The New Year, What's so new ?

I wonder what we mean by a new year.
Is it a fresh year, a year that is totally afresh, something that has never happened before?
When we say something new, though we know that there is nothing new under the sun, when we talk about a happy new year, is it really a new year for us?
Or is it the same old pattern repeated over and over again?
Same old rituals, same old traditions, same old habits, a continuity of what we have been doing, still are doing, and will be doing this year - Jiddu Krishnamurthy

So what's so new about the new year this time around?
Is it going to herald a new beginning for India's poorest and most distanced?
Is it going to bring freedom from self imposed barriers of caste, religion and tradition for you and me?
If there's one change I want, It's the one that will change my answers to these questions ....

Q: Mohan, Is it true that a lot of children are uneducated in India, Is schooling not free and compulsory?
A: We do have free and compulsory schooling actually....

Q: And all those people in poverty, Doesn't the Indian government provide cheap/free food, it isn't that expensive really, is it?
A: No, we do have ration shops that provide cheap food, but there are people living in poverty....

Q: And Untouchability, it's terrible, isn't it? Are there no affirmative measures or something like that?
A: No, actually we do have affirmative action, reservations among others...

Apparently, we do have the necessary legislations and laws..., so all those not so nice people sitting in our houses of parliament, however unlikely it might seem, have done their job. It's the implementation.

It's the executive. Get them to change this new year.
Government employees have let our nation down more than anyone else! Everyone of them, from those very smart people in the IAS to clerks in local government offices have let us down.

So that's one area I would like changed this new year, otherwise it'll be nothing new to me and to those millions living difficult lives for no fault of theirs! - Hardly something you'll think about on the night of the 31st December 2004.

Hopefully, We'll have the beginnings of a whole new world, some new year soon and that new year will be new indeed.

All those things called Constraints!

To all those people, who take as the words of God, books written by men, some special and some not really so, I have a few words to say...

First a few words from somebody else actually,

Imagine there's no heaven...
No hell below us...]
No religion too.... - John Lennon of the Beatles

Goodness is not defined by what you don't do, instead it is defined by what you create
(Actually something close to it) - The priest towards the end of the Juliette Binoche movie, 'Chocolat'

A majority of constraints that we face are self imposed. Living a life with lots of these self imposed constraints for the sake of one without - in a different place, in a different window of time, will seem downright silly if you come to realize that you can have the latter rightaway!

For instance, choosing not to eat meat, or certain kinds and forms of it, just because some book by somebody says so, is akin to chaining yourself up. For all you know, this somebody, who contributed significantly to this holy book you choose to lead your life by, might have been only as smart as you are, or probably less so. He probably enjoyed a position of power which allowed him to put some of his not so broad minded ideas into implementation!

Imagine current day Bihar in India as nation of its own and that Laloo Yadav decided to add some sections to the Gita. Considering the clout he enjoys there, he might implement some of his 'nice' ideas very well, I wouldn't be very surprised if this passed on from generation to generation and became a part of our tradition.
If you think Laloo is too much of an extreme example, there is atleast one other chap who changed lives of a lot of people more than they would have wanted it - Manu with his system of justice for the different varnas!

So, if you are not eating meat or taking alcohol because somebody in some book told you so, your education is fundamentally flawed - you don't question!
For all those who just don't do some things and have never tried them out, or those who still share foolish notions of purity, by claiming to be the forbearers of a religion who would not eat in dishes stained by anything to do with meat, I have just one thing to say-
You're not living life to the fullest!