Nice, quiet end to the doughty noughties

Most of my previous New Year Eves were spent working at the copy desk back home in Calcutta, India, till a colleague came by and informed me that another year had ended.

But 2009 was a special year. For the last 10 months I have been in, and growing up with, Beijing - marveling at the grand scale and flawless handling of the CPPCC conferences held at the Great Hall of the People in March; walking along a spruced-up Chang'an Avenue in September, watching the illuminations, defining and highlighting the historic buildings as a lead-up to the Republic's 60th anniversary celebrations in October, getting my anti-H1N1 jabs in November.

I wanted to see how Beijing rung out the old and embraced the new, up, close.