Letz pateh like its yuah bud-dhay!

I am going to turn 26 day after tomorrow. So for the 26th time in my life I am going to feel damn good about myself on 16th December and hope that life will get better by the the next birthday! There has obviously been a pattern to the way my birthdays have been celebrated over the last many years. Let me show you my evolution!

-> Year 1: The Big One
I am assuming would have been the biggest, cause my parents would have thought "Bada hoke khaandan ka naam roshan karega!".

-> Years 2 to 4: The Gray Area
Dont really remember.

-> Years 5 to 12: The Halcyon Days
In school if it was your birthday, one would get to wear 'color dress' and not the lousy uniform. You would enjoy that attention being showered on you, not because you are one helluva popular guy but because you have that extra Coffee Bite that you could generously dole out. And yes, every year I gave only Coffee Bite cause it was my favorite toffee. Even today I cant resist one.

And of course, would come home to a party which would have the same people, same sorta menu list, more or less same sorta gifts and same games. But hey that was my Birthday and my fifteen minutes of fame. So felt great about it every year.

Midway through this phase I had to start sharing my spotlight cause my brother decided that it would be fun if he was born one day before. So my mom discovered 'cost cutting' way before the software industry stumbled upon it.

-> Years 13 to 17: The 'Cool Off' Period
This was the period I decided that celebrating birthdays was not cool anymore! The period where you decide you have grown up beyond silly things like birthdays and try to act mature and cool and make way for your younger siblings. But your cousins decide you are still the cuddly cute baby that they saw for the first time and try to treat you likewise. That was one helluva flux time!

-> Years 18 to 21: Recapturing the magic
Ah! I still remember it so clearly. It was the first semester of Engineering and the groups were just getting formed. I had never expected a surprise party, let alone them knowing it was my birthday. They had got candles, cake, knife, a super T shirt as the birthday gift and everything to the nth detail. Boy! was I overwhelmed or what!! we all drove some 20 kms that day for my treat in a Dhaba. It was mad and it day started a four year tradition where everyone's birthday was celebrated in the same broken down room at the end of the corridor, cake all over the face, happy birthday songs in all sorts of remixes and treats at Dhabas on Bellary road, phone ringing till 2 in the morning! A birthday isnt one without your friends around!

-> Years 21 to 24: The Blur
This was the first time that I wasnt home for my birthday. I had started working and was in Hyderabad. Some how for the first time I realized that I had grown up and some things would never be the same again. Ofcourse, it helped to have a fantastic group of friends at home who made sure it was a birthday I didnt forget. And that was the first time I tasted the pain and joy of getting birthday bums where one wasnt sure he is happy or sad for what is happening! And then I came back home for a couple of quieter birthdays which just zipped past too soon to realize.

->Years 25 to 26: The Madness
Boy! thought I had seen some mad celebrations till I landed up in SP!! Never in my life I have seen such madness. And people who havent been here will never understand its magic. So for all those lesser mortals who havent had the experience, this is what will happen to me sharp 12.oo AM on 16th.

• Messages would be sent out to all the guys in their room to assemble in the birthday zone.
• Distruntled MBA grads looking for an outlet for their frustrations will swarm the area like hungry ants.
• My roomie, poor soul would be scooped off the ground and depending on how badly people want to screw his happiness, will kick his butt till he cant take it anymore or some kind soul throws some pity on him.
• Next would be my turn. The cheers would be louder, the numbers larger, the kicking harder and the time longer! I would be kicked until i feel or rather stop feeling my backside!
  
• Then for the sake of formality, they would sing 'Happy birthday'
• I say, 'Sake of formality' cause my roomie would be waiting with one of the worst smelling cakes in his hand, ready to be smashed right into the middle of my face. And then the cake would reach my hair, my neck and places i dare not mention on public space!Ocourse i would make sure that my roomie gets a generous share of this cake smashing.
  
• Then comes the water. How can you have a birthday celebration without making a mess of the whole place. Buckets of cold water would be poured on the poor souls just for him to discover the places where it is going to hurt tomorrow.
• And then with the water all over the place and cake strewn all over the place, the Birthday boy is held by his legs and dragged all along the ground to ensure that a fine mix of chocolate flavored slush is everywhere. I am sure the Battle of Panipat looked just like this the day after the war ended!
• And ofcourse there are certain other things that happen that I dare not put here! :D
• After that the Birthday boy and his roomies head back to hit the shower and then reassemble with a smaller number of friends to share a better cake, consumed more decently this time.

Well, this is how it is going to go day after and I am so glad that I have had this experience. My 27th birthday would be the start of a new phase and I dont know how that is going to turn up. So watch out for the sequel blog some ten years down the lane! :)