Happiness Gift-Wrapped..:-)

Friday, August 20, 2k10


Though it’s August 23, that I was born 20 years ago but my dear buddies had left no stone unturned in making me shell out money for Lafangey Parindey, the latest release on Friday to mark it as my birth day celebration. The clever Rishab applied brains and abstained himself from coming to college on Monday coz it was a planned bunk, the day of my 20th b’day anniversary. Nitish and Rishab tried hard to make the party a big hit but all our plans fizzled out as soon as we saw “The End” which was a complete anticlimax. A thousand bucks that I had spent purchasing tickets and meals for the 1st day 1st show screening burnt quite a hole in my pocket.


Monday, August 23, 2k10


With the weekend preceding and an off on Tuesday succeeding my big day, I was left quite alone in the hostel with Pawan, my roommate and some mavericks who too consider going home a waste of time.”This is gonna be the worst and the loneliest of all my birthdays”, I sub-vocalised and reiterated in my mind but that didn’t deter me from waking up 12 on the midnight of August 22, to receive calls, if any.



It was 15 minutes past 12 that I realized that I had been dozing off from the past one hour. My dear phone showed 5 missed calls, 3 from a girl named Shikha and 2 from another girl named Sonakshi and I woke up by another call from Shikha and finally we were talking. “So, wish you a very happy birthday Piyush”, she said in her half joking and half tired voice. Who else can endure calling the same person 4 times just to wish a HBD! “Well thank you..howz u..?wassup..?” and the phone showed a call waiting from Sonakshi. The sweet little junior of mine had been so kind to me waking till the dead of night just to call me up. I bid Shikha a good bye with a promise to talk to her in the evening and connected to Sonakshi. “Who was she..? Girlfriend..?”, she enquired. Man how can I get lucky like this I told her and we laughed heartily. The exhausted Sonakshi wished me luck in getting one this year and we hung up. It was 12:22 that I went to bed and was woken up the next morning by my mom’s call at 6. The family chit chat was followed by Sarita’s wishes. Well all the pain that I am taking in writing this boring tale about my stupid birth day is not that I’m being narcissistic. It’s all about the sheer happiness behind the whole process.


At around 8 a senior of mine, Priyanka ma’m a.k.a. P.S. called and enquired about my plans for the day. She wished be luck in finding a decent placement and/or a big college for my master’s. SMS sandesh bringing good wishes of Aditi ma’m, Nivedita ma’m, Manisha nad Navdeep followed. Anam’s call was next in line. Her beaming smile and vibrant personality was evident in the candidness of her voice and wishes. Hanging up I went to the library to have a look at the predictions in DT or HT city (though I’m never serious about them). This was when I met Rohit sir after a long time. As vivacious as ever, he came to me and we started talking. He went back unmindful that it was my birthday and I went to the mess to have some appetising hostel food. Mohit, the artistic genius of our college wished me in person there. The 1st half of the day had ended studded with warm greetings and I was planning for the rest of the day though there was nothing much to expect. At around 4 o’clock, Ujjaval, my buddy from IIITH called. It was just the perfect timing for some gossip. With a cup of coffee in one of my hands, the phone in the other, I enjoyed the time. I had just disconnected Ujjaval when my cousin Ishati and Vibhuti caught me. We talked for about half an hour and discussed how things were at each others’ end. At around 6 p.m. when I was reading newspaper (and not partying), Rohit sir called and surprisingly he wished me too. “Face book has shown its advantage”, I said in soliloquy. He asked me to meet him at Bikaner to which I reluctantly agreed. Well things had started happening. From there he took me to “Perfect Bake” on his Yamaha and this was the 1st time I had had a date with a person senior to me and that too of the same sex. The date was a big success and so was becoming my 20th birthday. As soon as I returned back, Anshu, one of my oldest friends who is currently studying medicine in Gujarat, called me and surprised me by telling me that she was home. Within 10 minutes, I was at the SRS mall celebrating the day with her and her friends. The lonely morning had given way to a gregarious evening. At 10 o’clock I was back and the phone rang again and Shikha was on line. Literally I had a happiness packed day coz I talked for some one hour or so completely drenched in the memories of past, school life, friends, fights, teachers, anything and everything. After I had talked to all my friends on a single day, I felt like talking to another of my friend. I called Anant, my friend from Canada and we talked another one hour by the end of which both of our cell phone balance dropped down to zero. At around 1:30 a.m., I went to sleep ensured that the phone won’t ring again until tomorrow.


So whether I got a gf or not and whether I land up in a good job or not, I had luckily collected so many blessings from so many special people that I felt that God had himself gift wrapped happiness for me. I realized that whether in person or in thoughts, some people are always with us as phone calls and SMSes kept me busy and contented throughout the day. And am I forgetting something..? Oh yeah..! Thank you buds and flowers..Love you all.