23 and how!!!

“So, how did your day go?” – a cliched question immediately after a birthday! I got these a-plenty! But for once, I was ready to reply to this cliché! Naah, not one of those sarci replies I usually end up giving, but an honest one!

To start with, it turned out to be a three-day long birth’day’! The actual day happened to be a Tuesday. But I was planning to go out with family, and maybe even, treat them in advance, on the Sunday before my bday! Abychayan (my bro) and Nisychechi (his wife) will be in Pune on Tuesday and hence, an early celebration will do no harm (Yea right! Who wouldn’t mind long celebrations?) But the plans remained just that—plans! Pappa wasn’t keeping too well and hence, we had to cancel the much awaited treat at KFC! And with me not going for my usual Sunday ICPF meet, the day… evening rather, was turning out to be rather dull! Bro and chechi went out for some shopping! And my net connection was still down. So dull was the feeling that I went for a little nap at 615 in the evening! Woke up at 7 having nothing much to do, but watch the T20 match! No, India wasn’t playing! They had already lost to the Kiwis by 10 runs! So, there you have it! What a waste of a Sunday evening! Or so I thought it was!

Lisammama (my aunt) and Siji (her daughter and my cousin) came over! I love to irritate Siji for any and every little thing she does and does not do! Then, a call from a good friend! The evening suddenly seemed to have taken wings! While on the call, Julia (my cute little 3 year old niece) walks in with her parents and Jestin (my nephew) with his mom! I am still on the phone, with my house all of a sudden abuzz with noises from the kids! Abychayan and chechi comes back from their bit of shopping! I am still completely unaware of the hidden agenda behind everyone turning up all of a sudden. Didn’t seem new to me! This ‘gathering’ has happened way too many times earlier! It was only when Lisammama spilled the beans that it struck me why chechi had carried the Monginis bag as she had walked in! It struck me then the reason for the sudden invasion of all my cousins! To cut a long story short, chechi, the conspirator-in-chief and Abychayan, the co-conspirator, had set it all up when they went out for shopping, calling my cousins to come over!

Turned out to be one lovely family get-together! Of course, the Dutch chocolate cake was as yummy as it looked, if not more! The ‘2’ melted and ‘3’ had broken down by the time I cut the cake (talking about the candles)! But it was the cake that mattered! Then, there was chicken lollypop too! According to chechi, my bday “will be incomplete without chicken”! Bang on! A little jig, by the ‘baccha party’ (Julia, Siji, Jibi and Jestin) and yours truly, later, the surprise party was over! A first ever for me and how I loved it! So, thank you Abychayan and chechi! Love you guys!

Monday—the smell of actual birthDAY being just round the corner, is something irresistible! At times, I wish this day would never end! At certain other times, I want it to pass asap! Wishes started flowing in from late night on Monday from some sweet friends, who admitted staying awake at 12 would be a tough ask and hence, wished me about half an hour in advance!

Tuesday—calls right on from midnight (or a little earlier)! The bday song welcomed 18th of September on the first call from a friend, who thought she missed out my bday on the 16th (had informed her about the happenings on Sunday). Then the calls flooded in! And messages too, from those frustrated they couldn’t get through as their call was on “waiting”! I picked up the calls with a “thank you very much” even before the wish came through! I was really touched at the frequency of the calls I received on the midnight of the 18th of September! Especially at the efforts made by some friends to continue trying and call back despite having to “wait” for their turn! Another sweet friend, who I know sleeps by 11, woke up at 12, barely managing to open her eyes! Tried my number! Couldn’t get through! Woke up again 10 minutes later to give me a call, which I eventually did receive!

Never have I received so many calls at midnight for my birthday! The usual culprits (read BJ, Merw) were finding it tough to get through! But they waited and did call! I was on seventh heaven even before the sun had risen! The calls continued till 130! I wouldn’t dare to complain for sleeping late! It was only then that I realized that I needed to make a call that was the most important of all! A call to my loving Father up above! To my Saviour Jesus Christ! If it wasn’t for His grace, if it wasn’t for His loving kindness, if it wasn’t for His goodness, I wouldn’t have been seeing this night (one of my earliest posts is one of the reasons)! I thanked my Abba Father and bid the midnight goodbye to be woken up by more calls in the morning!

I still had to make a choice of whether or not to go to office! Eventually decided, it’s better to go rather than to lie on a birthday about the ‘reason’ for me bunking! So off I went towards office with more calls accompanying me all along the way! Decided to make the most out of my ‘visit’ to the office. Made sure everyone from our department wished me! Had to ‘bribe’ them all with a 5Star of course! But doesn’t matter! 23rd Bday was a “birthday of many wishes and a few surprises”! If I thought what happened on the 16th was my last surprise for some years to come! I was in for another little surprise! My friends from office bought a cake and made me cut it while during the break! Another sweet little surprise that I’d remember for some time to come and would take some doing for me to forget!

And as the birthday drew to a close, calls kept coming! And of course, there were plenty of scraps too!

Edited on 20th Sep: And just when I thought the storm had calmed down, my two lovely friends from Bangalore, whom I had never met, Feni and Deepa, decided to give me another surprise (Jeez!! I'm using this word for the nth time now)! Saw a beautiful card lying on the tea-table! Checked the name! Yup! All the way from Bangalore through courier!

Updated on 26th: Actually, this update was long overdue. On the 22nd to be precise! Got a gift from a friend (who passed it through another friend) whom I’ve never really interacted in person! As I check the wonderfully designed pack, it read, “check out the 23 reasons that makes you special”. I open the packet with some curiosity (as is the case with everyone who opens a bday gift)! First thing I see is a stuffed toy! A monkey/teddy with a specs (Chechi told me later that it was self-made). Next, I get a handful of chocolates in a mug with a cartoon of a little baby with the number ‘1’ next to it! And I was still wondering what the 23 reasons were when I look into the packet and finds quite a handful of cards! Self-made cartoons! This was made by the friend herself with cartoons of little Blessen (she considers me a kid although I am a good 2 years elder to her) on the front and the ‘reason’ inside! The cartoons resembled the reasons! And guess what? There were 23 of such cards all made by that sweet friend herself! She later told me that it took her about 2 weeks to make all that! As was expected, I was on cloud nine or maybe even above that! Could never have imagined someone investing this much time for my birthday! So, thank you so very much Pooja aka Kichoo! Will treasure that for a long long time!

Indeed one of my best birthdays ever! Made very special by the people I mentioned above! So, thank you guys! I love you all! May my Lord Jesus bless you all in abundance!

PS: This might just seem a little dull/boring to those reading! But I couldn’t help but mention everyone who made my birthday special!