THERE is absolutely no need to be judgmental about how people should celebrate New Year -- parties, songs, and also what passes as dance ... ! May everybody have the right to celebrate New Year in any manner. May there be no uncalled for debate whether January 1 is New Year or not. For, when the society accepts certain calendar, then its dates have to be respected. Despite this, the loosefooter feels like asking a simple question to all those who tend to go berserk on New Year eve: Is that really the way to celebrate such a major change of Date? In most places around the city, the loosefooter found people subjecting themselves to hysteric music and dance that actually made little sense. People shook their bodies in every possible manner as a very loud music assailed their ears and senses. And that activity was known as dance. The loud music made it impossible for anybody to have a normal conversation. So, everybody shouted above the music -- and only added to the chaos.

 

In fact, many people have often complained about such a chaotic affair, yet nobody seems to have the courage to dare the wrong custom. Does that make sense? If the cops check drivers if they are drunk, they also can stop restaurants from keeping the music so deafeningly loud, and people’s conduct so chaotically wayward... ! And if drunken driving is such a crime, then providing drinks also should be considered one. For, in that wayward atmosphere, good numbers of people -- men, women and others -- tend to overdo everything, which may include consuming alcohol as well. How do we -- the larger society -- interpret such contradictions and paradoxes and double-standards ? Those who wish to celebrate New Year eve are free to make the choice. But in a civilised society, liberty and liberties are two different things. A similar difference is also between licence and licentiousness. As a civilised society, we must start learning to make the difference -- in thought as well as in action.

 

We must see that we become sedate in our celebrations so that we lend a sense of dignity to the festivity. For, what passes as music cannot be called music if it is so loud. In that case, it tantamounts to a terrible noise pollution -- assailing human ears with decibels that go are way above the toughest ear’s ability to bear nonsense. True, many may insist that the loosefooter is a boorish, old-fashioned person who wants to pass judgement on people’s collective conduct. Yet, as a scribe watching life for well over half a century, the loosefooter has evolved his own thinking about the nature of such celebrations -- and with that idea, there cannot be a compromise. The loosefooter does not mind celebrations a bit, but has a strong exception to register about the sense of loud waywardness that such celebrations often tend to be. Thank you ! n