Flipping Open 2005 - What is it we expect from the year ahead? A look at what the ending of a calendar year and the opening of a new one means to us…

“It’s a time to pause, reflect, look back… and plan ahead,” says AK Tareen, Manager South India, Austrade, of the ending of a calendar year and the beginning of another. That is in a nutshell what the New Year epitomises for most of us.

There is but a day more left of 2004, a charged and packed year that has ended with a colossal crash where human tragedy has overshadowed all other lesser considerations. Yet, as we breathlessly hope for less of bad news, there is this spark, this frisson of hope that makes us believe inside ourselves, that once the calendar turns and displays 2005, things should take a turn for the better.

“Basically, it has been a fairly unpleasant year for many,” says H R Consultant Vidya Krishna, “There have been upheavals of different kinds, and then the calamities. One hopes then, that the year to come will be a good one.” She believes in looking forward to pleasant things and it is this dream of a happier future that keeps one going. “One thinks positively,” says she, “And hopes that the next calendar year will bring good things for everyone.

Something that Sam Philip who works hard at Business Promotions at Kirthilals hopes too. “Life is a cycle, but if there’s no end or beginning, then there’s no spice to our lives,” opines he, “Things would become routine and monotonous. I think the ending of a year and the beginning of another is time to retrospect on what we have done and make resolutions.” Sam feels that the calendar year helps in setting personal goals, something one would never do if such a marker such as the New Year were not there. “On the career front, it’s already been marked out for us,” he muses, “But on the personal front, the New Year is a time to make a personal report card!”

A view that Tareen endorses when he says, “In my mind it is an opportunity to review things and take corrective action. We cannot go on with our lives without a stop and the New Year helps mark a beginning and an end.” To Tareen, this marker is akin to the day-night differential, a New Year is markedly different from the old one, he hopes. “Unless new things happen to us, we will not have anything new to look forward to. I love things that are fresh, things that are new… These give us new hope and optimism.”

That’s precisely what every one else is looking forward to – a 2005 filled with fresh hope for a better future!