Monday, December 31, 2007

meaningless new year, celebrate makara sankranti

dec 31, 2007

to those of you who carouse tonight, get a designated driver. and don't do anything i wouldn't do. (well, party-pooper that i am, i have stubbornly sat out the celebrations, and got my friends pissed off with me, especially my female friends in bangalore. although frankly it's a little dangerous for women to be out on the streets of bangalore tonight.)

the white guys' calendar is based on nothing, jan 1 is a purely random day.

i prefer to celebrate the makara sankranti, which is a real event: the winter solstice. although because of 5100 years of the precession of the earth's axis around the sun, it's off by about 3 weeks from the real date, which is dec 22nd. or you could celebrate the kali yuga new year.

happy makara sankranti in advance.

ps. if you forgot to send off your new year cards, tell them you are celebrating only the makara sankranti. for the real procrastinators, there's always chinese new year in february or something

6 comments:

sri said...

Hi Rajeev, Wish you and the bloggers here a Very Happy Makara Sankaranti! You echoed my sentiments about Jan 1st although I still go out and get wasted with my friends. I consider it like any other night in town and look at Sankaranti as the start of the new year. 2007 has a been a good year for Indian patriots with Modi delivering the come uppance to the English media-Congress-Commie-jihadi trokia. It is hearteneing to see that the Hindu vote bank is wising up to the antics of the English media. May 2008 consolidate and entrench Hindu identity in India's conscience.

And more power to your blog and you :)
Sriram

witan said...

Thank you, Rajeev

Gagan said...

Thank you, Rajeev. Incidentally, it might interest you to know that, as per the panchang calculations, this year Makar Sankranti falls on 15th January.

Sameer said...

Well Rajeev and others, I know we have so many new years (almost each state has its own) but we follow this format and anyway, I would wish all a Happy 2008. (No mention of 'new year').
I hope that 2008 brings in more good news like in the end of 2007 (Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh).
2008 is also the year when ISRO is scheduled to launch the prestegeous Chandrayaan un-manned moon mission.
Hope to see the increase of the Indian right and defeat of the left and their sympathisers.
2008 is also Bejing olympics, hope there is a last moment 'boycott' or something in the lines of 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, or hope that Tibetean issues get highlighted.
On a local front, 2008 is also the year of when the Hyderabad airport is operational (The new one at Shamshabad). It would be the best in India and not like the dabba one at present, till its rival the Bangalore airport is built, it would be left to see which one would be better, but definitely they would be better than the existing airports in India including Mumbai and IGI. The only shortcoming is the distance from main city of these airports.

Anyway, lets hope 2008 brings more good for Bharat.

Unknown said...

Hello Rajeev and all, For the first time I have found a few who agree with my point of view about "engrzonga" New Year. As Scott Adams pointed out on the Dilbert Strip on 12/29 -- "Why would I celebrate an arbitrary Calender event?

Vivek

Unknown said...

Hi Rajeev,

Been a long time since I commented on your posts. Enjoy all of them as usual, much like my morning cuppa.

And yes, for years, I, have not been celebrating Jan 1- for me our festivals are more important, and we make it a point do something on those days. Similarly with Christmas- it is a non-event.

Best,
Satya