Birthday 2024

Growing up wasn’t a realization until this year. Life did hit hard this time.

Well, I do not mark this year as an official year of hitting all things serious.

But it did made sail through a rough ride of growing up!

Birthday 2024 was a mix of emotions. The hustle of losing, gaining and stagnancy too. And a realization that the gold memories of past often make you stuck to it too!

But as the day ended I noticed that this birthday was first time for so many lil things that I never thought would become a part of me.

Life never happens the way you think!

I have celebrated a few of my Birthdays in some random villages, where cake was not even an option. However, less of a celebration, it has always been a personal event for me. This birthday we planned our trip to Thailand, and thanks to random chaos around me, it got canceled the very few hours before we were ready to take off.

And then I had two choices: to celebrate in a city with my family or be with just one person I call home. Well, I chose the latter and reached it right on time.

It was a slow quiet day where I was alone for most of time, just soaking in the sun and admiring the winter blooms.

There was no fancy cake, and the beautiful roses came from 100 kilometers afar.

But this slow day brought peace.

Attended all the Calls

Yeah, I have never been a person stuck with a phone and doing all the talking. Sit by me and I will be yours, but out of sight is out of mind. But this time, I made sure I took up every call and admired all those who took it in their memory and time to drop in a wish.

Well, I do know the reason for it too. We never realize the presence until we taste the absence. A part of my heart was sinking the entire day because Dad was nowhere to wish me this time. He never wished at midnight, but had always been the first in the morning. The way he said, it was always an extra emphasis on the P of Happy, sounding it as “Ha-pppp-yiii Birthday”

Ofcourse, my heart longed for one such call, but now its a life wait to hear it again. And till then I know his voice will echo in my heart forever. This was subtle yet drastic change for me to take every call and just be grateful to each of them.

No new clothes!

This was the first time when I didn’t get myself a new piece of cloth. Well I did technically, but the shipment delivered the wrong size. And also, it was a summer dress for my beach vacation. And we have winters here. But I was absolutely okay with it.

I think I do understand now what Gopaldas Neeraj meant when he said,

“जितना कम सामान रहेगा उतना सफ़र आसान रहेगा

जितनी भारी गठरी होगी उतना तू हैरान रहेगा”

Expectations- none!

Come on, the mischievous heart always longs for one secret surprise, an unexpected phone call, a mysterious present or randomly someone dropping by. But this time, I didn’t expect any, infact the idea of being alive and healthy, made me happy.

I dont know if it came as a surprise to my personality. But the realization that years pass, people change, people grow and life happens was quite evident.

This Birthday was soft a reminder that the year has silenced a major bit of me. But whats still good is there is harmony between the heart and the void.