Rewind, Fast-forward

T.S Eliot, for the few who still remember him besides past and present English Honors’ folks, said 

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.”

 

I am still speaking last year’s language because it spoke to us with a forked tongue and needs some understanding. Here are the seven snapshots that stuck to mind and to paraphrase Oprah, whose name might mean one not easily forgotten, “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”

Modi sang a good tune, backing vocals Amit Shah, to clean up India. But a thought that lingers is that could it be India is a nation where cleanliness and orderly lines will never come to pass. Gandhi said cleanliness is next to Godliness, Modi says Swacha Bharat. Good slogans, I thought, as I stepped over a rubbish heap!

Putin, that shirtless strongman who can wrestle Lions and shoot Tigers stone dead, Russia’s answer to Salman strolled into Ukraine. It’s a measure of his machismo that his morning constitutional knows no borders. The emperors of yore had the Ashwamegha yagna, owning lands where their horses roamed; Putin of course is more than equal to a cavalry! Oil prices tumbled and the Rouble collapsed.

American Cops ended up shooting a lot of urban youth in inner cities. Death is always tinged with sadness. Two of New York’s finest ended up gunned down in their patrol cars. Okay, so which of you wiseacres came up with this gun control ideamajig?

Online shopping cascaded into a perfect storm. The tippity tap of high heels at shopping malls [sure, men shop too and some of them even wear stilettos] segued perfectly into clickety click as billion dollar online sales tripped up computer networks, and start-up companies. Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal pepperfried their massive war chests even as Softbank and Alibaba came calling to make investments. Ratan Tata invested in an online jewellery idea!

Transportation had a bad year. Uber cabs showed chinks in their tyre treads taking customer service to a new low - becoming the most hated start-up globally in the least possible time. Aircraft had problems staying up in the air. Spicejet is gasping, and it was a tough year for both Air Asia and Malaysian Air. If there ever was a time to review aviation safety it was before 2014. As mommy said, if you were meant to fly you would have been born with wings, Chicken!

West Bengal won again and Mamata di lifted her second trophy. She had gushed with Shahrukh and the Kolkata Night Riders earlier. In December she basked in the glory of Atletico de Kolkata alongside Sourav da.

Virat blew kisses, Dhoni kissed tests goodbye. Srinivasan ran out of people to kiss at the BCCI and the Supreme Court.

As someone who really knew said - May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early!