Today on the New Year eve I was trying to remember how we used to celebrate the day during our childhood? But I failed to recollect anything similar to the present manner of celebrations. So I asked my 4 siblings if they remembered what we used to do on this day almost four decades ago. We were all unanimous in our thoughts: that time there was no such thing as New Year's Eve. Back then, we used to celebrate only the first day of the new year and that too in a very non-glamorous manner.
I'm surprised to compare ceberations today to those of nearly forty years ago. Time has changed our lives and values. Back then, the 31st of December was like any other night of whole year. That time television was not introduced. Radio was the only source of entertainment for people. There were fixed times for programs that would interest children and ladies.
Imagine 5 teenagers of varying ages huddled in a quilt in a big room after dinner, eating peanuts and gajak, listening to Hawa Mahal and laughing together on funny dialogues. That was how our new year's eve would begin. 10 to 11pm was the time for Chayageet, which was a program of soft classics. The program would be the last broadcast for the day and we would sleep after that when the announcer said the same farewell line, "Kal subah 6 baje tak ke liye shubhratri." Of course, chatting and playing antakshari was part of every night during the vacations but it never went beyond 11 pm.
So 31st of Dec. was not celebrated as the New Year's eve- at least not in our middle class society. It may have been an occasion to celebrate in the upper-middle class but since we were not part of it, I would not know.
The trend of giving greeting cards for New Year's was almost a duty then. But unlike today, back then we used to send greeting cards to all our relatives by post in the 1st week of Dec. because if we delayed it, there would be a "post jam" and our cards would not reach on time. Unlike today, we were not used to calling people over the telephone and wishing them on every occasion. To call someone outstation was virtually unheard of, since there was no STD. So, one had to book an STD call through the telephone exchange. Moreover, every house did not have a telephone back then. In this case we had the number of a neighbour of that relative. While booking the call at the telephone exchange, we had to mention the phone number and the PP (particular person) we wanted to speak to, and then the operator would call on it and ask the receiver to call our relative or friend. When the PP was online then the operator would handover the call to us.
One thing which I can distinctly remember that 1st Jan was the day to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to everybody we met. Now, it doesn't seem that there is anything special in this. We do it today also but at that time it was an obsession with us. We would eagerly wait for people to walk past our house and we would animatedly run to wish them first. Back then, going to restaurants was a luxury and very rare. On the new year however, we would spend the whole day eating out in the marketplace- from kulfi to chaat to pakora. Dosa was rarely available in a few restaurants and Chinese food was unheard of. Today, I see people getting fed up of home-cooked food in a matter of days but back then we hardly ventured out and savoured every food made my our mother.
Jan.1 was always a busy day. There was an excitement in the atmosphere. We were in a mood to celebrate. It was never an official holiday at school but we were in a Christian boarding school so we had a long vacation. On 1st Jan, our mother would make desi ghee ka halwa .She would put them in two containers- one to distribute in the gurudwara and the other for the beggars sitting outside the gurudwara.
Today the concept is totally different. Parents plan the evening in their own style. They go out for dinner or to a club. Yet others prefer watching television with popcorn to going out. The children in the family make their own plans with their friends to celebrate the new year. They go for late night parties; they drink, dance on loud music, and have Mughlai, Chinese, Italian and Mexican food (made in Indian style). But I'm sure they do not enjoy like we did with our entire family, sitting together and eating hot carrot halwa. That was a different experience all together and something we looked forward to, maybe even more than the celebrations today.
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