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I
guess this is the first time that Abhay has had to write an exam on his birthday and so there was nothing “Happy” about the first half of his birthday and
this may not be the last time he would have an exam on his birthday as the
month of September has always been the mid-term exam season for as long as I
can remember….and that he has now come to encounter this in class six. Well…..what
can I say…. Welcome to the real world buddy….. as no matter what …you gotta
work when you gotta work!
Anyway,
kids these days have a lot of expectations from their parents to make their birthdays
special and celebrating birthdays with
cake and a few gifts followed by a quiet family dinner does not exactly quality
as “special” anymore…all that’s given anyway! It almost feels like you’re trying
to impress your boss when he says “Hmm…I wonder what else is cooking up for my
birthday…”!!Phew!
Of
course….each of us had our own way making Abhay’s eleventh birthday extra
special…from home made delicacies dished out by his paternal grandma to the
gifts ordered off the internet (as if on Abhay’s birthday registry) on behalf
of his maternal grandparents, from the old-school
style of gifting a watch by his grandpa to the host of knick-knacks and gifts bought by his father and to the new-generation dedication on a local FM station on
the radio by his mom…from numerous whatsapp messages (and still counting) on our
various family and friends’ groups to
the babbled “Happy Birthday Abhay-anna” from his baby sister…. We all chipped in to make the
whole day better than all the individual specials put together…..after all the
whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts and I sincerely hope that Abhay grows up to understand
the same!!
In keeping
with the recently devised birthday tradition
(that began only over three years ago and I don’t know how long we can keep it
up as he grows older!) we had a birthday treasure hunt of eleven gifts symbolizing
each year of his life, with the first clue handed over by his sister! So celebrating her brothers birthday, we read
about a baby leopard’s “Hide and Seek Birthday Treat” by Linda Jennings and Joanne Partis. Brightly coloured and narrated in rhyming verses, this book (another gem from Kutoohala) is a sure delight to read aloud to a toddler who will sure be excited
to go on a breezy “I Spy” adventure of
various animals of jungle who all missing on the leopard on the day of his birthday! As the baby leopard goes looking for his
friends from zebra to lion, from snake to crocodile and is almost disappointed
to find none present for his birthday only to realize that they were all in the
hiding for a reason…. To throw the baby leopard a surprise birthday party!! Despite
nursing a viral infection, our little
one couldn’t be more excited on her big brother’s birthday……Happy Birthday to
Abhay-anna! J
