Ten Thousand Doors of January

January is right at the doorstep, knocking softly. 

Where on Earth did the last 12 months go?? I could probably do a highlight reel for this year  and get it over with... but the first thing I would mention in that highlight reel would be - I BOUGHT A KINDLE!!!!!!

Of course two weeks after that a better, more improved version was announced and I was heart-broken to realize that warm lighting and thinner bezels was not going to be something I would possess. Oh well. I am glad I have this one though.. And I will love it forever. (Atleast until it gives up on me. Most things do)

Among all the wonderful worlds I visited, one that seems apt to end the year, is the book called The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

To the uninitiated, Janus is the Roman God of Doorways, of Choices, of beginnings, of ends. The first month of the year, is dedicated to this God. In keeping with the theme, our protagonist - January -  lives a very odd, sheltered life. It always irks me to see children not being allowed to read. Some of the books that I have read, seem to have this as a centralized theme. Of all the scary things this world has to offer, not being allowed to read strikes me as a very cruel punishment that is handed out too freely. 

But I digress! This story is about doors, and as we reach a new year, some doors shut right in our faces, while some open...

Something that a younger version of me (what am I talking about, I would STILL want this) would have desperately sought was the power January possessed... to write something and watch it come true. I think one of the most powerful lines in this book that punched me in the gut was "The door opens just for her" and a door - newly made - quietly swings on it's imaginary hinges. She SHAPED her own REALITY. I got goosebumps!!

The TRUE power of words then, wouldn't be an imaginary fight b/w a sword and a disproportionately large pen, but rather b/w the wielder of the words and Fate. For no matter how much we wish, no matter how far up the stairway to heaven we are (see what I did there?!) , no matter one's influence, one's power - the ONE thing that NOBODY can control is their Destiny/ their Fate. That is a gift that only the Gods possess. If words could truly shape reality (and if you really really thought about it, you would realize that in their own way, they perhaps DO) , then it would imply that the person wielding the words had the powers of a God. 

And so we follow January, making her choices, opening Doors, unlimited power , potential surging through the book, and the reader desperately, DESPERATELY hoping that these things did indeed happen, that there were magical doors, that what one writes, truly does come true - logic, reasoning be damned. 

And this is where I leave you, my dear Reader. 

To ponder upon the wonders that we think up.

 To think about the God Janus and the choices He presents. 

To wait impatiently for January (the month!) in the hopes that we shall have it in ourselves to change reality this time, to be all the things we wanted to be , to pursue all the things we wanted, for we certainly did not in the past year.

To hope, to reflect, to wish, that our deepest desires - no matter how impossible - turned to reality, multiverses notwithstanding. 

Until next time,

DragonRider