Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das | Ring out the old and ring in the new, goes the famous line. In reality, it’s easier said. One can’t chuck the circumstances one is in. Can you help us interpret the ‘ring out/ring in’ line for us?

Now this is a bit of a longish question. So let’s get directly to Dr Bhaskar Das in the January 6, 2022 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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Q. Ring out the old and ring in the new, goes the famous line. But in reality, it’s easier said. You can’t chuck the circumstances you are in, you can’t rid yourself of your friends and family. Or your job or business. Can you please help us interpret this ’ring out/ring in’ line for us?

A. ‘Ring Out/ ring in’ is like a quintessential Hamletian dilemma facing human beings. But life is about making choices and every choice involves sacrifice. You can’t take a perfect decision. You take a decision and make it perfect. They term it an optimisation, given the operating constraints. If you get hidebound by ‘easier said than done’, you would be in a quagmire and get stuck by analysis-paralysis for reaching the so-called flawless decision. So, if you want to move forward always, you have to ring in the new and ring out anything that is outdated. The choice is an individual’s.