Month: August 2021
22nd July 2021
When I celebrated my birthday last year, I made most of a “once in a lifetime lockdown birthday”. Lil’ did I know that a year later, I’ll still be celebrating the birthday with restrictions. What was more depressing was that Singapore had opened up, raising hopes of having a fancy dinner plan, lunch plan etc. for my birthday week. But the new restrictions (no dine out, only 2 ppl allowed, no indoor activities etc.) started on 22nd July itself, putting a kink in all plans Viraj made. It was classic Viraj proposes and Singapore (SG) government disposes situation!
All our birthdays were during heightened alert and while Viraj had a quiet birthday party, Sam had 5 different parties to adhere to the restrictions. For 10 days, I nagged Sam on “how lucky he is” to have 5 parties only a month later, my birthday celebrations gave him a perfect chance to say the same.. But he’s been a perfect gentleman! 🙂
22nd July started off with a midnight celebration. One of the few perks of moving to SG was that all folks can be “fully awake” 930 pm India time to wish me at midnight. Everyone wished, we cut the first cake (from a brilliant Japanese bakery) and then saw some Netflix and chilled.. I stayed up until 430 am reading my birthday notes since 2005 and making the most of my “last birthday with 3 in tens’ place”.
In the morning, Sam gave me the sweetest gift ever – a handwritten note in Marathi (I’ve been asking him to take lessons from folks back home during this vacation). With this lovely start of the day & next 3 days of leave, Sam and I made plans “in line with the restrictions”. We went go karting, did some shopping and walked around a bit. Through the day, I connected with many friends, relatives and strangely enough – even if we spoke annually – the conversations were effortless like we spoke regularly! Day ended with a zoom quiz on me where my sisters, Sam and parents competed on how well they know me. It was designed very much like Ross’s quiz for Monica-Rachel & Chandler-Joey but with insightful questions on me. The answers made me realise how well they all know me – which was cool and scary at the same time. The competition was very close and though Shraddha won it, the answers they gave could serve as potential lifegoals for me 🙂
Over the next 3 days, I had friends coming over for birthday celebrations. Food, cake for each party, playdates for kids in the evening – basically end-to-end coordination was done completely by Viraj. And all of it without me having an inkling! The happiness of a surprise doesn’t reduce with age and that was evident in every celebration that followed. Not knowing who was coming that evening & guessing the names was as much fun as were the long conversations with friends.
Going to 10 bakers to get that perfect cake, thoughtful gifts from all, or making time for me & having a stimulating conversation, made my day special.. It gave that warm fuzzy feeling deepdown of realising how lucky I am!! Every birthday note I read the other night, had that as a common thread. The birthday week ended with 4th cake cutting, delicious food and a game of cards! No office work for 4 days – became the cherry on top, driving the vestiges of depression due to new restrictions, away.
The last year was a strenuous one but almost flat in terms of growth. It was more about doing the same things and doing it well but somewhere I feel I’m slipping back into my comfort zone. Change is necessary & therefore, the verdict is still out on how I’ll rate this year. And while I don’t have any concrete answers yet, I know that in the coming year, there’s need to focus more internally and setting goals that would help me achieve the much needed balance in life.. But not everything is so serious because, gotta remember next years’ birthday has to be legen-wait for it- dary!!
Finally, a heartfelt thanks to everyone to who only make me feel younger by pampering me & making my celebrations special by just being a part of it!!
Sharmili's Minded Mindlessness 