Happy day before the first day of next year!

Today’s the last day of the year. But knowing you lot, you’re treating it as the day before the first day of the next year of your life. Facing December 31 feels like your tryst with destiny, when you’re going to take another Kumbh dip, cleanse all your liabilities picked up over the year, and reboot. Best of luck with that ledger-washing. Like Governmentji announcing targets of becoming a $5 tn economy by FY28 and a $30 tn one by 2047, you’ve also made resolutions – that you’ll abandon by Valentine’s Day.

Nothing, really, is safe from the hopeful delusion that a calendar flip will make everything drastically different: gym memberships, detox diets, learning French, enslaving AI, Maca (Make the Air Clean Again)…. Let’s be honest. Most of us will end up binge-watching shows in the next seven days, one of which we’ve already seen before. And do watch out for social media exploding. You know you won’t be reading anyone else’s New Year messages tomorrow – let alone after midnight tonight – except ‘speed-liking’ them. What you will do is track all those who did not ‘like’ your New Year Eve party pics as keenly as the Enforcement Directorate. End-of-the-year celebrations are like end-of-the-world predictions – they’re special in their own right. So, don’t think about tomorrow when you have tonight. Till another 365 long days.