Day 277 - Happy Birthday.....Almost!

As promised in my last post, this post covers all that happened on my birthday, which was on September 30th.  The fact that a lot of my friends were looking out for this post and in fact, asked for it, makes me assume that there is a demand for this out there.  So here goes.

Birthdays are special and so was this one.  Birthdays are also days when you realise that you have reached another milestone in your finite lifetime on this planet.  Another year gone, and hopefully a few more to go.  A few more to look forward to.  One invariably tends to veer towards thinking about what has been achieved till this day and what is in store for the next few years, at the least. 

However, this time around I had little time to do any of the above because, as fate (and the Supreme Court) would have it, this was the day when the Allahabad High Court was to deliver the much awaited judgement on the land title dispute for what is known as 'Ram Janmabhoomi'.  Given the sensitivity of the matter, there was a high alert in the entire country to prevent any ignition of violent acts due to religious fervour.  Most of evening on September 29th was spent in planning for the continuity of operations at work for various worst case scenarios.

Thursday, September 30, was a day when the whole country waited with bated breath for the verdict.  This was the single most talked about subject wherever one went.  However, for me the day started of early with surprises!  At the stroke of midnight, Priya sprang a surprise; an impromptu party, complete with cutting a small chocolate truffle cake!  The kids and the neighbours were co-conspirators!  Priya gave me a collage of the kids' pictures as a birthday gift. Wow!

Is this cake for me!?!

The Midnight Party!

Another surprise awaited me about 5 hours later, when my Dad called me to let me know that Mom had just boarded the flight to Mumbai for a surprise visit! So the first thing that I did on my birthday was to drive to the airport to receive her.

At work, there was one more surprise awaiting me.  Vikas and the entire team sang the Happy Birthday song as soon as I walked into my office!  I was floored.  Thankfully there were no birthday bums!

It is a great feeling when someone wishes you.  Even more so, when you get that phone call or note from friends with whom you have lost contact over the years.  Throughout the day, the wishes kept trickling in through various means!  Text messages, emails, wall posts on Facebook; it was all happening.  We are living in an age of information overload and instant connectivity and I truly saw its impact on this day.  For a while I was trying to reply instantaneously to everyone who was wishing me.  However, I was fighting a losing battle.  After a while, it was such a deluge, I just gave up.  I was able to wade through all the messages only by the next day. 

Also, I also took possession of my new apartment on Thursday in the morning.  The outcome of the verdict was known by 4.30 in the afternoon.  Thankfully, there were no violent reactions to the verdict, which agreed that the disputed place was Ram's birthplace, however, divided the title of the land into 3 parts.  Given that the country had accepted the verdict with maturity, I decided to venture out with the family and treat Priya, Mom and the kids to a pizza party in the evening at Papa John's.  The kids had been wanting me to take them there for ages.  The only sad note to my 'happy' birthday was known the next day morning. My mother lost her ring, most probably, the previous evening.  Frantic searches did not yield any positive results.

So, it was a day of surprises for me.  An action packed day with little time for introspection.  However I did re-dedicate myself to some of the goals that I had set at the beginning of the year.  I have been a little naughty with some of them, but nothing serious!  Should be back on track in a few weeks.  More on that later. 

Take care!