Friday, March 11, 2011

ITS MY BIRTHDAY !!


It has become a common ritual now , Prashanth and Archana call me before I wake up ( I dont blame them , not their mistake , some how I sleep late on this day ) and then I speak up , slowly opening my eyes and we exchange our wishes .They wish me on my birthday and I wish them both "Happy Anniversary". And then I immediately enter into a confrontation mode with Archana that its her turn of throwing a party . We look ways to refer to the pending parties which are cleverly designated as "Beautiful day" , "Wonderful Day" , "One fine Day" by some of our friends ( Long story, cant explain in detail , some other time ) . Neither of us agree on something concrete and Prashanth breaks our discussion saying "Lets meet up in the evening" and we hang up.

I get up thinking "So , its your birthday , So What am I supposed to do now ? " . Not that I dont remember my moms words ringing in my ears from last night " Get up in the morning , Go to temple " . I get up but fail to visit the temple , something stops me from doing it . Of couse , I have ready made reasons to tell my mom before she complains.

As a child , it was all that good . Buddies wish you in anticipation that you would end up giving them chocolates. And I always dissapointed many people. I used to call my usual buddies to my home . Every one turns up in the evening and my mom cooks nice biryani and feeds them all. It was good because people used to come to my home and we enjoyed a lot. Probably thats why I liked my birthday then. In my teens , my 4 little buddies from school who still remember my birthday used to come with a gift and I used to take them to a remote dhabha in Warangal everytime. We would complete 1 beer each and walk out with stuffed sweet pans so that it doesnt smell and we walk and look normally at home . I still doubt it was a convincing act for my parents to believe . It was the only day , when all the 4 used to meet me at once and I liked my birthday because of that . With time , the definition of Birthday changed in my life and so did my idea of a birthday . Slowly I somehow dint enjoy this day . I never told anyone about my birthday and nor did I like anything about it .Every birthday after my teens , I sit quietly and ask myself " So tell me Vicky what does your birthday mean to you ? " . I have 100 thoughts coming to my mind , but nothing convincing to satisfy myself.

I always failed to seperate my birthday from my other days , I sleep the same , I walk the same , I think the same . Yeah , I remember this day changes my fate in terms of age , like finishing 20's to entering 30's , I understand it makes a big difference to many , not to me . Some tell me "Go have a blast , drink and get high" . Yeah , I do that occasionally , so that doesnt make this day special ? .

With years of thoughts ,I had to come to an unanimous conclusion that, dont tell anyone , keep it off in FB/Orkut , just live as it is .Now , I dont believe in birthdays , I am the same bad man yesterday , I will be the same man today , probably it will not change anything tomorrow . The only thing I probably like about the concept of birthday is " I like people remembering me specially on this day" and nothing else. And next time dont be surprised when you see me throwing parties on others birthday and gifting them presents , thats because I dont like them to give the treat instead I would host a party and make them feel that I remember them dearly on their birthday . Yes , its a big thing in this changing world . I think this sentence would make more sense to you with years to come.

This year too , I went to office , did my best to justify my salary , and I walked off little early , Prashanth asked me , to be there @ 7:30 . I followed his instructions and reached there thinking I must be late . No , I was the early bird . Both Archana and Prashanth arrived with their cute girl and we exchanged greetings. Shortly joined by Dileep and Ramya, other close allies of mine. Conversations kicked off , one started pulling other , one complained about one's food preparations , one complained about investing Masala Dosa on one , the usual pranks continued ..... There was a time I almost went back in time , moments of past started appearing in front of me .


I still remember , me walking up to Prashanth and Archana and telling them " Guys , you have to work on 18 Jasper reports , which needs to be changed " . And before I doing my calculations , they would have told themselves " You take 9 , I will take 9 ". They started by sharing their work and now they share their lives . Sometimes I feel probably thats the reason they like me and call me for everything that happens in their lives . Thats Because I gave them work together .

I remember moments like when I once went to Dileep when he just joined as a fresher and I asked " How are you doing with your task ?" . He replied " I am first trying with a sample application , I think I will complete it in X time". I never intended to ask his delivery time , I was just making him comfortable but was puzzled with his typical fresher reply , "Answer with a timeline attached ". I could understand his reply seeing the project pressure around . I smiled back and left . He later on ,was with me in thick and thin times.

Ramya , i always knew about her more from her friends but never in person , probably it is out-of-fear or chosing not to speak with strangers we never spoke much , Once on a weekend , I was working at office and I was playing a song called "Aao Na " from "Kyun ho gaya na " and she hesitatingly and carefully asked whether I could share her this song . She must have double thought of it before asking me . She looked so frightened then. Now we get along well.

With all these thoughts rolling scene by scene , It took a phone call to bring me back to my senses. Now that I am with all those people from the past , when I think , it makes me feel how everyone knitted along so well with time , and did well in their lives . I get a feeling like I was standing still while these guys grew up , ditched the dust around , packed me up and taken me along with them . It feels so so good to think back.

As all good things come to an end , our short stint of time had to end , We all left greeting everyone "Bye" and I left with lots of striking memories .

I reached home and when I sat down , I felt the happiness I used to feel in my childhood . Dont know this is how one needs to spend a birthday or this is the way it was actually designed to be - Spend with someone who can make you remember your past , both good and old times ? . I never agreed on one particular definition of birthday , but I am sure this is not going to happen just once a year , this is definitely going to repeat itself , but Im glad this time it happened on my birthday giving some meaning to it.

PS : Ramya,Dileep,Prashanth and Archana - If you are reading this , Thanks for being part of my memories and for making me remember once in a while.