After waiting for 365 days, the first of January finally arrived. Yes, I am talking about New Year 2006, which we ushered in with great pomp and celebration all over the world. With the New Year, your indoor plants as well as each living being have become a year older.

This is yet another reason to party. Some resolutions as usual have been kept while the others broken.

“You’ll have a great year ahead. A Leo will be of great help to you. The moon is on your side. Just don’t let the moon slip away,” goes a prediction. Some insights are encouraging and the others are cryptic. How will the New Year be according to an astrologer?

Talking of horoscopes, I have always found them to be very interesting. My sister is a firm believer in her favourite astrologer’s horoscopes. But I am a different case altogether. I only believe in horoscopes when they predict events in my favour. I always wonder what time and future really are? Is time just a mere theoretical concept or is it a dimension, as stated in physics. Can future really be foreseen? Did prophets like Nostradumus really foresee it?

What if one day we were able to foresee our future? Wouldn’t it be great to foresee the day in advance? What would life be like if we could avoid everything that is painful and tread the path full of happiness? But on giving it a serious thought, I realised that life would not be as exciting if there weren’t troubles.

How would one feel if s/he knew everything about the future? If everyone could predict the winning number of a lottery there won’t be any excitement left and everyone would get rich easily. If everyone stood first in class then what will be the significance of coming first?

People say that one man’s joy is another man’s sorrow. A man may be happy just because another man is sad. If everyone can foresee the future, life will become monotonous and boring.

After all, time is like a mystery that can never be solved, perhaps. I cannot predict the future but can always create my own future in the New Year.

So while reading this year’s horoscope, let the puzzle remain. Appreciate the astrologer’s work but at the same time try to create your own future in 2006.