Settled?

“Settled” is a term commonly by people (mostly family, relatives, friends etc) used to describe how a person is doing in life (actually I think more in terms of having a job and the money you are making). Usually it means that you completed your studies, got a job earning decent salary and being “settled” makes you supposedly eligible for marriage... Being a (self proclaimed) non-conformist who doesn’t fit into regular stream of thinking, I don’t find it making much sense from my perspective and actually annoys me quite a bit. I for one would go further and split the “Settled” to three “Settled” – “Financially Settled”, “Professionally settled” and “Personally Settled”. Financially settled would mean that you have a decent job with decent money and you have assets or in process of building them and in position to service your loans. Professionally settled would mean that you are in a job/industry that you like and intend to continue and possibly retire from. Personally settled would mean that your emotional needs are taken care of! (I am not implying that you have to be married to be personally settled). From my perspective, I think I am reasonably financially settled. About being professionally settled, I am sure I am not. I have been in IT industry for 13+ years, but monotony has set in and I don’t think I can continue for long. And I am definitely not settled emotional/personally . Are you settled?

Friendship!!

This topic is close to my heart. I think the concept of friendship has been changing over the years due to what I believe is the lack of time or inclination from people in today’s hectic life.
What constitutes friendship today?
Are everybody that you are friendly with are “friends”?
Has friendship become need based?
Can friendship be Monday to Friday 9AM – 6PM?
Has friendship (or any other relationship for that matter) become superficial now and are people really interested to invest time and emotion into friendships.
I grapple with questions many times. Makes me feel guilty sometimes, that I may be expecting too much out of friends!! Or may be I am a dinosaur stuck in time :-)



Note: This will be a living post. I will be keeping updating it as and when I can put my thoughts coherently. You guys feel free to post your comments.

Automotive Dilemma(s)

I am a guy who likes driving though driving in Chennai traffic (and in our country in general) is very stressful. Not very technical and hands-on nuts and bolts type, but generally interested in knowing about new cars and bikes and their specs. Subscribe to a few auto journals and frequently read auto websites. I have so far owned 3 cars and 3 bikes. Lately I have been thinking if I should replace my current car – Hyundai Getz. It’s a mind vs. heart thing, as the rational side says why change the car if it is good enough and also is not on EMI J, while the emotional (irrational) side in me wants a newer car and is a little bit bored with the current car. The recent and upcoming new car launches this year by the auto majors is not making things easier. Getz, the car I drive now is quite a good car, but it is not very involving to drive. This feeling is aggravated because of my experiences with driving newer cars owned by friends recently. The other sub-dilemmas within the main dilemma are whether to buy a new one (which brand?) or used (like Getz). Now I am quite open about either of the options. I for one believe that upto 3 year old well maintained car is a great buy as you get a significant discount (1st owner takes the depreciation hit) and the car is still good for many more years. Of course there is some luck involved, but if you do the due diligence the risks are lesser and you can buy better cars with your budget. Now about my preferences, I am not a believer in bigger is better, though I admit I would like to own a Civic. Bigger may be better and safer in high ways, but not in day to day usage in traffic and parking will be a pain. My ideal car would be a Hatchback which is not too small, which is well built and has good power and handling and be easy to drive around in traffic. I have been driving Hyundai’s (Santro, Getz) in the last 7 years and quite satisfied, but it is time to try other brands – may be Honda or a German car. Honda Jazz comes close to my needs, but it is priced high and has only a 1.2L engine (I would have bought if Jazz has City’s 1.5L engine). That leaves VW, the only German brand that I could even think of. I have been following the Polo launch for quite some time and felt disappointed when I read that they are launching with 1.2L petrol & diesel engines. Now I hear that 1.6L version would also be available... so there is hope. When you look at the market, it appears that there are a lot of cars to choose from, but when you get closer, there are few choices, at least for me. I realize the issue here is that I don’t fit to the standard buyer template that most manufacturers cater to. I feel from personal experiences it’s true in all aspects of life if you don’t fit into the standard template. :-( Ok enough of my automotive story, but it is not over till I tell that the car that I ultimately aspire to own and drive is a Beamer (BMW), but that would be in an another post.

