And so, begins 2024

I watch josiyars trying to foretell major potential events that may befell each year at the beginning of the year. It is fun to see the confidence with which some of them make predictions which may sound exaggerated, to say the least, at times. This time, most of them on that show, hosted by a famous news channel where unanimous in predicting devastations due to water and fire and other elements. At the outset, I felt, it is quite easy to make such guesses which may sound wild to hear but make more sense if you follow the news bit more closely. Any amount of rain, if not slightly more than average, causes such devastation that it makes a clear tick for such predictions. With the callousness with which our city planners give permits to constructions and turning a blind eye to unauthorized shops that suddenly sprout out of any crevice between adjoining buildings, fire accidents are dime a dozen and many go abegging without due notice. To make such predictions one doesn’t have to rake their brain over 60 years of Panchangam, but a mere look at their own streets and surroundings and having faith on the ill-fated government machinery is sufficient to be sure of a repeat of such calamities, not just in this year or last but in any year across any state in the country. The sad reality of this being the back-to-back calamities that have struck Japan. Right on day one of this year, they were rocked by a monster earthquake, triggering tsunamis and day 2 they’ve one of the worst air accidents ever in Japanese aviation history! The people of the “Land of the rising sun” must truly be praying for the rest of the year but considering that they’ve survived obliterating devastations before, its an easy bet that they will overcome these as well.

But nevertheless, 2024 has truly began with a bang and promises quite an eventful year already with over 60 countries, big and small, across the globe, going for elections, making it the year of the ballot. How many of the incumbents will continue and how many new faces will adorn the “throne” makes it an interesting year to watch out for especially with one PM of THE populous nation of the world planning on a hattrick of win. I personally have logged 9 books to read and with 2 of them progressing in parallel from last month of last year, hope to finish at least the identified quota by this year end. Lee child is the latest addition to the author list after being engrossed by the Reacher series on Prime. Hope the rest of the posts for this year have more positive and happy news from all fronts. Wishing you all a healthy and peaceful 2024.