Nostalgia is my best friend and letting go of things, my worst enemy. As the world was all set to welcome the new year, I was busy contemplating what 2013 meant to me. I was a sine wave of thoughts criss-crossing both sides of my existence. The Big Ben behind me reminded me of the times gone by, and the ones yet to come – striking perfect harmony between past and future. My present, well – that was too beautiful to be described in words.
2013 was not a joy-ride, not even close to one either. So, I believed it would be relatively easier to say goodbye to a year that was not one of my best. But, letting go easily isn’t my way of life. So, with starry-eyes but a heavy heart I bid adieu to a year that brought so many changes I never knew I was capable of handling. Some were intimidating, others showered upon me, a stress of a different kind. Life moved on and the ride was sure a bumpy one.There are occasional flashes of gratitude that the year is finally over, oscillating in foreground along with a background of disbelief that it really is gone.
Life comes full circle as a band of accomplishments plays rhymes of the unknown. But, is this what I really wanted? The answer is both yes and no so it gets difficult to decipher. Whatever it means, remains to be seen. Some incomplete endeavours keep coming back to me, in the form of dreams or nightmares. Thankfully, they are not forgotten. Hopefully, they never will be.
The once-upon-a-time-constants of life are now distant and hazy. A nostalgia uncovers and faces peep out of the past. Some smile, some are indifferent. I smile back, hoping to walk down memory lane. 2013 is itself, a memory lane now. While I am not good at picking and choosing people, some drifted away while making space for new ones to enter. Thankfully, some things never change and lifetime friendships are one of those. Connections of 2013 are still in formative years and only time would tell if they survive life’s bumpy tracks.
2013 gave me one more constant in life – London. If there is another city in the world except saddi Dilli, that I truly-madly-deeply love, it is London. Love at first sight isn’t just a way of expression, it is the eternal truth I share with this great city. The connection can’t be deciphered, but it is there. New Years Eve, 2013 would remain etched in memory for reasons more than one. But the prime reason would be, being able to experience a truly global new year celebration. I was a part of the largest party the city hosted, not on earth but in the sky and this was undoubtedly the best celebration ever. Irrespective of a freezing night, cold winds, chilly rain, hunger-pangs, long queues and a share of eve-teasing, the night was really beautiful and one of a kind. Only London could have done this for me!
Happy New Year!!!
The pictures don’t do justice to the spectacular fireworks which sparkled on the London Sky, this New Years Eve. Sharing a few copy-right protected glimpses, nevertheless.
All pictures (c) Akanksha Dureja