Zero Points for Winning. Minus Points for Losing

Recently I read a book “The Score takes care of Itself” written by legendary American NFL (Football) coach Bill Walsh. This was given to me by my Boss to read. . It was a management book about how he converted San Francisco 49ers, which was one of the worst teams in NFL history to winning several Super Bowl’s. It is not necessary to know about the game in order to read and benefit from the book as I did not know much about the game either. The main gist of this book is how Coach Walsh came up with detailed set of guidelines for each and every member of the 49ers team, including players, coaches, administrative and support staff. He called this Standard of Performance. He clearly explained each member of the organization about his responsibilities and expected them to follow it religiously. Now I have my own doubts about this type of management philosophy, but I will not dwell on it on this post. Towards the end of the book, I came across something that I could relate to very much. The Coach’s words reflected my state my mind. What was said was “Zero Point for Winning. Minus Points for Losing”. When you start winning, the bar keeps rising (both by you and your managers) and nothing other than winning is acceptable. You reach a point where you no longer enjoy winning; you are just relieved that it’s done. I feel the same way nowadays in whatever small things I am doing. There is no celebration after a major release, just plain relief that it went through any major issues, while on any objective assessment considering the scope, effort and constraints, it would be considered a successful release. The fun has gone out of work, it has become more of an obligation.

Highlight of the Year Gone By

As I reflect back on 2009, probably the highlight was the trek to Himalayas (SARPASS). Nothing else was significant both personally and professionally (that says a lot about me ). That was also the first time that I took a two week break from work in my 8 years in my current employer, which was significant (!!!) for me in its own way as I was away from work, emails, internet, mobile and all. So for me this trek was the best part of 2009. This was a 10 day program with the first 2 days being acclimatization and some training in the base camp at Kasol, a small village in Himachal. Since my previous experience with Treks were not more than a couple of hours, this trek was a big step forward for me. Three of my colleagues had also joined the trek and they all had done at least one trek in the Himalayas before and so there was some guidance and support. I couldn’t prepare well before the trek due to hectic work schedule as I would have wished, but I was determined to make this trek. Though I haven’t been to gym for 3 to 4 years now, I would say my fitness was not that bad, relative to most people, as did some walking on most weekdays and played tennis on weekends, but walking up the hills is a different ball game. But as the Director of the base camp said, there is always a first time for everything and so this is going to be the first time for me.
At the base camp and during the trek, it was like a NCC camp and you feel like you have been transported back in time. We stayed in tents, about 10 in each tent and no space to move your leg when sleeping. Life revolved around the whistle. 1st whistle at 5 or 5.30 AM meant tea is ready. 2nd at 6.30AM is breakfast is ready, 3rd at 7AM meant return the sleeping bags, 4th at 7.30AM is packed lunch is ready and 5th at 8AM means assemble for the trek and do a count. Similarly as we reach the next camp in the evening, the 1st is to assemble and do a count, 2nd is tea & snacks are ready, 3rd is soup is ready and 4th at 6.30pm is dinner ready. Life was simple (eat – trek – sleep) and fun and there was no need to think and worry about too many things. I think I did not struggle too much during the trek and managed ok. Obviously it was difficult to keep pace with my friends, but I wasn’t the last man as well, but somewhere in the middle of the pack.
About the Trek itself, a few things surprised me – The trek route was not that scenic as I expected except for a few patches; I sweated a lot every day during the trek specially during the climb (wasn’t expecting to sweat it out at that altitudes and temperatures); and we were able to use our mobile phones on most of the days even at 14000 ft height.
This trek is organized during the month of May and early June every year and during the trek, and it had spawned a small industry of local people putting up stalls along the trek path, where we could get Tea, Omlette, Noodles, Nimbu Pani etc. Good for us and also the local folks. The interesting part was the cost kept increasing we kept going up. A 10 rupee omlette near the first camp became 40 rupee omlette at the top. No issues with me as long the local population benefitted.
I must say a few words about the trek organizers – YHAI (Youth Hostels Association of India). This trek is very well organized and very cheap. The reason being except for cooking and some other support staff, all others involved is volunteers, who are doing this for their love of trekking. Every camp you reach had a camp leader and cooking staff and had sleeping bags, blankets etc. Can you imagine this trekking program costs only about Rs 3000 inclusive of food and all. Hats off to YHAI. It just goes to prove that good things in life don’t need to be expensive. You just have to look around. I am glad that I did this trek.

