how is it alright for the world to become a cold empty place, echoing with the sound of nothing but silence? no more the sound of laughters, of little feet running so busily, of adults chatting about anything under the sun, of biscuits crunching and of soft drink cans opening. yes, nostalgia is indeed hitting me full blast, or perhaps old age reminiscence?

when i was little, memories of my chinese new year was just that. adults gathering into different social groups chatting about whatever holds their fancy. delicious arrays of sweets, cookies and tit-bits on the table that seem to be more alluring than the main buffet table. mothers not bothering if the children are feasting on the food or the cookies because they have too much on their hands. red packets that frankly we never cared too much about because we never get to see the daylight of the cold hard cash anyway. groups of visitors coming and leaving. my favourite part was dipping my hands into the cooler box filled with ice-cubes, cold water and soft drinks. many other people of my age share similar memories. of the good old times.

it doesn't really seem that long ago, but life has certainly changed so much. now, nobody is around for the chinese new year. say the word and people actually shiver at the idea of the money to fork out for the red packets, or the stress of holding such a gathering and the noise and crowd. such grumpiness for the start of a new lunar year. or is it just the people around me?

it should be the time for catching up on a whole year of someone else's life, the time to let down your hair and forget about work for a little while, to see how big your little nieces and nephews have grown or so-and-so's daughter. remember? the one that you were so close with in college donkey years ago but can't even spend one minute to catch up with in the past few years? if not during the new year holidays, then when? it's the time to peel open some kuaci, to sit around with your nice clothes on and do nothing more than play cards, eat sweets or munch on some mandarin oranges. these days, people fall over themselves in a rush to the line at their travel agents for the fastest flight out of here, be it to japan, australia or even timbuktu. then again, to each his own, i always say. after 364 days of hard work, some may just want to get away from it all. who am i to say?

visiting friends and relatives seem to be a distant memory of the past. our generation seems to prefer 'escaping' from the new year. so, will our children, the generation thereafter forget the customs and the meaning of a traditional new year ?

a new year passed is another 365 days gone. how did we mark it?