2022 : The year gone by..

 A calendar year ends, another begins. There isn't anything special about this particular space-time point, or about this particular interval of time. A year is just a convenient time-yardstick that Mother Earth has provided us, the puny humans, to measure the tiny ripples of our tiny, insignificant lives against the backdrop of the infinity that we can scarcely perceive of.

Instead of falling down the abyss of the space-time continuum, we are given opportunities to get up, to start afresh, to make new resolutions (however silly and nonsensical most of them may be). So yes, it does make sense to take stock of the year gone by.

My realisation, with a growing sense of incredulity, of the past year (for a while now, in fact) is that TIME has started moving faster and faster. Weren't things supposed to slow down with age? Oh yes! It's relative, my dear Einstein! Age has slowed the body down, taking longer and longer to complete each task. No wonder days fly past, leaving the 'to-do' list hanging in the middle. The rusty old machine is working at a lower RPM! :(

Yet, despite the inevitable march towards a rapidly approaching 'senior-citizen'-hood, life makes it up by opening its rainbow-coloured wonder-box to take sustenance from.  2022, here it is, then.
 

The young one. She crossed her first big exam. Importantly, after some wild oscillations, finally seems to have found clarity about her destination, despite people refusing to give much credence to it. But I am delighted to see her taking purposeful baby steps towards intellectual independence. [And, thank you for our repeated trips to Appa Balwant Chowk, Pune's text-book district, and the mandatory cups of 'chaha'!] 💓

The somewhat older ones, a motley crowd of young undergrads. They have really kept me alive academically through this entire pandemic phase. Some projects done and dusted, some taking roots, and some still sitting at germination trays. But they have been tenacious and resourceful, working through innumerable constraints and hardships. And they have been infinitely patient through all the delays caused by this terrible slowpoke. Meanwhile, a gutsy young lady joined the police force of her state, another landed a superb job at one of the top software companies, yet another poised to begin his PhD in an excellent academic group, and despite circumstances another began her steep climb back towards an academic life. It has been a privilege and a delight to be part of a bit of their journey.😊

[Student & Project supervisor finally meet after a 2-year long (and counting) association, in Hyderabad.] 

Yes, I am equally guilty to a number of hapless collaborators who are waiting and waiting for me to turn in the promised calculation, the write-up, the comments.. Hoping to do better in 2023.

Finally, the senior citizen! Of course, the most treasured experience of 2022 has been being a part Prof. Srinivasan's `Golden' lecture course, delivered to mark the 50-th year of the Astronomical Society of India. Srini, notwithstanding health and other issues, took up the mammoth task of delivering a 40-lecture course on `Introductory Astronomy' for undergraduate STEM students, at the 'tender' age of 80+! I had the responsibility of preparing supplementary material for these lectures. It has been more than a privilege to work with Srini. We still have a few more lectures to go. I shall cherish the experience and the privilege.

[Srini, one of the best Astrophysics teachers in this part of the Galaxy.]

I guess I shall miss 2022 most for bringing me closer to Srini once more. 🙏