MANIPUR'S REDEMPTION SONG FOR 2025

A good way to begin reconciliation in the strife-torn state would be to let the displaced return home to reclaim their properties and bring up their children in peace

- PRADIP PHANJOUBAM

It's a new year already. Even though there cannot possibly be any particular beginning or end point in a circle, there is nothing unreal about the euphoric mood of anticipating changes for the better associated with this supposed transition of an old year to a new one on January 1—an arbitrary date along the path of Earth's cyclic revolution around the Sun.

The consensus could have been on any other point along this path. Indeed, most traditional societies, including many in India, celebrate the start of Spring as the new year; perhaps more sensibly too, for it is more in rhythm with the life cycle of the plant world.

But even seasons are dependent on latitudinal and hemispheric positions of different geographies, and there cannot be a single new year date even by this principle. There is therefore nothing wrong or right about deciding January 1 as the beginning of a new year. What is beyond doubt is the overwhelming and universal sense of renewal this date brings.

This is another example of the power of fiction that humans became capable of creating, believing, and bonding themselves along on a large scale. Yuval Noah Harari explains this in Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. This capability is thanks to what is described as a cognitive revolution sapiens went through on account of a minor mutation in their brain wiring some 60,000 years ago. Other than fiction, this also gave them the ability to create and understand symbols, leading to complex languages far superior to sign language that was once theirs, and the rest of the animal world's primary means of communication.