New calendar year

The month of March has begun and 2011 is already some 68 days old. However, we still seem to be living in 2010. The scams of yesteryear dominated the Prime Minister’s latest press conference. And both the entertainment and the news channels keep replaying scenes from last year’s movies while telecasting film-award ceremonies. When the channels are not showing scenes from M y N a m e i s K h a n or D a b a n g g, they are telecasting snippets from T h e K i n g’s S p e e c h or T h e S o c i al N e t - w o r k. Even for those of us who believe that “it’s the economy, stupid” that matters, more than 58 days of 2011 passed in a limbo before the long-overdue step into the future in the form of the Union Budget for 2011-12.

March is just the right time to begin the new year, especially in the world’s most populous democracy where the weather is pleasantly warm and conducive for spraying each other with coloured Holi water. Even from a strictly movie-award-ceremony point of view, it makes more sense to say Happy New Year when the disappointment experienced by film stars and their fans over awards not won is left behind in the old year. Phonetically speaking, a year that begins with March sounds good despite the English poet Masefield’s libellous reference to ‘the mad March days’ in his poem C a r g o e s. There is much to be said for beginning a year with a month called March — not just retired colonels but the military top brass of today would approve. Imagine leaving the 2G scam, the Adarsh scam, the CWG scam, etc, behind us while we resolutely march into a future where we can all live happily together ever after in a perfect democracy with a stable economy, a secular polity and a scamless society. March on, India ! Even if it is, in the short term, to the cruellest month.