optimistic and nourish the thought that the new year brings in smiles and sunshine for mankind. Let us hope that humanity unites in goodwill and spirit. With adversity teaching us the truths of life, we need to bond and leave behind a legacy of love for our future generations.
I wind up on a note of positivity by sharing a poem I wrote earlier. These lines echo my sentiments and are close to my heart.
The loud rhythm of the falling rain awakens me as I lie in bed in the wee hours, warmly snuggled, engulfed in the tranquillity of a December morning. Folks at home in deep slumber, the sun’s yet to rise. A new realization bounces upon me. Racing fast, the year has almost reached the finish line. It’s time to perform my regular ritual, to look back in retrospect at the bygone days. A basket lies before me. Rummaging through its contents, I dodge the unpleasant that scathed my senses, bury the bitter with unshaken firmness, and count the blessings. Unfolding in my mind a list that lengthens, I lovingly treasure the friendships that had flowered perennially, the bonds of family that had gotten tighter, celebrations that had graced the hallway of my mundane existence, magical melodies that had made me soar high. They all make me beam with pride. Standing on the threshold, oblivious of what the future has in store I look in anticipation once again to a new cycle of seasons, new beginnings: A spring with fragrant blooms that will renew hopes. A summer filled with smiles and sunshine. Vibrant moods as the world basks in the beauty of fall splendours and hues, and a festive winter with blazing logs that will warm the hearts. Surfing the emotions encompassing me, I feel a chord that strikes again and yet again. A burning desire runs to be at the crest to welcome with a zest the joys and promises that the New Year brings.
Wishing you all a fabulous 2021!
A version of this was first published here.
Picture credits: Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
Rashmi Bora Das is a freelance writer settled in the suburbs of Atlanta. She has a master’s degree in English from India, and a second master’s in Public Administration from the University of read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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