|
I gave a warm welcome to 2008 with both arms outstretched. Of
course, it was welcomed with the same old ritual of making a
resolution!! When I was about 13 years old, my dad made me to take a
resolution of shedding a few kilos since ‘he felt’ that I was
putting on weight. And for the past eight years I have listened to
him. My resolution never changed! I keep to his word till date! To
trace back the history of New Year resolution, the tradition dates
back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome, was placed at
the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could look back on
past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient
symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from
their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each
year.
Now coming back to the present, this time I was bit curious to
know whether people still follow the tradition of making
resolutions. Does it really matter to them and if it does, what do
they do? Let me take you through some of the resolutions of people I
came across.
The first and foremost resolution I came across was, “I will
avoid orkuting as much as possible”. This was Amit, an IIT student
who really hopes to keep his resolution. “Orkut has got into me so
much I spend more time in Orkut than on my lab projects. Hope this
does not become like my other resolutions which are bundled up in my
gunny bag,” he added.
Akshaya Nandakumar, a Mass Communication student, did not make a
resolution but made a wish for the year. “Let the telemarketers wait
to make their sales call till I finish my dinner, may the
commercials in the TV not be longer than the programme I have been
watching and let these wishes last till next week at least.” Yeah,
right!
The most common answers I had from people, whom I spoke to, were
to quit smoking, not to sleep in class anymore, to work hard, to
help others, to spend more time with the family, not to spend more
money on mobile phones and so on. One of them was desperate I guess,
because she made a resolution to find a boy friend this year!!
Gosh…!
Not all believe in resolutions. Nadeem Sha, a software
consultant, says, “I live for the day. I don’t plan things for the
future and so I don’t make resolutions.” Some of them even said
rules and resolutions are to be broken, so why make them?
Resolutions or wishes… whatever they are, it is up to us to make
them last forever (as I did with my resolution!!) or to fulfil them.
That is why Sreevathsan, a college student, took the resolution of
“Not taking resolutions any more”. Hmmm…. That’s my favourite one, I
guess…!!
Dhivya
|
