WELCOME 2009

Finally Year 2009 is here.

While saying good bye to Year 2008, lots of us must have had a sigh of relief. Indeed it had been a difficult year for many. Here is prayers and best wishes for a wonderful Year 2009 to all. I am sure like me; many of you would be really looking forward to having a joyous new year.

In the beginning of the year every one makes the New Year resolutions. After taking stock of what had happened to the year that went by, the turn to the New Year gives people an opportunity for probably changing course. A resolution will help the cause. Though one is not sure how far will one be ready to put efforts to make the resolution come true, it is kind of fun to make one. Personally for me I would look forward to a healthy year, by its true sense. This year is significant to me as this year I would come to the right side of my life span. So I am supposed to have more wisdom and maturity with the year passing. (My only worry is people would call me an old man now). A healthy body should leverage on my wisdom and maturity to make me a better package for the year.

What would one wish for the world? First of all, I would pray for the instances of terrorism to come down. Yes, if there is a big black blotch on the face of earth today, that is the after effects of the terrorist strikes that happen at the most unexpected hours. The worry is that the trouble spots of the world continue to be so. In Pakistan for one, there is still no diminishing of the activities of various terror groups. In Afghanistan, in spite of the America led, World control on it, there is plenty of news about the increasing activities of Taliban. In the Middle East, Israel had enough of the Hamas attacks coming through rockets that it had decided to strike the Gaza strip very severely and many are dying due to that and in the course, we would see more Hamas attacks. The infamous LTTE is on the run and Srilankan military had taken a vow to finish it off this year. In Bangladesh, the incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reiterated that she is determined to get the country rid of terrorists. There are more sources of war activities however, the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Latin American terror groups, the African clans, the drug cartel of Colombia, The Russian mafia, the list is endless. One only hopes that in the year 2009, there would be a respite to such activities. It is time indeed.

The other hope is for the world to get back to normalcy in matters related to economy. In the USA, the effect of the huge recession is still making heavy impact. The world is looking forward to the incumbent President Barrack Obama doing something to rein the tumbling. (One can only pity him for he doesn’t have any magic wand but some policy making in the right direction will help) The economy of the planet Earth is dependent upon USA and any change happening there would affect other nations. With huge investments in US, other countries cannot think of USA going down and if that happens, the whole world will collapse immediately.

Will 2009 herald the power axis of the world to shift? The talk of India & China coming to economic leadership of the world is very much there. I do not think that all of a sudden it is going to happen. Such a thing, if it is to happen, will only be an evolution and that would take time. Such gradual evolutionary changes are not pain inflicting and it allows people to come in terms with it over a period of time.

I have inkling that Year 2009 will be a great year for humanity. Let us all pray that it evolves smoothly.

As smooth as silk, as the Thais say……