At midnight , if the band wasn?t playing Auld Lang Syne, you were at the wrong party on New Year?s Eve! It?s not only the traditional way to bid farewell to the year gone by, it?s just what you need to get all mushy and sentimental; and if you didn?t get all mushy and sentimental in the last few minutes of the last day of the year, then your wife or girlfriend were at the right party, but with the wrong guy!

Sadly, many a New Year?s Eve party is just like any other party. Having emceed 31st nights ? for fun, and later funds ? ever since I was in college, I?ll take the liberty of passing on a top tip to last night?s emcees. Don?t worry, it?s for fun, not funds ? though you could square up later if we meet in a watering hole of your choice. A gift of the liquid kind would be just fine!

Here?s the tip: build up the party big time right till a few minutes to midnight; then stop; ask each one to be exclusively with only ?her? or ?him?; turn the lights down; let them all get cosy on the dance floor; play Auld Lang Syne; tell them to think about the year gone by ? the ups, the downs; the good, the bad; the good... the good...

That done, you can rock the party again with popular music; and come next year, when you?re doing it for funds ? not just fun ? don?t forget to let me know the name of the watering hole!

What is this Auld Land Syne thing, anyway? It?s an old Scottish song, with more than one version. It was only in 1788 that poet Robert Burns put together the version that is sung on New Year?s Eve. Literally, Auld Lang Syne means ?long time since? or ?long ago?. The first verse goes like this:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min(d)?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne.
(Chorus) For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We?ll take a cup of kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

We sometimes use ?drink? instead of ?take? and sing the last line as ?For the sake of auld lang syne?. No worries, even if you send Burns? lyrics up in smoke. If you didn?t do it yesterday, make sure you do it a year from now, even if it?s your own version ? sing it and get sentimental!

While the terror of a tsunami has washed away every fond memory of 2004, it?s time to move on ? to another year and a new beginning, when, hopefully, we will stop taking things for granted and in our own small way, make a contribution to ease the pain ? even a little!

It is customary at the end of a year for newspapers to bestow titles on people. They do this through caricatures and show a victorious two-finger sign to achievers and another, unmentionable two-finger sign to ditchers. Since the newspaper that I write for hasn?t asked me for any suggestions, I?m going ahead with my own nominations; but, being more prude than crude, all my two-finger signs will be of the victory kind. Here goes!

Calcutta Idol of the Year: Raju Hela, for the incredible faith he has in his talent. He whistles and sings while he works and sweeps his troubles under the carpet. The Pied Piper of St James School drew one and all towards him while he swept the classrooms. He became a star in the school after he sang at a school fest. The next step was an audition for the Indian Idol contest on Sony and before you could say ?Sonu? or ?Anu?, the failed car mechanic and circus artiste was on his way to Mumbai.

With a new set of clothes and loads of confidence, the sweeper who once slept on the pavement outside Amitabh Bachchan?s house was now going to enjoy the comforts of a five-star hotel.

Unfortunately, it was the five star bit that did him in. He ?lost his voice?, thanks to the blast of the air-conditioning ? something he wasn?t used to. Judges Anu Malik and Sonu Nigam were as devastated as he was, but they had to knock him out of the contest. A shattered Raju was back to sweeping floors, but clinging on to the belief that his future was with a mike in hand, not a broom. His faith paid off. Out-of-the-blue, he was invited to sing again as a guest and presented with jewellery worth Rs 25,000 and an offer from Sony to foot the entire bill for his formal training. Yeh Raju ban jayega singer!

Working Men of the Year: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Manabendra Mukherjee, for their efforts, effectiveness and endurance. Praise for their performances has come in plenty from the big boys who play, and have might. Wipro?s wise wiz, Azim Premji had this to say about Buddhababu: ?He is the best chief minister in the country!? Reliance?s big boy, Mukesh Ambani, had this to say about Minister Mukherjee, whose office works a 365-day year and a 14-hour day ? even through the Pujas: ?West Bengal is the only state that has an IT minister who works faster than Reliance!?

Small Wonder of the Year: Mukti Gupta, for being a pocket dynamite. Though frightfully young and physically tiny, she?s a giant. An IT entrepreneur, Mukti wants to go places, but prays that her heart remains in the right place. Recently, at the launch of Ved, her dynamic school administration software, she presented scholarships to four students who are battling the odds head on. As these children and their dazed parents who live in bustees in Dum Dum, Sonarpur, Belgachhia and Tiljala, broke bread with the principals of leading schools of the city, Mukti wiped a tear, as she admitted: ?I want to be a successful businesswoman who can give back something now ? not when it?s too late!?

Judging by the start she has made and her track record, achieving both goals is only a matter of time. As a teenager, Mukti and her friends raised Rs 10 lakh in under a fortnight, bought truckloads of food, clothes and medicines and drove all the way to Gujarat to personally distribute it to those who had been devastated by the earthquake in Bhuj. Our Little Wonder now wants to hit the highway to reach out, in her little-big way, to those devastated by the tsunami.

Woman of the Year: The late Amina Halim, for being caring, courageous and in control, like only a woman can. A gutsy, go-getter lawyer, Amina lived life to the full, even through years of chemotherapy. She joked about her wig and sometimes pulled it off only to see how those around her would react. Right till the end she kept making her father promise to start two charitable trusts with her savings. She may have lost her titanic battle with cancer last month, but she had her dream fulfilled a couple of weeks ago. At a memorial service attended by many whose lives she had touched as a friend and a champion of women?s rights, her father, Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, announced that the trusts had been set up. While one will reach out to women fighting the dual battle of cancer and poverty, the other will support young women who have the will to study further, but not the means.

I salute Amina as my Woman of the Year because the elements were so mixed in her, that nature might stand up and say to all the world: here was a woman!