Forever Tilted?

BENGALURU:  Feliz año Nuevo!

Well! It means the same thing. Felicitations for a new year or a new era! We never miss an opportunity to turn even a normal occurrence into a three-ringed circus. There is a driving need to ‘top’ things…bigger, better, bolder. I remember when a New Year celebration would mean a conglomeration of family and neighbours’, where the array of food on the table would play a central part.

Definitely that happy occasion would entail a slightly off key uncle or friend who would entertain you with a song while we sat around in a warm drawing room or outside around a bonfire. The said entertainer would then get emboldened when there was a round of applause and promptly launch into another ditty.

As kids we were allowed to stay up till after mid-night and I remember the adults keeping an alert eye on the teenagers. Things were simple, innocent and wonderful. I still have fond memories of falling asleep in my father’s arms as he gently rocked me as the faint sounds of all the people who mattered surrounded me. We ushered in a new dawn full of meaning, forged on old friendships, where the children were a part of the new hope that we looked forward to in a new year.

Sigh! Maybe it’s true what some of my friends say that I was born old! The traffic was piled up neck deep outside our building, and it was impossible to take our car out on the road making us virtual prisoners! Impatient motorists honked for no reason (the cars were grid-locked), and I was fearful for my children who were going to a friend’s house with the baby. I keep asking myself…what is so important about this day that makes sane people want to venture out, sometimes putting themselves in peril. In the old days where dignified celebrations were relegated to the clubs and people’s homes, I could imagine everyone excited about being at a party where one could eat, drink and dance your blues away. But now, starting from a Friday evening and stretching over the weekend, youngsters and ‘oldsters’ can do the very same thing at every ‘friendly neighbourhood pub or hotel’!

I see it in their eyes…that certain frenzy, that certain tilt. Caution has been thrown to the winds and the death and mayhem spread globally by the deadly virus, Cardi-V, has played havoc with the psyche of even the sanest amongst us. We have stopped caring. We have thrown caution to the winds…most of us live dangerously. We don’t care about ourselves enough to care about others. This, in my estimation, is the most deadly fallout of the virus that rampaged through our lives.

I see the ‘tilt’ when young, seemingly healthy youngsters drop dead at the gym or at home. I see the tilt when there is certain skepticism about taking a booster dose while even doctors doubt their validity. There has always been that ‘tilt’ but now it’s a half circle. Brawls erupting inside aircrafts, people willfully not obeying basic rules, de-based creatures urinating on fellow-passengers, women being dragged on the underbelly of a car for over 10 km,….yes! It looks like we can welcome another year with a bit more ‘tilt’ than the last one.