Savor the Pause: A New Year Greeting

 

“What is this life so full of care,

We have no time,

To stand and stare?”

~ “Leisure” by W.H. Davies

It’s been a long time coming but the year has passed us by. Many things happened to all of us this year. Some people had the good fortune to marry the love of their lives and others had the misfortune to break their wrist. However, this year showed me so many things.

While doomscrolling on Instagram one day,I came across Keira Knightley in an advertisement for Black Dog whiskey where the tag line was “Savor the pause”. I was talking to a friend just now and suddenly realized that 2023 was all about savoring the pause. A lot of things happened in and around me in 2023.

I walked with a bespectacled friend down alleyways, chatting about paperbacks vs audiobooks. Suddenly she reached up and put her cap on my head and took a picture .I never really cared about caps but then again,savor the pause.

I read 82 books this year- some that made me laugh, some that made me cry and to some,I had to say goodbye to. I got hold of Slash’s autobiography and I packed my Harry Potter books into a friend’s bag, letting them go for the price of a biryani at Zeeshan.

I gained weight and lost it, only to gain it back again. I’m an electrical engineer, and I think my body has realized that because it kept my weight in a loop this year- lose-gain-lose-gain-lose. Oh, who am I kidding? I slacked off on working out and can’t look the face in the mirror in the eye anymore. (Think “DYWTYLM” by Sleep Token).

I also took quite a few photos (Instagram below, follow, don’t unfollow).

So, we’re in a new year now, but the old year also saw me learn about jokes and actively participate in improv jams, where I saw raw talent unfurl before me under the guidance of a good facilitator. It turns out, I’m not just “The PJ Machine of Bengal”as some people one said. I’m nowhere close to that title, but what I am is a man who got a chance to make himself and others laugh. (Look up Calcutta Comedy Company on Instagram and BookMyShow for details. Poetry and Stand Up Comedy also a part of this organization).

There was a lot of “new”in the year that was. New books, new music,the news that Portnoy returned to Dream Theater, the rediscovery of Tool’s “Lateralus”, the 3AM random craziness, the books and candles sent to me by a great friend in the USA,whose house boasts quite a few dogs.

T.S. Eliot said that last year’s words belong to last year’s language and also asked his reader if he should dare to disturb the universe. On the other hand, Emily Dickinson could not stop for Death. As for me, I saw fear in a handful of dust, playing “Batman: Arkham Knight” and also realized that the key to life is to keep a cool head to “savor the pause”

Here’s to a new year, full of mistakes, lessons, laughter, tears and joy!

Links:

1.. Instagram

The Bilge Master