BIRTHDAYS GALORE

                                                                                        

Most of us welcome a new birthday each year with open arms… It’s the one time when you are on top of the world, made to feel special by family with friends across the world reaching out to you! It’s your day!!

If you are lucky and maybe extra special, you end up with 2 birth dates! Like most typical Indians blessed with a “pet” name and a “good” name, I have a “pet” birthday and a “good” birthday. The good birth date is the official one, remembered and celebrated by my banks, investment managers and not to forget, the Government of India. 

The pet birthday like my pet name, is saved for family and friends. It’s my true date which for reasons unknown was not put down at the time of school admissions. (I think my dad was keen on a particular school for me and without any qualms just altered the date to suit the admission requirements; easy-peasy in the good old days as home births didn’t come with a birth certificate!!)

So, here’s me: exchanging my privileged Gandhi Jayanti birthday for one in April leaving the gate open for April Fool jokes!! Also, this mismatch of dates has created enough unwanted excitement in my life. The inadvertent application of a passport in my pet birth date as a young teen, which had to be withdrawn post haste; filling it in various official forms and then giving a lame story to explain why I didn’t remember my own DOB!!! Over the years, I’ve become creative in re-hashing the same story so I don’t get bored repeating it to different officials.

This year, an extra twist was added to a year which has been unique in itself. Thanks to the extra household work, I was fretting n fuming when my staff did not turn up for work on 15^th August… Zilch response to my calls, nada sign of either of them.

Over an hour late, the doorbell rings… I’m ready to give it to them when I see the sweets and
flowers in their hands and birthday wishes on their lips! After all, one national holiday is the same as another. 15^th Aug or 2^nd Oct, it does not matter! Unlike poor Kumbhakarana, luckily Maa Saraswati held my tongue in my favour. No lashing out at someone bearing gifts for you! So, let’s celebrate a new birth date instead. 😊

 In the last 6 months, nothing has been regular. Home bound, cancelled holidays, professional life messed up, tons of cooking, housework, etc.  So, shouldn’t we welcome whatever little pleasures that come our way with a huge hug and smile? The clearer skies, the greener nature, the actual twittering birds, the family bonding times and yes, the unexpected third birthday too :P

15.08.20