Hello 2010!

Sachitra MAHENDRA

Lawns are mowed. Upholstery is dusted off. Waist bins are emptied. Cutlery and crockery are no longer sully. Resolutions are renewed. Unkempt will be kempt. Untended will be tended. Much-thumbed 2009 diary can now take its respite somewhere shady. Open your door to welcome the new guest in fresh morning breeze. Hello 2010!

2010 or MMX is the 2554th year of the Buddhist Calendar (BC), 2010th year of the Anno Domini (AD) Common Era (CE), the tenth year of the third millennium and the 21st century and the first year of the 2010 decade.

Imagine more than 10 years or so ago, the ‘millennium’ was still somewhat a hazy reverie. Even earlier, back in the 1980s, Arthur C. Clarke authored science fictions based on distant future: 2000 (A Space Odyssey) that we have passed, and 2010 (Odyssey Two) of which we would now be a real-life spectator.

Everyone, even Sinhala and Tamil who celebrate another New Year in April, waits for this day to dawn. Some quarters however do not take January 1 seriously either because they are non-Christians, atheists or any other reason. But a Buddhist artiste, who wants to stay anonymous, finds the dawn very inspirational.

“I go to temple, sit by a dagoba and meditate. I always believe it affects me all the way through.”

For Sri Lankans it is an indeed something to rejoice this time, having witnessed a groundbreaking event only a few months ago. 2010 is yet to wait and see how the terror-free Sri Lanka will prosper as the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government has named 2010 as the year of reconnaissance. The United Nations too have named it as the year of biodiversity.

And of course it is going to be hectic for those in political circles, as Sri Lankans will handpick their topmost representative. That will decide the year’s destiny. 2010 has caused a natural question of pronunciation too.

Like 1910 was pronounced as ‘Nineteen Ten’ people are now wondering whether to call 2010 as ‘Twenty Ten’ or just ‘Two Thousand Ten’. Although 1900 and 1901 were pronounced as ‘Nineteen Hundred’ and ‘Nineteen Naught One’, 2000 or 2001 were never pronounced as ‘Twenty Hundred’ and ‘Twenty Naught One’.

They were merely ‘Two Thousand’ and ‘Two Thousand One’.

Janath Balasuriya, Pandula Caldera and Supun Palangasinghe have been close pals since their O/Ls.

They gather every December 31 night to celebrate New Year and a few other things: Supun’s wedding anniversary and Pandula’s birthday respectively somewhere in January and December. And to boot, they pledged never to part ways in the December they did O/Ls.

“We are not teetotalers, but we don’t take alcohol on this day. One thing this event is a very important thing to us three. New Year seems to cap all our other events. So every 31 night we go down memory lane and see the sky light up when the clock strikes 12 midnight.” Janath said.

Unlike earlier, accidents were almost unheard this time. People have started promoting ‘no booze’ slogans in seasons and kids seem to keep more tabs on crackers. A good trend, indeed.

Earlier it was the greeting card that delivered the greeting, no matter how many of it will be stacked against somewhere with years mature. It has evolved and greetings are now traded on email, text messages, facebook and other social networks. Two such messages are reproduced in longhand:

Before the year ends in a bash
Before the battery goes dead
Before the operators get busy
Before the SMSs are jammed
Wish you and your family a prosperous, glorious, exciting New Year 2010!
Can I stay here
In your inbox
And wait until midnight
So I’ll be the very first to
Greet you and wish you a Happy New Year!

The greetings are becoming short, sweet and, above both, innovative. But the traditional greeting card still carries the nostalgic feel of a year gone by.

All this bloom will peter out over the next 12 months. January 1 sprawls all at once not merely as the beginning of a year, but also as one day less to live. So it may seem silly to renew or make new resolutions on one of those fresh-scented diary leaves.

Still and all, another day means another definite sunrise, something that inspirits our life and inspires our soul.

What’s in store…

January 4 - The Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates will be completed. It is already the tallest man-made structure ever built.

January 15 - Annular eclipse occurs in Indian ocean. It can be seen in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Maldives, southeastern of India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, central China. It is also the longest annular eclipse in the 21st century.

February 12-28 - 2010 Winter Olympics scheduled in Vancouver and Whistler Canada.

March 12-21 - 2010 Winter Paralympics scheduled in Vancouver and Whistler Canada.

June 11 - July 11 - 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. November 29 - December 10 - 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Mexico, also referred to as the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16), it serves too as the 6th meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.