Dehradun, Jan. 1 -- "Years turn. but memories return." That, I've learnt, is the quiet truth of every New Year-especially for those of us who have lived long enough to collect stories like heirlooms, each one carrying the patina of another passing year. Some treat it as just another day. Others see it as a milestone-an excuse to turn up the music, raise a toast, share laughter, and let the night leave a mark on the heart. My own New Year celebrations over the years have worn both moods with equal honesty. Once it glimmered in the shadow of grandeur, when the Burj Khalifa lit up the Dubai sky amid fanfare and deafening applause. And once it glimmered in silence, beside a forest gate, deep in Madhya Pradesh, where stars shimmered brighter t...