Birthday Boy

‘Twas my birthday the day before. Spent it the way I like it. Food, food and food. I am quite a foodie which ofcourse is evident all over my body especially my tummy. Like any bengali, I love to gobble down good and tasty food and that too if it is home cooked. Yumm!!

This birthday wasn’t any different. My parents are visiting me this year (though they visit me every year). I love the feeling that on my birthday all my family will be together and they all would be celebrating not only my birthday but togetherness. But, it doesn’t happen every year. I remember that my birthday was celebrated with festive like cheer. Being born in the middle of winter, I was blessed with an environment of holiday around my special day. I used to visit my uncle’s place at Chittaranjan, one of oldest railway locomotive factory area. It was really cold there and I love a cold weather.

Mumbai, on the other hand, is hot and humid and doesn’t experience a cold weather. I have no choice but to endure this. Nevertheless, Mumbai is great city to live apart from the weather. Back to my special day. This year I found that with all my love of food I cannot eat much. People would not believe but I really can’t much. Mom prepared a lavish spread with chicke, mutton, prawns, and the hilsa…Yummyy!!

Post starters, I only could have one portion of the main course. I ate the dessert with very difficulty… 😦

Enough of my ramblings about food and my appetite. On a serious note, I want to talk about a thought that one of my friend has put in my mind. She had called me on my birthday, which is a rare phenomenon these days, and asked me what I got me for my birthday. A simple yet extremely powerful thought which rakes the mind like nothing else.

I was very fascinated with the thought and started pondering over it. I slept over it and the next morning, I asked myself some intriguing questions

Do I really want to gift myself?

Am I doing this only because she put the thought in my mind or I really need to attend to my thoughts?

What is it that I want?

What would be the perfect gift? A material artefact or a promise?

All these questions and many other popped into my brain one after the other. I took a deep breath and tried to think with a clear mind and got some answers to the questions. The first answer I got was that I need to look after myself as well as I look after my parents and family. I need to treat myself as a person who has all the rights to be happy, to recieve gifts, etc., etc.

The next question that I settled was that I definitely need to gift me or treat me anything and tus I settled for a promise. As a matter of fact, I do indulge in buying little somethings time and again but I never promised myself something.

So, I decided to promise myself that I will be true to myself!