THE END OF THE RAT YEAR

It is almost the last days of year 2008.

It really does not require higher intelligence to state that the Year 2008 was indeed a bad one, globally. The year reeled miserably under the impact of the Great Depression 2.0, terrorist attacks, assassinations and global warming (North America never had experienced this cold a winter for a long time). Well before the year began, the Chinese predicted that the year 2008, being a RAT year, would be one of the worse years and true to the predictions, the year behaved.

With this year, many things considered as bad or good-for-nothing is coming to an end. The first is the Bush presidency. For eight years he straddled the Americans with the fear psychosis, went into war with Iraq and Afghanistan, almost began the third one with Iran, messed up the nation with financial and governance incompetence and sent USA into the an economic recession presumably far greater than the great depression of the last century. Thank God he is going! The world and of course US is waiting for good tiding to begin with Obama taking up the reigns of the country. Let us hope for the best.

How good was year 2008 for the India? Not all that great, I can tell. For one thing terrorism had come to stay in India. The Central Government had proved its incompetence in proactively handling the terrorist affairs. The whole country lives with the fear of a terrorist attack that can happen anytime, any where. Also, the terrorism is spreading into hitherto unknown areas that were once touted to be best example of communal harmony. Several arrests of suspected terrorists from many parts of Kerala prove the point. Now there is the emergence of Hindu terror groups in the country (e.g. Malegaon). This year thanks to global meltdown, the country’s growth had taken a beating. Industries such as IT, Tourism, Automobile and the stock market were affected very badly. The year turned out to be good for Indian cricket and Congress Party (it gained more states to rule) though.

What about Kerala and the year 2008? There is absolutely nothing to write home about. It continued to be bad time for the state. No economic progress. No industrialization and no nothing. It is as is where is. Of course we had the usual quotas of the financial frauds, the ‘sthree peedanams’ (woman harassments), the continuation of washing of the dirty linen in public between the stalwarts of the CPM party, and the poor standards in education & health. (the comrades will not like it a wee bit, particularly when they ensured a near cent percent pass in SSLC exam!). Towards the end of the year, the Chief Minister put the whole state to shame with his unintelligent, untimely and unwanted comments of the martyr NSG hero Sandeep Unnikrishnan. The less written about the present Kerala, the better it is.

Personally too, this was not a great year. There have been business slumps, cash flow issues and people problems at professional front. When some thing is settled some other thing will crop up from unexpected quarters. The year was tumultuous, to say the least.

What is eternal is HOPE. The hopes never die. In fact it soars. Even without a back up. It is on the hope that I rest, for a glorious year to come by!

Here is best wishes to everyone for a productive, joyful and fantastic Year 2009.