| Sunday, 22 December 2024 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
If you’ve been a longtime reader of First Principles, then you know that we have a special relationship with seasons and their changing. I’ve talked about solstices and equinoxes in earlier editions.
Well, yesterday was the December solstice, meaning for most of us (readers of First Principles) in the northern hemisphere, it was the winter solstice. It was our shortest day of the year. In India, we had a “day” composed of 10 hours and 19 minutes, as compared to 13 hours and 53 minutes when we had our summer solstice on 20 June.
In Bengaluru, we are enjoying the handful of our coldest weeks of the year. They’re mild compared to the bone-chilling winters of northern India, but that doesn’t keep us from part complaining about, part enjoying them. What’s winter if you can’t tell others how (brrrr…) cold it is, no?
This is also the last First Principles edition of 2024, since next week, we’ll run our annual recap, like we did last year. For a change, I’m looking forward to not writing but instead reviewing, dreaming, soaking, mulling, and lazing. I want next week to be my week of fallow.
I also want it to be my week of laidback reconciliation. It’s such a fascinating word and concept, with such different interpretations.
Finance teams associate it with the tallying of accounting books at the end of a year, with the objective of trying to identify and resolve inconsistencies. The goal is to find differences.
Others view reconciliation as a way for disagreeing parties to work together to become friends again. The goal is to move beyond differences.
But I like the definition that encapsulates both—“to restore to harmony”. How can we reconcile ourselves as the year draws to a close? That’s our theme for this edition.
Like always, my colleagues and fellow writers have lots more for you too.
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