Trek pics - http://picasaweb.google.co.in/rxk2000/SARPASS2009#

After You Experience the Best, What Next

I have been going to Chennai Open Tennis tournament since 2001 or 2002 every year except for one year when I could not get the tickets. Over the years I had witnessed some very good matches, the Carlos Moya – Srichapan finals for two consecutive years and more recently Nadal – Moya semifinal two years back. More recently, last year and this year so far, the quality seem to have gone down or so it seemed to me. When I thought more about it, it seemed to me that this thought of mine is probably due the Nadal – Moya match. It was a great match and no doubt the best ever match that I had watched in a stadium and one of the best I have ever watched in person or in TV (that includes Federer – Nadal 5 setters). This match I refer to was a 3 setter that lasted nearly 4 hours. It was emotionally draining evening for spectators like me, let alone the players. I had that empty feeling the next day and no wonder Nadal had one of his worst losses in his career in the finals. The point I am trying to make is after seeing this match, all other matches in the subsequent years seem to be lower standard and somewhat boring, when they may not be actually. This match I still remember even after 2 years, for it was worth many times the money I spent on the tickets. What I experienced is from a sporting perspective, but I think this will be true with just about anything. When you experience the best, then it changes many things. You are no longer satisfied with lesser things. I will sign off with a some quip I read a long time back and I don’t even remember the context. Someone said “My tastes are simple, I am easily satisfied with the best”.

How Long is Long?

In the industry I work for (IT), 3 years is about the time an employee spends with a company on an average (that is in India). In that context, I used to think my 8+ years with my current employer did mean something (whatever that means)!! But all that is busted.. A recent viewing of the list of years of service awards in the company's newsletter put things in perspective. There is even one person who has spent 45 years with the company and there are are significant number of people who had put 20,25,30,35,40 years of service and so on. All of them were in US or Europe, but that doesn't matter. I used to think this can happen only in Government service (For example my mom put in 38 years in TN Government Service). May be a few people do put in long years in Private Sector as well, but the sheer numbers in my company surprised me. I am certainly not competing with them. Don't think I can even if I want to. The 8 years that I spend with my employer had been time well spent with lots of learning, growth and making good friendships, but lately I have been grappling with the thoughts if this is high time to seek some change. Ofcourse there is more to it than just the number of years, but that would be a subject for another post :-) Just my thoughts and I am sure everyone has their own take on "How Long is Long".

Tale of two movies

Usually I watch movies in theatres once in a while, may be many months apart and definitely not very frequently. There were many movies that i would have liked to watch but didn't because of laziness or lack of company or both (:-)) even though there are good theatres no so far from my place. So it has been quite a achievement (!!!) from my part that i had watched 3 movies in december. Of the 3 movies, I had watched 2 movies back to back on 2 days - Avatar on 31st december and 3 Idiots on 1st Jan 2010.
I went to Avatar as part of a 12 member gang from my company, obviously with a lot of expectations given the hype surrounding the movie. My view is the movie is quite good from a technical perspective, but definitely not great. The visuals were very good and the 3D glasses helps, but the novelty wears off as time passes by. There is a definite lack of dramatic/emotive content that makes this move less fulfilling I would say. Somehow the rituals and customs of the Navi tribe failed to make an impression with me. May be it is because of animation, but i had really liked animation movies like Finding Nemo and Shark Tale.
On 1st Jan, I went with a nephew of mine to watch 3 Idiots at crazy 7.30AM show @ Satyam.. it was a case of 2 idiots watching 3 Idiots :-) I liked the movie very much and was able to enjoy and relate to it even though i dont know Hindi. The first half was peppy and more fun than the second half which dragged a bit and had some typical indian movie senti-stuff. On the whole it was a good movie to watch and I definitely liked it better than Avatar.
BTW, since the first thing i did on this new year was to watch a movie, by common belief (??) I am expected to watch a lot of movies this year.. Let us see..

Wish you all a Great Year Ahead..

Another year comes to an end

Time is flying fast. Yet another year is coming to an end. It has been a busy year workwise, but last two weeks has been relaxing since the US & UK counterpart offices are shutdown for X'mas and New Year and so no 100's of mails everyday and late night calls. It will be back to the usual grind next week and it makes me feel this week never ends :-) Not a good mood to begin the year with I suppose. Its not all bad though. Im going to see off 2009 and welcome 2010 by watching movies. Avatar today (31st december) afternoon with my office friends and 3 Idiots on 1st early morning (crazy 7.30 AM show). January is a month I generally look forward to as there are a number of events that is of interest to me. Chennai Open Tennis tournament starts next week and I have tickets for all days though I may not make it everyday. Chennai Sangamam follows next. Get to watch performances by folk artists which you don't get to see otherwise. Last year was the first time i went to Chennai Sangamam and was impressed by the performances. And there was some good street food from different parts of the state. Saarang is towards the end of January and again one of the events i tend not to miss. Last year, the classical nite programs by Kanyakumari violin orchestra and Shobana's Maya Ravan dance drama were very good. Hope to see some good programs this year too. I haven't blogged as much as I would have liked. Hopefully I will blog more the coming year, though not necessarily for the sake of it. :-) Okay then, I will end this post by Wishing Everyone a Very Happy New Year and a Successful Year Ahead.

