On the first day of January, the first day of the Gregorian calendar, celebrations marking the beginning of a new year have been held for thousands of years. The month of January was named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, often depicted with two faces, looking both forward and backwards. Janus symbolised looking back at the past and forward to the future.

 T. S. Eliot in his poem, Little Gidding says-

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from.

New year celebrations, too, mark a time to take stock of the year gone by and greet the year ahead.

Lord Alfred Tennyson has a different opinion on this-

What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times? 

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that’s the burden of a year.

Hafiz Merathi has an emotional take on it, he complains to the year going by-

Ik ajnabi ke haath mein de kar hamara haath

lo saath chhodne laga aḳhir ye saal bhi

(After handing us over to a stranger,

this year, too, is leaving us.)

 Mirza Ghalib’s sceptical optimism about the new year is shared by many of us each year.

Dekhiye paate hain ushshaaq buton se kyaa faiz
ik barahman ne kahaa hai ki ye saal achchhaa hai

(Let us see what benefits we get from the idols of love.
A Brahmin has prophesied that this year is good for me.)

Convenienty forgetting the last sher of the same ghazal-

Humko maloom hai jannat ki haqiqat lekin

Dil key khush rakhne ko Ghalib ye khayal achcha hai

(We all know the truth about heaven; the thought of it is good to keep you happy)

The new year is the time to make resolutions, to make a change for the better, to reset your lives. Year after year, New Year’s resolutions are made and broken. In the words of Ameer Qazalbash-

Yakum January hai naya saal hai
December mein poochunga kya haal hai

(It is the first of January, a new year. I will enquire about your situation in December.)

My New Year’s resolution is too simple to be broken.

“Be kind to yourself, don’t judge yourself. We all make mistakes, we will keep making mistakes, nothing wrong with it. Don’t be harsh on yourself. Don’t try too hard, perfection is boring. Pretending to be perfect is even harder. Too many variables, very few constant factors in life. Live for the day.”

Published in Guardian, December 31, 2017

Photos and text by Prerna Jain.