Column

It’s the first week of the New Year and the headlines are far from thrilling — two girls drowning in a river where they had gone picnicking, a couple killed on the Sion-Panvel highway on the way home from a spiritual meet, a constable reportedly assaulting his apparent former lady love…

All instances of good times gone bad, without warning, without seeming reason. Further, if doomsday prophesiers are to be believed, this is anyway the year the world ends — is there anybody left on the planet who doesn’t know by now that the Mayan calendar stops circa 2012? Going deeper into predictions, this is the year soothsayers say we feel the rumblings of the big Uranus-Saturn clash, to be exact 2015. Reality and the supernatural, both paint an equally gloomy picture for this year, just beginning, but must we succumb to disheartenment alone?

Let’s take reality — yes, there is tragedy and it is foolish to think upheaval will disappear suddenly from our lives. But there is also a case for hope amidst the darkness around. Because if the start of the year brought news of pain, it also brought news of upliftment from pain: A paraplegic Sukhpar resident, paralysed from waist down on account of a spine break after the 2001 earthquake in Bhuj, welcomed a baby boy last week. Birthing is always hope-giving, but this particular birth, by a mother unable to move waist down is being hailed as miraculous in modern medicine. Then there’s news of the recovery of a kidnapped child, a New Year gift of the most precious kind for the Nallasopara couple searching fruitlessly for the past whole year for their little one. The boy was found by the police, reportedly recovered from a childless couple who had paid Rs20,000 for him. And then there’s a case for saluting the compassion for those less fortunate, lurking in most Mumbaikars’ hearts: an injured kite was apparently found on Churchgate station. One would think in our hurried, harried schedules, most evident, coincidentally, on a train station, we would not have time to ‘stand and stare’ much less to help a wounded bird. But apparently some did — animal activists reportedly tended to the bird for an hour — after which happily and satisfactorily, it flew away!

Then there’s that other dimension, the supernatural. Which, in as much as it portends conflict and clashes among planets astrologically, also allows for good phases and reconciliation. In short — hope amidst despair. For instance, stargazers at present may talk of the impending conflict between outer planets in the sky, but they’re also heralding a grand trine this March, a hugely beneficial aspect between Pluto, Mars and Jupiter, all currently in earth signs.

It all boils down to perspective perhaps. In a time and year where there are plenty of indications that the glass may be viewed half-empty and steadily decreasing, to keep our willpower, strength and possibly just stubborn optimism intact, would serve us well in the long run.

History is witness, allowing for the extraordinary, the miraculously positive never hurt anyone - as believers of both science and superstition would attest, a ‘glass half full’ view often makes the difference between hurt and healing.