HI JANUARY!

 ABC Wednesday

J is for January.

Ancient Roman God Janus.Image courtesy Google

Who does not want to be the first: be it in academics, sports, or any other field?  The month of January has the wonderful distinction of topping the list of the mighty yearly calendar. It is thus lucky and highly honored the day it heralds itself on the stage of time. The fabulous element is that the whole universe is one in welcoming and celebrating its arrival.

The world has umpteen man made boundaries, but the spirit of exuberance and enjoyment at the dawn of New Year displays the same exciting intensity everywhere. People greet each other warmly and usher 1 January with great pomp and show. In fact, as the clock strikes 12 at night, the celebrations begin with bursting of crackers and display of fireworks by the young. People dance and make merry until the wee hours of the morning and host parties or arrange special community assemblies and dine in hotels and restaurants later in the day. For a couple of days January struts around head held high with colorful plumes tucked in its stylish coiffure.

The month of January, interestingly carries an imposing personality and dares to stand out. It holds itself as a jewel in the firmament of the yearly directory.

This apart, January has deep symbolism attached to it to make its persona remarkable with conceptual undercurrents. It derives its name from the two faced Roman God Janus representing ‘exits and entrances’. He had the ability to look forward and backward at the same time. Accordingly, it had both hindsight and fore sight and could reflect about the past and envisage the future.

The idea of the myth,  juxtaposes seamlessly with the nature of our existence on this earth. As is evident, human animal is not here for breaking bread alone but for a much higher purpose. For this, the individual has to have evolving consciousness and the month of January offers ample chance to imbibe that understanding. It entails reflecting on the time gone by and envisioning the time yet to come while positioned equal distance from both. The mechanism is like fusing of the experiences with the vision of the future in a single uninterrupted mental exercise. It means taking measures for improving the future and discarding cynicism, inaction and brooding, which prevented us from utilizing the possibilities of our existence.

Along with this January provokes an ‘inner pilgrimage’. It calls for the need of sustained vigilance so that our pledged personal manifesto stays on track. However, we need to keep striving, shedding negativism and doubts on the way.  The path of pure life is cobbled; however, sincerity of purpose works wonders.

January writes a new chapter of our life. It structures a plot a subplot and unexpected situations and circumstances, which unravel as the time passes. Thus, uncertainties challenge us without letup starting from January.

Though, you take up some personal challenges also. It may be renovating your house, following some exercise regime, or shifting to healthy eating habits, planning some traveling flings or reading good books for pleasure and inspiration, sprucing up your garden or starting to write a book, which has been nestling inside you for years. You do all this arithmetic in your head and succeed in achieving some. Human as we are, we propose but success lies in God’s hands.

In North India January is the coldest month. It is perceived to be long because of its bone chilling weather conditions. The days in January alternate between sweetly sunny and depressingly foggy.  Oddly, foggy days allow you to snuggle in the quilt with your favorite book and munch winter goodies sans disturbance.

Friends: comments  are always welcome!