How Many New Year Days are There in a Single Year?

How many New year days are there in a single year?

Naturally there is only one new year day, you would say. You are not quite correct my dear chap. In our land India, we have as many as 7 New year days. First, there is the Universal 1 January. Next, every region or State has its own calendar year and along with that a new year day. These 7 additional new year days don’t fall on the same day.

The Tamil New year day falls on 14 April . Not quite liking this date, the Chief Minister of my state has arbitrarily changed it to 14 Jan one fine morning last year and announced it in the newspapers. And just like that too. He didn’t consider it necessary to consult the people about it. So, all citizens of Tamil Nadu are confused. Should they celebrate 14 January or 14 April? One wag said, to be fair to both sides, why not celebrate both the days? School children loved the proposal. They could enjoy two holidays in the new dispensation.

School children these days are very well informed fellows and self thinking guys as well. They have proposed that the remaining six regions too could observe two separate days as new year days. Great. They have gone a step further. “If we celebrate two new year days, why can’t we observe two birthdays? We can then get more gifts.” A wonderful idea. Are the parents listening?

Applying the same concept ‘2 for 1’, one would think that we ought to celebrate the International New year day on two separate days – 1 January and 1 June ! Why not? More the merrier, don’t you think?

Some years back, we were observing another kind of year known as the Saka era in India. It had its own 12 months, each with 4 weeks. And according to the Government orders, we had to print both the dates in all official letters.

One day during a telephone conversation with a colleague in another station I happened to mention, “Please refer to my letter dated 25th Marghazi, Saka year 1874..” There was a long pause and he came alive crying, “What? What ? What?”. He re-inflated his lungs and added, “In which world are you dear fellow? You are sounding like Latin and Greek, eh?”

“Very much in India, brother. If you don’t believe me, see my letter dated

5 December 1995 …” “Yes, yes, that’s in front of me,” he confirmed. Why don’t you see to the left another date as “25th Margahzi, 1874 Saka”.

“Yes, yes, I see that,” he replied. It took him a few seconds to realize that his clerk too had been typing out two dates on all his outgoing letters without his knowledge ! In order to decipher the second date, one had to read the English calendar date.

Thank God, this practice had been given up in Govt circles some two decades back. . So, nowadays we give only one date in all our letters be they private or official.

In the same way, shouldn’t we abandon all regional new year days and stick to the International 1 January? Sorry children, you can’t have two many New year holidays henceforth nor more than one birthday in a year. OK?