31 Birthday

No candles to blow, no cakes to cut and smear the cream over my face. It was a different one this year. Should cakes and candles only be the norm? Why can't birthday's be celebrated otherwise? Want to know how my day was? Go down and read.....

Today is my 31st birthday; there is nothing special about birthdays. This is yet another normal day. Well does that mean every day in life is eventful and filled with fun and frolic? Not at all, happiness and sorrow is in the mind, just like beauty in the eye of beholder. I don’t know when the concept of celebrating birthdays evolved. 30 years of my life has gone by and Saturn has taken its second round across the Cancer, he was sitting in Cancer while I was born and he has come around for the first time to wish me.

Mom made some pudding (payasam) this morning and I had a scoop before got out of the house. I was surprised this morning from SMS on my mobile. There were 7 messages waiting for me to wakeup. There was a SMS from one of my friend from high school which raised my eyebrow. It was a local mobile number and I had last seen him when I was in college (1995). He is a marine engineer and has come down to shore to spend time with family and take up his exams for the next level. I called him up to let him know that he surprised me, but he made a feel heavy sharing a lot more happenings in his life. While answering phone calls at one end I finished my morning prayers. Mom rushed into the prayer room with a sheet of paper and she was happy. The Insurance Company was paying out some bonus and that check came by the morning mail. Well I thought it was a gift from God and I decided to use it for Charity.

Well we all plan our birthdays, vacations, and routines but how many of us plan our spiritual lives? Well for the past few birthdays I have been planning on my journey towards God. I have made a list of milestones to achieve enroute towards God and I was checking today if I had made any progress. Every birthday I write down on a 4*4 card the list of things that I need to put in practice and with timelines. I pulled out the card and I was a little guilty and nervous. I had made an elaborate list last year and when I went through the list I was able to score off only a few. I wrote down a few more achievable ones for this year and put back the card in a visible spot. For once I realized “Goals are objectives with timelines”. I could hear my heart pound, and the time bomb was ticking outside. I realized I was getting late to work, I had picked up a sweet box on my way to work so that my boss won't look at his watch when I enter late.

Well I am at work and headed in a few minutes to the doctor. I have been diagnosed with varicose veins on my right calf and had a Doppler done on my lower limb to confirm the same. I will meet the doc to take the next course of action to have this treated. Well the sign of oldage is definitely showing on me. Age with grace and respect is my motto.

I was home last weekend and had to do some errands. My family is traveling to Delhi tonight and wont be back till early next week, this means I am home alone. I have to make my meals, and lot more responsibilities are on my shoulder. I am getting late, let me get going. Will catch you this weekend with more travelogues.

I reached home by 8.30 pm tonight and I received a call from an ex-colleague. She is a well accomplished piano player and she played the birthday song for me. I just overwhelmed by her love and affection. More than the birthday song or the wish it was the care that each one took to make my day happy. Well the Doc has prescribed oral medication and a bandage to wear around my calf going up all the way to my thigh.

Emails and phone calls gave me an opportunity to hear your voice, read your heart and roll back to those halcyon days, well birthday is just an excuse to hear from a friend. If each of us can take the phone and call a friend and let him or her know that you thought about her or him and cared about her, it would make tears and love flow. Let us not just wait for birthdays. What goes around comes around. I am so fortunate to have you all in my life.

Thanks for those you who took pains to remember my birthday and send me cards and wishes, you are always in my heart and prayers. For those who forget me, it is fine, you are still in my heart and prayers.

Bye!