Yet another post about Federer

Finally Federer won the French Open courtesy in part or full due to Nadal's absence in the finals. Personally I (and many others and may be Federer himself too) would have liked it better if he won against Nadal, but that shouldn't devalue his acheivement. The pressure should be off for him now that he won the only missing piece in his huge Grand Slam collection. It may even provide him with enough wind for another round of domination! 20 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals and 14 Grand Slams is a huge achievement and unlikey to be broken anytime soon or may be ever. If not for Nadal, he may have picked a few French Open titles already. Being No 2 to Nadal in the clay for previous 4 years is not really bad as Nadal is likely the greatest Clay Courter ever.

Taxing Matters

Today I read a article about the list of top tax payers in the country. It was intriguing to see who were among the top taxpayer as well as who weren't. Mayawati was in the list. As usual some top actors and cricketers were there as were many industrialists. Scamster Telgi was there too, though i don't know if he is in prison or not!! The big surprise is Ambani brothers do not figure in the top 200 tax payer list, while their mother does. I don't know the authenticity of the article, but i was left wondering how come the one of the richest people in the world don't figure in the top 200 tax payers in their country. More so when you read from newspapers that one of them is building a 27 floor $1 or 2 billion home. Well generally it seems like Indians and paying tax doesn't go along well. It is sort of like it is a foolish thing to pay taxes. People come up with all sort of reasons to not pay tax, like "first get the rich to pay tax", "government is corrupt, so my tax money will to the pockets of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats", "why should i pay tax, the government has not done anything to me" and so on. The salaried class are the ones who mostly pay the taxes as it is deducted from the salary by their employers and they are the ones who grumble (mostly justifiably) that nobody else is paying taxes. Also there are holy cows amongst some category of people, example - agriculture, traders that they won't be taxed no matter what they earn. If I am correct, less than 5% of the population pays taxes in India, while it is many times more in other countries, particularly in the developed countries. Obviously there is a direct correlation between a high percentage of the population paying taxes and development. Government will have more money to spend in infrastructure, education, healthcare etc. If people pay taxes, they have a stake in the country and have the right to demand that the government deliver the services they expect. If we are going to stick to the same excuses, then it is going to be like the chicken and egg story!! and we will remain the same.

Federer Fights Back

This is to the tennis enthusiasts. I wanted to write this blog some time back immediately after the French open finals after the way Nadal beat Federer. At that time it seemed to me that there is no way Federer can win French Open while Nadal is around. While everybody agrees that Federer has the game that is stylish and classy, I always felt that he lacked the determination and will to win like Nadal. The other thing that stuck me is Federer’s reluctance to make adjustments to his game to counter Nadal. It has been a few years now that Nadal is relentlessly attacking and exploiting Federer’s backhand with any response from Federer. It used to be in French Open, but now also in Wimbledon from this year. Federer seems to believe (or is it arrogance) that he doesn’t need to do anything different, whatever is the situation. Coming back to this years Wimbledon, it was an excellent high quality match, though I don’t know if it is the best match in Wimbledon ever. Nadal was a worthy winner I think the match really started after the rain break in the 3rd set. In the first two sets Federer didn’t look like a 5 time champion at all. May be at the break the realization must have struck him that he is about to lose his prized possession. What followed was classic tennis and I was unfortunate to have not watched after the 2nd rain break. Though Federer won the 3rd and 4th sets, it is to Nadal’s credit that Federer had to win in tiebreakers. More importantly Federer fought back, probably be most I have seen him do. How he is going to bounce back remains to be seen. As for Nadal, now he has won in grass, his next frontier is the hard courts. I always felt that Nadal’s game is a lot physical in nature. His ability to reach balls that would be otherwise be clean winners is what puts doubts in other players minds and induce errors by forcing them to try highly risky shots to end the points. So a lot will depend on his ability to maintain his fitness given the running he is doing and the resultant wear and tear.

