The Year 2008 – My Takeaway

Another precious year is bidding us adieu! As we usher into the dawn of a fresh new beginning in 2009, let me make this remark - ‘the year 2008 has been the greatest of all in my life!!’ Oh how selfish and shameless I’m being while I say this, as the year has shattered many a dreams and even breathes!

Yes we know that our country and the world have faced tremendous upheavals in the past 366 days. Biggest Economies got crashed – well almost! In an edition of Wall Street journal, two of the top economists Oliver Hart (Harvard) and Luigi Zingales(Chicago) wrote:

“This year will be remembered not just for one of the worst financial crises in American history, but also as the moment when economists abandoned their principles. There used to be a consensus that selective intervention in the economy was bad. In the last 12 months this belief has been shattered.”
This has been a year of bankruptcies, bailouts, huge layoffs and what not! India was supposed to be insulated from all this but it is not so. Foreign Investors have pulled out over $10 billion from the market. The rupee has plunged to around 49 against dollar in comparison to under Rs 39 a year ago. Estimates of annual GDP growth has come down from the projected rate of 9% to 7.5%. Deceleration has been widespread. Industrial growth is much slower.
The company that I’m working for laid off 60 employees recently. It also cancelled the Annual Day celebrations. What else could be the reason other than ‘cost-cutting’! And anyways, what do we celebrate for?
For India, it has been the Year of ‘Terror’, leaving more than 400 people dead in various terrorist strikes across the country. Right from the serial bombings of May 13 in Jaipur that killed 68 people, to the deadliest of attacks in Mumbai on Nov 26 that killed 173 people - we have been attacked 11 times in last 8 months. And every time this has happened, our leaders have never failed to say - 'Nobody would be spared'. I really wonder whom they have been referring to.
Let’s come to the magic world of the world’s most prolific film industry – Bollywood. The year has been ‘ordinary’. More than 200 films were rolled out. 90 per cent of these ventures didn’t make any money. The biggest losers of the year were Drona, Love Story 2050, Yuvvraaj and Karzzz -- all big-budget films that failed to woo cinema audiences. Of course the year has ended on a very happy note with Aamir Khan’s Ghazini breaking all records and setting the box-office ablaze with a “bumper-opening” world-wide.
Let me take a break from the world here and come back to what I started with. Yes, the year 2008 has been a Dream-come-true for me. It has been a year of achievements and progress at individual level. So let me open my heart out and say it loud – I love 2008; for knowing ‘why?’ read on …
I became father on June 18, 6:34 pm. It was a tremendous feeling, believe me. Nothing could get bigger than this. To my surprise, for the first time I was holding a baby so small in my big hands. My hands were trembling but the baby was comfortable for sure. It was a miracle indeed, for both of us - me and my wife. We knew what we have went through all these while. We experienced the intensity of various emotions - thrill, anxiety, fear, anger, love and everything in those few hours. And now when our little princess landed, it looked like the world was ours! Our assumption didn’t go wrong. Very soon, we purchased our new flat in Pune, where we plan to live all our dreams. My intimate stranger, my life-partner has got more intimate and friendlier to me than ever. Also, as a guide and guardian to my sweet little sister, it was a joyous moment for me when she completed her diploma and joined her first job. My brother who lives in Chennai, joined us for our memorable trip to the land of rising sun – Arunachal Pradesh, place where our parents live, where we spent our childhood and got our education. Thus, the year 2008 has been one of the best years in my life as I see.
So why not go out, celebrate and give a grand farewell to 2008! After all, we should definitely treasure and salute the grand moments in our life. ‘Hey there, wait, stop you heartless creature’, calls out my conscience to me, ‘how can you be so indifferent, selfish and narrow-minded. When many of your brothers have been put to sleep forever, you plan to wake up in the night and dance. Is this the story of your achievement? Don’t you think that ‘You’ are the biggest loser than anybody else? You talked about the failures, crises and sufferings of the world - are you not an integral part of the same world. You told that you felt like the world was yours. So what did you do to rescue it? Did you stand up to fight against the evils? Did you make even the smallest of difference with your existence? My question is: ‘Do you even exist?’
With these questions posed to me, I wonder, how should I celebrate my New Year! Should I not sit and analyze what to do next? Should I not revive all the energy in me and get into action mode to change what I can, and make lives of our people better? How long can I afford to continue living blind-folded trying to be away and secure and be happy in my own isolated world?
Yes, today I not only ‘wish’ you all a Very Happy New Year but ‘pledge’ to make it a happy one for you - for us! I urge one and all to join me and stand up in our fight against every enemy that comes our way – may it be economic slowdown or the monstrous terrorists! Let us all make an honest effort to flood happiness in everybody’s life by the strength and potential of our United Goodwill and of course a Power-Packed Action!
Let’s do it!

Happy New Year!!
Amit.