Friday, January 06, 2006

A nice,serene 28th birthday!

A really nice day today!After a really long time,I had a nice,serene,relaxed birthday!

My room mate ensured that I had the traditional surprise on a birthday,by waking me up at midnight and making me cut a cake!!Its been 7 years since I cut a cake on my birthday!The cakes were yummy!Customary calls at midnight followed from friends!Two lovely girls were the first to call me and wish me!Felt great!!Few sms's flowed in as well!Felt nice as I lay down to sleep at 1 a.m.

Could hardly get up and run to office in the morning.But old friends will be old friends.My oldest friend(I know him since 1989!) woke me up at 7 a.m and wished me.The phone kept ringing and sms's kept coming,so I decided that I may as well get up.Logged on to the net,checked email, got ready and then headed to office.

It was a low-key thing in office.Not much publicity, prefer it that way these days, compared to the jazz in previous birthdays.I still remember my 16th birthday.It rocked!Abou19 friends called me over to a restaurant, and the tallest among them smashed a cake on my face to euphoria surrounding him,with everyone going gung-ho and wishing me in public!It was a serious high!And I share my birthday with a lovely,tall girl,who graced this planet 1 hour before I did,in the same year!And on that 16th birthday she was around as well. Girls sure get their way around - nobody smashed a cake on her face!Anyway,that was a high,once upon a time!

This time around,I was cooped up in office with absolutely no mood to work.Lots of pleasant memories of past birthdays came flooding back.Felt great to recollect them all!A handful of my counterparts in office wished me in office.At lunch time,I decided to invite my team mates out for a snack/treat in the evening at Amethyst.This is one of the most cosy, upmarket coffee shops in this city of Chennai!Everyone readily agreed!I booked a table for 7 of us immediately,as more often than not,this place gets flooded with cosy twosomes!

We left office early and reached the venue at around 6.15 p.m. after beating some maddening traffic.Settled down around a nice,round table and didn't quite realize how the next 2 hours went past.Had some terrific,freewheeling conversation with the entire team with everyone at their enthusiastic best and out to try some new dish or the other.One of the guys around was the solitary non-vegetarian and was initially feeling very awkward.But he retained his courage of conviction in non-vegetarian food and hit a lovely sandwich!The rest of us placed our orders too and it was seriously the lightest birthday I ever had.Out in a corner table, with a small bunch of nice people,away from the pressures of the office,away from deadlines,bosses and clients,seated in the open,on a lovely breezy January evening!Wow!(Almost a perfect setting to go out with a hot babe on a romantic dinner!).

As the evening progressed,I sensed that my companions were up to something fishy.And my gut feel came true,so to speak.They surprised me with a cake!A terrific,plum cake!Slurp!I cut the cake in suspended animation as it was very breezy in that place and we found it tough to keep the candle alight.Managed it finally.My companions thrilled me when they offered to treat me,rather than the other way around.Now,that was a first of its kind for me!

We then split and I got off near home and walked home.Was still not convinced that the day was complete.So went out with my room mate to the most authentic north Indian food joint in Chennai city, Bombay Halwa House.It was simply awesome.The dishes there were not only inexpensive but also of incredibly high quality.Just too good!I gulped down the cold buttermilk with some masala mix and dived into the exotic menu there.The roasted papad there with green chutney rekindled memories of my trip to Jaipur last January,where I had the greatest Rajasthani food till date!

Anyway,finally got home at 11.15 p.m. checked my mailbox and crashed at midnight!

So ended a nice,serene birthday!And the best part was,I did not miss my old girlfriend.Thank god I've moved on in life!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't know you writing was among your many skills! A well-written blog...

Rubic_Cube said...

belated birthday greetings, ol' man!