Tail Wagging the Dog

I will admit that I am not a competent person to comment to the Indo-US nuclear deal. But from reading the newspapers, it seems that the experts/commentators in the field are generally ok with the deal. Even the scientists who complained earlier are not saying anything against the deal. So it looks like a win-win situation. Also I would say the US or for that matter, no country would do a deal for charity. There has to be something in it for both parties. Mainly the BJP & Communists seemed to opposed to it. BJP is pathetic. After they lost power, they have been behaving like a child who's toys have been taken away from them. They initiated this process and now they are crying foul. So much for national interest. The communists opposition is expected. They blindly oppose anything related to US. Communists worldwide have changed except for India communists, who are stuck in the past. I used to wonder many times, if some these communist leaders who regularly appear in the media, have at any point of time in their lives have done any constructive work!! They have made a mess out of West Bengal & Kerala. Bengal was one of the most industrialized state at the time of independence and now everybody knows the story. It seems that they will never let India progress. Actually in the last 2-3 days, I have read quite a few newspaper columns questioning the Communist's motivation for opposing the deal. The congress is again pathetic. They have let the communists dictate terms and have a veto power. They should have called the communist's bluff long back. With 10% or so MP's communists are trying to rule the country by proxy. Its ridiculous. The tail is wagging the Dog.

People's President and Madam President

I am one of those deeply disappointed by unfolding events in the presidential elections. I was hoping that Dr. Kalam would be President for another term. I thought he really captured the imagination of the nation’s younger population. He had the background and ability to motivate and advice people. The fact that he was born in a poor family in rameshwaram and risen all the way to the president office was itself a source of inspiration to many people. He had the ability to think of the future and articulate visions that excited a lot of people. Though President’s post is largely a ceremonial one, many people got interested in the presidency for the first time during Kalam's time. Even if the successor had good credentials, it still would have been a tall order to match up to Kalam. Now with the current set of unexciting candidates, I doubt if people will remain interested in the president’s office.
The other issue is the spin that is being put by the ruling party(s) about their candidate Pratiba Patil being the first women President of the country. From all reports, it is clear that she was a compromise candidate after all the first choice (male) candidates were not acceptable to all coalition parties. Having a women President would be a good thing, provided we have the right candidate. Don’t we have better women candidates? Frankly we have had a women (Indira Gandhi) in a more powerful Prime Minister position and she is considered the strongest PM of India. In this regard, we are much better than many western democracies. US, France hasn’t had a women president and Germany had it only recently.
Coming back to presidential poll, all the media reports about the skeletons tumbling from Pratiba Patil’s past is only adding to people’s uneasiness. It is almost as if the politician’s are not happy about Kalam’s huge popularity & credibility relative to their’s and so want to impose one of their ilk on the people so as to restore the balance.
To end this piece, I would say most of us want as President (male or female) who could represent the aspirations of the young and rising India.

Heads and Helmets

This post is with respect the High Court inspired move to enforce wearing of helmets in Chennai from June 1st. I think a lot of people took it seriously (for their own good) and bought helmets in the run-up to the D-Day. Media, particularly the FM stations played a part in encouraging people to buy helmets. On June 1st, when I was driving to office, I saw that most of the two wheeler riders (say 90%) were wearing helmets. I could guess that many of them have just bought helmets because the helmets looked new & shining. I thought it was a great beginning. Next day came the news that Chief Minister (CM) has asked police not to enforce the law strictly and soon you could see that most of the people on the road were not wearing helmets. It was disappointing. I for one, couldn't understand the rationale. Well you either enforce the law or don't. What is that don't enforce strictly! People naturally took the hint and soon things were same as before. Then came the change to the law that Women & Children are exempted. Why is that.. don't they have heads too!! every day you read in newspapers about fatal accidents and in most two-wheeler fatalities, the rider was not wearing helmet. In fact, a few months ago, a friend of mine died in a accident. He was sitting in the pillion and he did not wear a helmet.
I didn't hear or read about any major opposition from the people to the helmet wearing enforcement in the first place. Only a few politicians seem to oppose it. So why!!
I would say Leadership is not about pleasing everyone. Its about taking right decisions, even if it is unpopular with people. Eventually good decisions will be recognised by people and will become part of the legacy.
I just hope that whoever bought the helmet will continue to use it.

