Birthdays… sweet and…

Birthdays… sweet and…

I’m turning 19… tomorrow. Today is Thursday… the 12th of July 2007. So I’m choosing a lucky Friday the 13th date to turn 19. I know one more lucky human being who was born on the auspicious 13th July. It’s the great Hollywood actor… Harrison “Indiana Jones” Ford.

Birthdays are very special for me. The first memory I have of my birthday involves my dad traveling two hours by train to fetch me a magnificent birthday cake… a house full of ivy-like decorations, colorful papers… blowing candles… opening gifts… my parents and my friends and relatives singing “Happy birthday to you…” Like it’s all in a very pretty dream…

My most memorable birthday was when I turned five. My parents decided to give me a birthday bash that they were sure I won’t forget too soon (And I daresay, it worked. I still remember it after 14 years like it was yesterday). The reason for this bash (when I asked them specifically) was that my parents didn’t have the chance to host the usual “Annaprashan” feast when I was born. They were simply making up for that lost opportunity a good four-and-a-half-years later.

That dream birthday happened when we were still in that nice two-storied house in Sodepur. In 1997, we moved to Calcutta. Thereafter, my birthdays were small family and a couple-of-friends affair. But I’d lie if I said I didn’t enjoy them. My last birthday in which I invited my friends was in 2002… that also happened to be my last birthday with my father.

My father was always involved in my birthdays even more than I was. Even when he became ill in 2000 and henceforth, he’d participate in my b-days and do the chores like cutting the big cake into eatable pieces and stuff like that, after I was done blowing the candles and all. My birthday in 2003, the year in which he passed away, was a morbid affair. All me and my mom could think of was the way my father used to enjoy the day… the birthdays following that year were a lot better… but I lost the enthusiasm to invite any of my friends, even though my mom wanted me to. 2004, 05 and 06 were all one and the same, and 2007 promises to be nothing different. The decorations aren’t there, nor is my dad. The cake’s there, only coz my mom wants me to enjoy the day thoroughly… and because I like chocolate cake, of course! She prepares a cool lunch and dinner, payesh (as we say it in Bengali)… and I get nice gifts too.

Looking forward to turning 19… things could be better…

Signing off,
Jagannath (Jesse… momentarily lost the humor)