Yours Whimsically...

December 30^th. It was around eleven-thirty in the night. I was finding it difficult to fall asleep. ‘Maybe I ate a little too much. That uneasiness is not letting me sleep’ was the first explanation that occurred. Possible. ‘If I browse through facebook a little while, maybe I will fall asleep.’ Brilliant! I took my phone and started browsing through the flood of statues, shares, selfies – with pouts & new hairstyles, hashtags - #goodbye2015, #newyearplans, #bff, updated DPs. It took quite a while before I saw one on New Year Resolutions of celebrities. Some resolved to spend more time with family; some resolved to maintain that elusive “work-life balance”. Too predictable!

Having browsed quite a lot, I finally decided to fall asleep. Sleep eluded me still. I realized that I was hungry too! ‘Oh! So, this was the reason why I couldn’t sleep.’ Too lazy to go to the kitchen, I thought ‘Maybe if I think about something deeply, I shall fall asleep during the thought process.’ Fantastic! ‘What do I think about?’ was the next question. The answer was already there – New Year resolutions. New Year was just a day away and it wouldn’t do any harm to come up with a resolution that I could share on facebook and twitter. (Sticking to it is an entirely different discussion altogether!)

Where do I begin? For starters, I couldn’t resolve to spend more time with family because I stay in a hostel. Nor could I resolve for “work-life balance” simply because I don’t work! Celebrities out of the window, I had to come up with something more original.

‘I could resolve to use swear words less frequently, perhaps.’ Yes. That would do. Around two years earlier, when I had just joined the hostel, I remember having told, lectured rather, a couple of friends on why one shouldn’t use swear words. “It devalues your words” I had said, without forgetting to add “People will not respect what you say. They will not respect you as a person.” Just a semester later, they found that my vocabulary had been enriched by a word or two, much to my embarrassment! I couldn’t help it, though. The environment around me had forced that change in me (at least, that is how I justified it to myself). Now on, I would make a conscious effort to keep it in check – as my New Year resolution.

Out of the blue, my phone buzzed – quite badly, much to the displeasure of my brother who was asleep. One of my friends had texted saying he would probably not be able to meet before I returned to the hostel. “S**t!” I said out loud and silently, cursed a little more. Well, giving up swear words was not my cup of tea, perhaps. I decided to find another one – easier to keep.

‘I could resolve to maintain my journal daily’ I thought. Doable, it seemed. But then, there were days (& nights) when conversations with friends would stretch upto three or four in the morning. If I decided to write my journal and then sleep, I would spend the rest of the next day sleeping! Not practical; rejected.

‘How about resolving to regularly update my blog? Say, one post a month.’ Nice. That way, there would be 12 posts a year. After a couple of years, there would be two dozen. Combine a few of my previous posts and I could get it printed! What a feeling that would be – to see my name in print on a book of my own! There would probably be a short interview by one of the newspapers – on the success of the book, on how I started writing. The school I studied in would invite me as a guest to one of its events. That would be a moment to remember!

I then remembered that I had made a similar resolution the previous year. And what a colossal failure it turned out to be! I couldn’t even make half-a-dozen posts. That realization brought me back to earth. I was no longer on stage as a guest in my school; I was in bed, thinking hard to come up with a practical New Year resolution. 

All that thinking had made me hungrier. ‘I need to get up early and have breakfast.’ That’s it! Breakfast was the answer. All those late-night movies, conversations and studying (sometimes) caused me to wake up late and I missed breakfast quite often in the hostel. This New Year would change all that. I would get up early every day and have breakfast – the “most important meal” of the day! Three good meals a day would help me put on some weight which I had lost due to skipping breakfast. I would go to the gym as well, as I had discussed with one of my friends. Regular work-out and proper food habits would shape my body. I wouldn’t be surprised if I found a “muscular-me” in the mirror, probably within the semester.

The chain of thoughts went on and I never realized when I fell asleep. The ploy had worked. More importantly, I had a practical New Year resolution (though not “cool” enough for public display).

3 days into the New Year...I had been successful in missing breakfast on all three days!