Federer's road to Greatness is through Nadal

This one is for the tennis folks. I am writing this after watching the French Open final yesterday. It was not a bad match, but considering the high expectations of Federer, it was disappointing. Like many, I was hoping for a Federer win, but anyway felt Nadal won't give up easily. Federer had many chances, but he did not take it. He strengths like serves & forehand deserted him and Nadal anyway was hammering him on his backhand. What was disappointing was that Federer did seem to put him much of a fight.. atleast his body language didn't suggest so. He had that look of a beaten man long before the match ended. Having said this, Nadal is a worthy Champion and he deserved the French Open. Almost everybody agrees that Federer is hugely talented, probably having the best game ever. But it is almost like he expects the opponents to rollover in awe (like Royalty), which anyway seemed to be mostly happening so far in other surfaces. He hasn't needed to try too hard. But clay is a different ball game and Nadal the reigning champion is not going to give up a inch and he has that warrior mentality who seem to treat every point as a life and death issue. It is clear that, for Federer, the road to French Open title will have to pass through Nadal. How he deals with this will define his legacy. There is already talk of whether Federer is the greatest player to play all time. I think it is meaningless. You have to be the greatest player in your time, then only you become for all-time. Greatness is not only about winning, but how you react to pressure and challenges in you way and overcome it. In that sense, Federer has some distance to cover.

(Un)Real Estate

This pertains to Chennai real estate, but could apply to other major Indian cities as well. I am writing from my personal experiences having observed the market for the last 3 years and more specifically looking to buy a apartment for the last 1 year before finally biting the bullet recently.
if you are frustrated, hapless, helpless and even angry at watching the gravity defying raise in real estate prices, then you are not alone and in fact part of the majority of the prospective buyers. You think the properties are over-priced, but have that sinking feeling that the rates are likely to go up further and that if you miss now, you may not be able to catch up with the rates. Some builders seem to be hiking rates on weekly basis. Someone said, once the builder starts raising the rates, all the fence-sitters amongst the buyers rush in to buy.. good strategy!!
I also read in some newspaper article that 80% of the projects are targeted towards the top 20% of the buyers. I would say it must be top 10%. Also the market has become investor/speculator centric rather than buyer centric. I have heard statements like "One Investor from mumbai has booked 5 flats". Nowadays you are expected to rush to builders office with chequebook in hand as soon as soon as you hear about the project launch, no time to think, deliberate & decide. First book the apartment and then do whatever..
The ubiquitous "software professional" has long been blamed for the rise in the real-estate boom. Now it seems like even amongst them, only the top-level can afford the current rates. Or it must be a double income "software family". Even the "NRI software professionals" are feeling the heat. Some of my "NRI" friends say that they can buy property at same price or cheaper in their respective locations than here.
So what do we do... will the rates continue to go up - probably yes.. will the rates stabilise or go down - we can certainly hope.

Glorifying Saddam!!

It was amusing to watch TV channels and newspapers, mainly the protests organized and statements release by the political parties condemning Saddam's execution. It seemed like Saddam had been elevated to "Mahatma" level, never mind that he has been responsible for death of hundreds of thousands of his fellow countrymen and in neighboring countries like Iran & Kuwait. He had been accused of using chemical weapons against his countrymen and also of killing his son-in-law. It was funny to see all & sundry parties protesting against the execution. It is one thing to dislike US policies, but certainly doesn’t give license to glorify dictators like Saddam. Why cant these parties do something to improve the lot of poor people in their respective states. It seems to me that this is one more instance of vote bank politics. It is sad that people like Aung San Suu Kyi are languishing in jail for decades, while tyrants like Saddam are being glorified.

New Year 2007

Wishing You All a Very Happy New Year..

Below is a nice new year message that I read somewhere
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I AM THE NEW YEAR
Life I am the new year.I am an unspoiled page in your book of time.
I am your next chance at the art of living.
I am your opportunity to practicewhat you have learned about life during the last twelve months.
All that you sought and didn't find is hidden in me, waiting for you to search it out with more determination.
All the good that you tried for and didn't achieve is mine to grant when you have fewer conflicting desires.
All that you dreamed but didn't dare to do,all that you hoped but did not will, all the faith that you claimed but did not have --these slumber lightly,waiting to be awakened by the touch of a strong purpose.
I am your opportunity to renew your allegiance to Him who said, "behold, I make all things new." I am the new year.
~Author Unknown~