New Beginnings 

Mridula Kaul

Namaskar all!! Navreh or the Kashmiri new year is upon us and I want to start out by wishing each and every one of you and your loved ones good health, joy, love and the ability to be nourished and renewed. 

Navreh which is close on the heels of Sonth marks the beginning of spring. Spring, vasant, bahaar – the end of the winter and all that is cold and bleak (although I do think the U.K. regularly misses THAT memo!) and the start of longer days, Mother nature in bloom and growth. Spring is a case study in resilience. No matter if the Beast from the East has decided to wreak havoc or the Wrath of the North pays a visit (yes, I made that up), you will never find a tree that is not trying to grow shoots or a crocus that is not desperate to make an appearance, even if it’s short-lived. Why, you ask, are you giving us a lesson in the obvious? Please indulge me if you will. 

I received some news from home yesterday, of someone within the extended family, passing away under circumstances that have been heartbreaking for their family. None of the details are relevant but what does matter is why I am choosing to talk about it. In today’s age of instant validation and the disastrous tendency to exaggerate both success and failure – think ‘I am a star’ because I have 200,000 followers and the ‘I am a failure’ vs ‘I have not got the result I thought I was going to get’ response, both of which have a devastating impact on individuals and society as a whole. We seem to have forgotten that Rome was not built in a day and we have almost certainly forgotten how to be resilient. That said, this article is by no means an instruction manual on how to deal with life or indeed here to pass judgement as we all live our lives in the best way we can. 

Instead, I leave you with a thought for when you look at the ceremonial ‘thaal’ tomorrow morning. We will all be grateful for all that will be kept on said thaal including ‘anne’ and ‘dhan’ and pray for a healthy, joyful and prosperous new year. In addition, I ask you to spend a little more time looking at yourself in the mirror tomorrow. Make a vow to be kind to yourself, to pledge some time for your own wellbeing, to acknowledge that you yourself are divinity (‘Shivoham’), to remember how much you are loved, to recognise what actually matters, to take 15 minutes from the 24 hours you’ve been given to replenish yourself in whatever way that nourishes your soul and to embrace yourself, warts and all. 

So I come full circle to where I started (see I told you there was a method to my madness) – have you ever seen a plant go back into the ground because it wasn’t happy with the way its shoots turned out? It continues the way it is and the only commitment it makes is to grow, onwards and upwards. Here is to new beginnings, growth and resilience. Navreh poshteh all. Lassiv tuh pholliv.