Though not quite, but the year draws to a close. In retrospect, however, the year was not much to cheer about. Being a student of Psychology for some four decades I have reasons to believe that more than optimism it is pessimism that approximates realism. The year that was, circa 2013, leaves much to introspect. First it was the aftermath of the December 16, 2012, the Delhi incident that brought infamy to India globally, continued to send shudders all round the year. Incidentally, the victim of the grisly crime was declared dead in Singapore on December 29, that is exactly one year ago. Ironically, the cruelest of the perpetrators of crime got the least punishment, because the law felt so. How out of sync with times? If that was not enough, we saw a spurt in incidents of criminal misconduct against women, all across, all through the year, with Delhi taking the lead. Though the December 16 incident shook the conscience of the nation, the legal remedies conceptualized in the wake of the unprecedented public outcry are yet to prove their deterrent power.
There were several other significators that kept on playing pessimistic notes, from somber to dreadful. The nature too, seemed to be enraged. The cataclysmic events at Uttrakhand particularly the sound of fury at Kedarnath were too loud and clear to be ignored. So the times were really bad.
Across the border too our hostile neighbors kept on testing our patience construing it as our weakness. Diplomatese being hardly an answer to the sinister and aggressive designs of the two neighboring nations with whom we have fought painful wars in the past.
To add further to the woes there were the riots of Uttar Pradesh aggravated by the dirty political minds. And from the same state came the all evident lesson that politics and scruples are poles apart. So the mafia prevailed over the sincere Administrative officer Durga Shakti. This was further corroborated by the travails of another upright officer at the hands of political establishment in the state of Harayana.
Nothing seemed to work right and even the first citizen was all too often found expressing his concern about the need for ‘resetting the moral compass’. And rightly so, because the genesis of all that was happening lay there, in the decline of values in the society. Values in every sphere, at every level. Or else how do you explain the skeletons in the cupboards of Asaram, the saint who never was. Or the journalist who had become synonymous with tehalka creating a tehalka himself by his indiscreet conduct. Or for that matter a retired Justice of the apex court, who tried to crush the rights of a young law intern, wanting her to pay a price for nursing a dream.
Summing up, all was not well this year. But as we come to a close let us look ahead with hope. True, wishes are not horses, but at times they do make us ride. There are straws in the wind and 2014 may set the pace for the much desired change the country needs. So wish all a happy new year.
shashwatchintan 