ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Let's face it - it's been a tough year for many parts of the world. So if New Year's Eve offers an excuse to look at the future with hope, hey, we'll take it.
SIDDARTH MANGHARAM: Happy New Year.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Happy New Year's.
SIEGEL: Today, we checked in with a few people in different parts of the world, where it's already 2015.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
We reached Siddarth Mangharam in Bangalore, India, just before the clock struck midnight there. He and his wife were outside standing near their house on the seaside with a crowd of people.
MANGHARAM: We are now actually a minute away - a minute away from the New Year. It's a very electric atmosphere out here. People have started lighting up fireworks.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And he says people were lighting lanterns, too.
MANGHARAM: You know, these paper lanterns that people are lighting up and sending over the Arabian Sea for good luck.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Also lighting up the night? Cell phones.
MANGHARAM: There's a bunch of people - every second group is taking a selfie.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So more selfies in 2015. Get ready.
MANGHARAM: 10, 9, 8...
SIEGEL: So there's the countdown in Bangalore. On to our next stop.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Counting down in Cantonese).
SIEGEL: In Hong Kong, we reached a room full of young friends who counted down to the New Year in Cantonese.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Counting down in Cantonese).
SIEGEL: While they clinked glasses full of champagne, on the television, there were fireworks over Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AULD LANG SYNE")
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Cantonese).
(SOUNDBITE OF FIREWORKS)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And we're going to end this quick New Year's tour in Cape Town, South Africa. That's where we reached college student Tandie Nkosi. And Tandie, how have you been celebrating?
TANDIE NKOSI: Basically, I'm hanging out with some family and some friends. I'm on the street in our neighborhood. People are busy going up and down. There's a main street band and music is playing down loud, so yeah.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It sounds wonderful. Any traditions that happen in your neighborhood particularly?
NKOSI: Well, when it's 12 o'clock midnight, people basically - even if you were sleeping, you wake up, you come out on the street and you basically hug everyone you see. You can imagine almost a hundred people on the street hugging one another, wishing each other well wishes. So I'm sure you can imagine.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's a very joyful time this time of the year?
NKOSI: Exactly, it is. Basically, everyone is hopeful for the New Year that it'll bring them new luck and all the wishes they had throughout the year will come true. So it's that kind of vibe going out throughout the streets. Everyone is hopeful; everyone is just grateful to have made it into the New Year.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Happy New Year to you, and have a wonderful time.
NKOSI: Thank you so much, and happy New Year to you, too. And I hope all your wishes come true.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I hope they do, too. That was Tandie Nkosi. She is in Cape Town, South Africa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.