My most memorable New Year's

Dec 31, 2005, was my most memorable New Year's eve. For the very first time, I was working on New Year's. And the best part of it was that I was loving it...

It isn't as if I've partied on every Dec 31. I've spend them in different ways - with my family, friends, alone. This has been the first time I was in office and was completely occupied with work. The atmosphere at the work place was quite different, if I may say so. Some reacted by wearing black, some just chose not to speak a work, some kept demanding an early exit.

I didn't know how differently to react 'coz I was liking the work I was given. Frankly, it was like any other day. I was working just as hard and I was enjoying it. In fact the day was more exciting than most others. Work that came my way was really interesting... something that I've always wanted to do.

The atmosphere became lighter with some soulful French jazz to begin with... We then cut a cake, but this was way before midnight. We called for pizzas for dinner and an over-enthusiastic colleague emptied all the chilli flakes on the pizzas. So, u can imagine, what a great dinner we might have had :)) When we stepped out of the ladies' after dinner, all the tissue rolls were exhausted! I was wiping my eyes and nose with my towel 20 minutes after dinner!! Then all of us emptied our bags to hunt for some sweets and found two chocolates and shared them. I swear I've never gobbled a chocolate so fast!

We finally left office at 11.30 pm. Though my colleague (who lives close-by) and I were aware that the roads would be crowded, we took a cab back home. Throughtout the way, we were craning our necks to see the awesome fireworks that kept lighting the sky from time to time... Though the chill breeze kept banging r ears and numbing r noses, we were still letting the luminous sky reflect its light on our eyes...

When the clock struck 12, my colleague and we hugged each other. I tried calling at home and my friends but the network was jammed. In fact my phone did not show signal for a good 15 minutes...

I reached home very early on Jan 1, 2006. Before getting off, I wished the cabbie a happy New Year! I could hear a melange of loud music from all over the place. Surprisingly, as I opened the door as noiselessly as possible, I found everything was really quiet at home. Everyone was asleep after wrapping up the family get-together...

The living room smelt of good food, there were traces of promising dreams in my bedroom. I hopped onto my bed, but lay wide awake, waiting for something to arrive...