2015's First Sunrise...

As a child, I was always super excited about the first day of the new year. I loved collecting the newspaper in the morning and unrolling it to see the year's new digits emblazoned across the top. A new year. A new year. Cutting to the present, I have consistently been writing a year-gone-by-musing entry on 31st December in my journal for the last many years; however, I cannot remember the last time I wrote an ode to the first day though. That gleeful childish perception of new year = new beginnings and opportunities had long dissipated with time and I always found myself inclined to treat the day as any other mundane day (which is the way I am increasingly treating my birthdays as well!)

Rising

This year, though, I woke up early to go sunrise-glimpsing at one of my favorite beaches in Oman. When we arrived at the Corniche, there were only few people around; a couple of fishermen were standing by their boats, sorting through heaps of bright green and blue nets while others vigorously walked or jogged. Scrambling down to the beach, we observed sea-birds swimming in the sea or congregated by the waves, standing at the exact point where water meets earth, presumably to have breakfast. Whenever we approached them, they would swiftly rise up and fly in the air, en masse, sometimes in star-like constellations, other times, in a linear, pulsating line.

Hide and Seek

I am not a morning person - and so, watching the sun-rise is a hugely rare occasion for me. Today, as I alternately walked and paused along the shore, glimpsing the sun play hide and seek with the clouds, its light tinting the water in sherbet-colors, I found myself doubly admiring a sunrise's specific beauty -  and experiencing a surge of possibility that had eluded me for many a January 1st. I did not know what to attribute the change to - in any case, that was of little significance. What mattered was that sense of - potential.

Feather of Hope

I have lately developed a habit of summarising the years gone by in one-word descriptors; if 2013 was the year of 'play', then 2014 was subsequently 'lesson.' This morning, conversing with the sea and sky and the seemingly infinite spaces in solitude, a word suddenly and intensely sailed into my mind, like a meteor: 'creation.' It was not the time to ponder as to what or how exactly I would create; all I knew was that I had to create. And, so, with this message reverberating in my mind, like a tune of a song just heard and already become dearly loved, I have started my day and year.

 Here's wishing my readers a very happy, peaceful, healthy, and above all, fulfilling New Year!!