Once more, with feeling

2008 is coming to an end and it has, by all accounts, been nothing short of dramatic. Personally, this is certainly true. As a creature that is prone to shy away from much drama of any sort, I must say that I have been witness to and even partaken in the aforementioned. Fact is, if you do what I do, then this year has been the stuff of Greek tragedies. And even if you do not do what I do, you have to have been blind, deaf and dumb all at once to have not found yourself drawn to the TV set, or the newspapers, or to the internet. Whether it was the Mumbai attacks, the US Presidential elections, the crisis in Zimbabwe, Israel-Palestine, the Beijing Olympics, the situation in Sudan, the much awaited exit of George Bush, the Indian cricket team or the earthquake in China, for the news-watcher and the political analyst, it has truly been a landmark year.

On a personal note, I went on several different journeys this year. I moved back home after more than a year in another country, where I learned more things about myself that I had in the previous 22 years of my existence. I went on a beautiful holiday to Geneva and Edinburgh. I completed my Masters. And then I came back to a place that had been so familiar once, and felt so alien all of a sudden. Home was not what I had remembered it to be. By the time I had re-adjusted and re-evaluated my life, I lost a much beloved family member. I didn't really have the time to grieve her before I had to relocate yet again, this time to start my first 'real' job. It was then that I lived through my first terrorist attack, and probably not my last. And yet, my oldest friends are still my closest friends, I am still single and I am still moody and introspective.

So, here's the thing, I am sitting here, looking into the face of yet another new year, and I have more questions than I have ever had before. And sometimes, I think that's a miracle all in itself.