Happy Birthday!

‘You want a big party or a big gift?,’ asked Praneet  and a small part of me said ,‘Both’.

Seriously, I don’t get people when they say they don’t like to celebrate their birthday. Excuses range from - ‘I am too old for this’, ‘It’s just another day’ , ‘I am getting old, what’s the fun in that’ to ‘It’s my kids time to celebrate their birthdays’. And the biggest cliche, ‘I have everything I could ask for , so I don’t want gifts’! 

No matter what my age, and the fact that I grow older every year, I love my birthday. I still feel the excitement that I felt as a young girl. Being woken up at 12  to a cake and flowers by the family, hugs and kisses from all of them. Phone calls , messages and emails from people who remember my birthday, meeting family and friends for dinner or a party, and of course receiving all the gifts! And yes, wearing something new. 

Weeks before my birthday at the hostel, there would be anxiety on who would accompany me on distributing candy. (That candy is ofcourse no longer available. It was Parle’s multi-coloured , hard boiled candy and my fav used to be the purple one). It used to be difficult to decide on which special friend to choose because the others would feel cut up. And you could tell who was friendly with you at that time - friends would dig into the bag and take a handful (or many handfuls) while the current foes would either turn away or take one! It was a day the teachers would smile a lot more at me and I would get out of trouble with less stress. Later, back home , it became a day when my friends and I would go to Nirula’s for pizza and chocolate milkshakes or ice-cream and a dinner with my big extended family.

Birthdays are something to be cherished. This is my only life as Preeti Bakshi Singh and I love every bit of it. If every day has to be a celebration, then this is the Bada-Din. The day I was born to touch people’s lives (for better or for worse) and to experience life in the manner I am supposed to. 

And every year, I thank the year gone by - because even the worst years brought something good and valuable to me. And when I look back, no year has been particularly horrendous even if I thought it was at that time. Last year was my apocalyptic year of sorts -my sister was diagnosed with cancer and there was turmoil all around. But the year was brilliant too - it strengthened my relationships with my family , I rediscovered my best friend in my sister, enjoyed the onset of teenage years of my kids and I wrote and wrote!! I found more friends than I lost and I found my peace. 

More importantly, my birthday is the one that makes me feel alive, happy, special ,loved , wanted and above all - blessed - that I have been given so much in my life. It helps me get a perspective on what I still want to do and what I need to do to achieve it. Above all, this is all I know - I want to live a life that is happy, healthy and fulfilling, surrounded by people who love me and who I love. 

So that when I am older, with a happy wrinkled face, I can look back on all these years with fondness and say - I LIVED!