Identifying a word that sums up what the world talked about round the year is an annual tradition for acclaimed dictionaries. What happens when people are asked to share a word that defines the year for them? From ‘acceptance’ to ‘gratitude’, here’s what seven people practicing various arts chose as their word for 2021

New Year’s Eve is at our doorstep and as people experience a rush of emotions, many are overwhelmed by an urge to reflect on their life in the past 12 months. As introspection and resolutions accompany the joy of celebrations, taking cues from the past becomes necessary to begin the new ride.

Every year, we see announcements of the ‘word of the year’, which best describes the top highlights of the year, by several renowned dictionaries. In 2021, the words ‘vaccine’ and ‘vax’ were chosen as word of the year by Merriam Webster and the Oxford Dictionary respectively. Similarly, Dictionary.com’s 2021 word of the year was ‘allyship’ and ‘perseverance’ was picked by the Cambridge Dictionary.

Mid-day Online asked seven people from different professions – a poet, painter and architect, among them – to identify one word that will define 2021 in terms of their life and practice in the best possible manner. Here’s what they had to say:

‘Rest’

“How do we encapsulate an entire year and its abstract meanings in a single word? Still, one word that I retraced in poetry and life (both indistinguishable at times) was rest. Rest was something many could not afford. It was yet the only thing that made sense when everything came undone. Rest was the only salve for helplessness when oxygen became elusive and when every breath turned into a precious commodity. It led to another day of survival in the face of systemic injustice and hatred. Rest became a way to cease action and be silent for a while. Rest is a privilege and a gift. It is also our right and something that I’ll never take for granted.”

– Anmol Arora, poet and independent journalist, Rajasthan

 

‘Self-Improvement’

“The times during the lockdown were definitely not easy for everyone. There were two sides to it. One, I could have sulked and cribbed about the bad things that were happening, or two, I could have made an extra effort to improve my skills in singing and music with the hopes of better times to come. I did the second and gradually I managed to do better. Once the lockdown was over, the new skills that I had gained started getting recognised and I was doing better professionally.

I started giving more time to my singing practice. The hours increased from two to three hours (before the lockdown) to seven to eight hours. I made more videos of me singing and shared it with people from the industry and event organisers, who were supportive and appreciative of my efforts.

As soon as the lockdown eased down and places started to open up, I started receiving calls for voice recordings and live gigs. I realised the value of improving oneself constantly. No effort ever goes to waste and I can describe this year as an opportunity to learn to keep working on myself amidst difficulties and uncertainties.”

– Ronnie PS, singer, Mumbai

 

‘Mumkin’

“There are so many beautiful words in Urdu that it is difficult to select just one. However, the word I would choose is ‘Mumkin’, an Urdu word which, like myriad others, is inextricably interwoven in the vocabulary which makes our lingua franca. ‘Mumkin’ is a common enough word meaning possible-achievable-doable. It is a positive word, a word of hope in these times of uncertainty.

This year it has been used prominently as a political slogan to portray the possibility of a bright future.

I truly believe that – Hindustan meñ har chiiz mumkin hai. Bas saath mil kar, ek ho kar, aagebadhnekizarurathai. (Everything is possible in India. Unity is all we need.)”

– Sanjiv Saraf, founder, Rekhta Foundation

‘Acceptance’

“Personally ‘acceptance’ is one of the few lessons for me this year. While the pandemic lurked over us with feelings of anxiousness and uncertainty, in both emotional and professional front, acceptance is what I embraced.  Covid-19 taking over our daily choices and decisions, there are so many situations and scenarios that we did not have control over. And learning to accept things as they are and growing with them helped me on all fronts.

Though 2021 saw the city bouncing back and art rebounding, I had two successful physical art shows. Looking towards 2022, I wish we continue with more physical shows to commemorate all of these coming together to create a powerful world filled with expressions.”

– Dr. Gunjan Shrivastava, artist, educator and co-founder of You Lead India Foundation

‘Gratitude’

“In the pandemic I have been fortunate enough to continue to work with the extraordinary artists we represent at TARQ. In the face of everything we have dealt with over the year, it has been a privilege to continue to be inspired by their work. Ultimately, the fact that we have seen all the artists we work with create immense work over an incredibly tough time, is truly inspiring, and I’m thankful to be able to work with them.”

– Hena Kapadia, founder, TARQ Art Gallery

‘Books’

“For me, it is not a word but a sentence that I read this year. Alexander Petri said in The Washington Post, “Books follow you home and pry open your head and rearrange the things inside. They make you feel things, sometimes, hope and grief and shame and confusion”. This is meaningful to me as I have used some of the time in the pandemic to get back to reading; I used to do a book a week, before the birth of my son. This time has allowed me to reconnect with the world of books, of reading, of faraway times and places and thoughts.”

– Samir D’Monte, principal architect, SDM Architects

 

‘Resilience’

“For me, the word of the year is “resilience”. I had a series of ups and downs throughout the year and it’s obviously difficult to fight back every time things get tough. But I somehow did muster the courage to do it, and although I’m still in the process of it, I’m happy that I did. This was a difficult year for almost everyone, and we’re still collectively grieving the loss of the ones we lost and the horrors of the pandemic. But I have seen people who went through the worst of it, and still had the endurance and determination to move on. That’s what resilience is for me, and I’m trying to learn from them, and so many more who wear it like a badge every day.”

– Harshit Bansal, 26, content creator, founder at Humans of Cinema

(With inputs from Maitrai Agarwal)