India, Dec. 28 -- The outfit is ready, the tickets are booked, conveyance is mostly sorted, and if all goes well and no hooligans disrupt the festivities, it will be a happy New Year's Eve. In another scenario, none of the above is applicable: The new year will be welcomed from the comfort of the couch. Maybe all the necessary accessories will be thrown in: Hot chocolate, warm socks, fuzzy comforters, the works. There is ceremony.

The emotional labour of birthing the new year stays hidden behind it.

Like all transitions, the New Year's Eve is a curious in-betweenness of time and space (a friend says December-istan is a place). The heartbeat of a dream and prayer and hopes, not quite born yet. We don't want to jinx anything. We have to w...