Dr Rekha Jad
rekhajad1969@gmail.com
As a new year dawns, many of us instinctively reach for resolutions-solemn pledges of hitting gyms and yoga mats, abandoning smoking or alcohol, charity, or spirituality. Yet experience is a stern witness to the fragility of such promises. Within days-sometimes hours-we slip back into familiar patterns. This year, I choose not to resolve, but to remember: to recall, revisit, and reflect upon the year gone by, compelled to analyse, contemplate, and understand what it has truly left behind.
Amid the cacophony of celebrations-clinking glasses, flying champagne corks, grooving to blaring music, and indulgent feasts-there runs an undercurrent of unease. This glittering excess stands in stark contrast to my childhood New Year celebrations: evenings spent watching television with family, slapstick comedy flickering on a black-and-white Televista set perched on slender legs in an alcove of our room. At the stroke of midnight, the new year would arrive quietly-with a simple dollop of halwa lovingly prepared by my mother. Today’s revelry, for all its dazzle, cannot quite drown out the silent shudder beneath it. The ghastly memories of the year gone by refuse to be shrugged off, nudging us to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth-that much of the catastrophe we endured was, at least in part, of our own making. The year 2025 proved to be a litmus test of resilience and fortitude for Indians at large, and for the people of Jammu and Kashmir in particular. From April onwards, calamities struck in cruel succession. The heart-wrenching tragedy at Baisaran in Pahalgam was followed by Operation Sindoor, which kept people living on tenterhooks, hearts lodged firmly in their mouths, until a ceasefire brought fragile relief. Soon after came the devastating cloudburst in Paddar, Kishtwar-gory visuals of bodies strewn about, vehicles mangled, and carcasses hauled out of the raging Chenab.
As if this were not enough, Jammu witnessed unprecedented floods. Bridges collapsed, vehicles dangled mid-air, homes were swallowed by raging waters, and entire lives were reduced to rubble. Another cloudburst struck Doda, followed by deadly landslides in the Trikuta hills near Vaishno Devi, snuffing out precious lives in their prime. Elsewhere, the nation reeled under similar blows. Monsoon floods and cloudbursts ravaged Punjab and Uttarakhand; avalanches tore through the Himalayan belt; earthquakes rattled Assam; cyclonic rains battered parts of southern India. Yet perhaps the most harrowing tragedy of all was the crash of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad-one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent memory-claiming 242 lives and leaving behind a lingering fear of flying that endured for months. Nature’s fury was further compounded by human failure. Crowd frenzies turned lethal: stampedes at the Kumbh Mela, New Delhi Railway Station, Bengaluru’s IPL celebrations, and religious gatherings in Puri. Choc-a-bloc crowds spiralled into chaos-shoving, jostling, bodies pressed against bodies, kids trodded under, grim reminders of administrative lapses and reckless public behaviour alike. Was this the wrath of the Gods , as some foreboding voices claimed? The ominous influence of a fiery Mangal grah? Or a stark warning from a wounded environment struggling to reclaim its lost balance? Nature’s increasingly erratic behaviour is a canary in the mine-an unmistakable signal that something is deeply amiss.
And so, we plod and tiptoe gingerly into 2026-with quivering hearts, weary eyes, and forlorn memories . The year that tinged our vision with sorrow has passed. One can only hope that the year ahead is gentler, more forgiving, and lit with promise.
The true task before us is introspection: to search for the chinks in our armour, to remember the ignominious disasters, and to acknowledge that many of the rough turns on our journey were of our own making. As we welcome a brand-new year, let it arrive not merely with warmth and happiness, but with wisdom, sagacity, prudence and empathy. Let us focus on deep reflection, perceptive judgment , cautious action and a foresight.
For the real resolution lies not in grand promises, but in restoring balance-between progress and prudence, celebration and responsibility, modernity and tradition. Whether we follow lunar, solar, or Gregorian calendars, the essence remains unchanged: a new year is not merely the turning of a calendar page, but the courage to learn from loss, and take the mistakes as teachers, to respect nature, to recognise that the Statue of Liberty must stand alongside a Statue of Responsibility-and to begin again with hope, humility, calm, contentment, and clarity. January is named after God Janus…. And Romans dedicate this month to review the year gone by and prepare for what lies ahead…..New year to me is balancing memories and hope…
Wishing all the readers a happy 2026!!!!
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