Dealing with the last quarter of the year

So it has happened ladies, gentlemen, and friends beyond the binary. The last three months of the year have arrived. Its the phase where we recalibrate the targets and goals we set at the beginning of the year. I am no scientist, but I firmly believe that time has begun to fly by much more quickly since the pandemic. Since that ill-fated year when time and space began to mean different things to us usual pegs of time such as months and years have begun to mean less and less to us all. While we human beings might credit ourselves as the apex creatures on Earth, we are not very different from hamsters running inside the wheel of time. It begins in the first quarter, from January to March. That is when our goals are fresh, our dreams are piping hot. Health goals are discussed, and financial dreams are set in motion through new, shiny pipelines. The journals are journaling, the planners are planning, and the supplements are supplementing. Its still winter, so most of us are stylish versions of ourselves. Life is good. Then comes the second quarter from April to June. Even though the clock is ticking, we dont take it too seriously. Years spent crumbling under the Indian education system have made us Pavlovs Students we automatically associate the months of April and May with summer vacations. As the sun begins to smile warmly, we retire into our flats and dust off the ACs. The goals become a little flexible, but we are all busy with the end of the financial year. Tax details become taxing, and TDS forms become tedious forms. But a silver lining appears in the form of an orange fruit the mango. As we consume mangoes like fiends, the heat of this quarter seems like a worry that can be washed down with buttermilk. Life is reasonably okay. It is in the third quarter that we are truly caught off guard. Summer gives way to the rains. Snails crawl out of their shells, and RJs begin chirping about Ilayaraja and samosas. After the intense heat of the previous quarter, the months of July - September seem like the first half of a rom-com. This is also the quarter of festivals Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Rakhi, Onam and Navaratri. E-commerce sites know this, and tempt you with offers. A Bluetooth speaker? Sure! A jacket youll never wear? Bring it on! You spend your nights recovering from parties and before you know it, the last quarter is looming over you. A sense of existential dread arrives, as the sun completes the last leg of its lap around the sun. The goals lie forgotten in journals, planners and notes. Even though you pretend to be nonchalant about it all, the truth remains that most of your dreams havent been achieved. But since I stand in the twilight of my 30s, I realise that goals are mere mirages. They are never fully fulfilled, and are shapeshifting boggarts who take the form of your biggest fears. Ive been watching Jane Goodall videos for a week now, and she said something profoundly chimportant in her interviews. Even someone as accomplished as her felt existential dread. Then who are we mere mortal primates to escape those thoughts? So this year, my crumbling dreams can take a hike. I shall order jackets and winterwear, and calmly watch the Earth complete its lap around the sun. To exist is to have existential dread. Everything else is digital marketing. (The writers views are personal)