What is your take on birthdays?? Do you like yours??

I personally, love my birthday.. I enjoy people calling me, texting me, DMing me and wishing me a happy birthday. Sure, I am a year older, getting closer to weak bones and missing teeth and memory losses.. but I love my birthday!!

My birthdays have always been celebrated.. In many ways.. frugal ₹12/person ones for classmates in high school on my pocket money, really small home parties with just family, quiet celebrations with a pastry with husband and baby, couple of big ones with college and part-time colleagues, an intimate one with hubby and 1 grand celebration!!

My most awesome memory is of the grandest celebration of my birthday when I turned 7 years old.

My extended family had moved to Chennai (the city I was in) from our village. We had made friends with our entire colony and had by then learnt the local language (we moved in 1989, a not so great time for Hindi speakers to be in TN). I was enjoying school and had made a best friend (who still is a darling buddy. Our friendship is now 34 years old). My mom and my aunts spent all day making a delicious birthday dinner consisting of rasna, cutlets, chole-poori, pulav and papad. Chips and cake were outsourced!

The guest list for that day? All my colony friends (coincidentally all aged between 4 and 10), my entire extended family, close friends of papa and mummy and their kids, classmates of my mum's spoken english classes, my school classmates. A total of 50-60 people and 800 sqft of space. Imagine that!!

Now, Chennai faces rains in Nov-Dec and my birthday (mid-Nov) witnessed one of the highest rainfalls of the season that day. Chennai is also known for its punctuality. Despite the madly pouring rain EVERY single guest arrived by 7.15 (7 being the time given). I came to know much later that, anticipating the rains, people left their homes at 5 to be on time.

But, in that humid climate, in stuffed rooms and happy cacophony, wearing a pale yellow frock with red flowers across the belt, my short hair adorned with a black and white hairband, I cut a balloon shaped cake in vanilla flavour, turned 7 and spent the next 4 days carefully opening presents, folding the wrappers and making note of every gift I received.

Why is this my favourite? The fact that my entire family was with me. The menu was my favourite made by my 3 darling mums. And the presence of people who loved me (or my parents) enough to make efforts to be a part of the celebrations..

It was truly my day.. A memory I will forever cherish.

Yours Truly,

Pooji