If you are one of those who do not like to party, then take a cue from some of the people who share with Vishakha Avachat their plans to veer off the beaten track this year-end.
Partying, setting off firecrackers, heading for Goa for a bash or spending time with family and friends. This pretty much sums up our New Year plans. But how many of us try to do something crazy and different?
How about hanging out with people we don’t know personally but know through degrees of separation? Confused? Let Piyush Sandhane explain.
Sandhane, 24, founder, Kriya, an institute teaching self-development, says: “During Christmas and New Year, all my friends — be they from school, college or the workplace — want me to celebrate with them. But since they do not know one another, I have to choose any one group.”
So he thought of inviting his friends to one place where all could get to know one another.
“The prospect is very exciting. There may be friends who know each other, of which I may not be aware,” Sandhane, who plans to invite 40-50 people, says. “We will try and get away from the city, preferably to a farmhouse, and ring in the New Year.”
Nikhil Deshmukh, 28, a media professional, is a nature lover and biking enthusiast. He, along with his close friends, will ride to Pune and visit the Sinhagad fort. “From there, we plan to ride our bikes on the Mumbai-Bangalore highway and stop at the Bhuleshwar temple in Saswad,” says Deshmukh, who gets a high from being close to nature and through adventure. “Bhuleshwar is a very calm place with scenic beauty. I want to ride a bike in the moonlight and feel the winter chill.”
But for some, joy lies in the act of giving.
Avinash Sadaphule, 23, management executive, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited, and his friends are planning to play good Samaritans at a city orphanage. “When we are partying or watching movies at multiplexes, these children are alone and don’t have anyone to spend time with,” he says. “So we thought we could bring a smile on their faces by playing games with them and distributing sweets and toys.”
Sheilu Sreenivasan, 60, founder-president, Dignity Foundation, shares Sadaphule’s sentiments. She will spend the evening of December 31 with the elderly inmates of Dignity Homes, Mira Road, and distribute sweets among them. “I like spending special occasions with special people,” says Sreenivasan, who visited Dignity Lifestyle, Neral, on New Year’s Eve last year and Dignity Dementia Centre the year before. “One has to find a purpose in life and add value to it.”
Partying with strangers, riding a bike or making the old and the poor happy, take your pick for ushering in the New Year with a difference.
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