Ten10

Damn!! it just does not go easily. It is sticky, oily, eggy and so pasty, I need lots of soap and water to get rid of this from my face... After 15 minutes of struggle, I got rid of it. I looked at myself in the mirror victoriously after getting rid of the birthday cake painted on my face by my friends. Yeah, Thanks to all of my friends who took their time to remember and wish me on my birthday.

Usually, Birthday is the time filled with surprises, gifts, blessings, wishes, entertainment, joy and lots of love. It is a time for assorting cakes/sweets, balloons, crackers, friends, relatives and family. This day will be a very special day in every one's life and everyone enjoys moving one step ahead in life.

However, as most of you, I am not for it. If there is a mob who thinks that birthday is just an another day; is just the beginning of an another 365 days journey around the Sun; is a day which reminds you of your aging; is just an another reason for having a good laugh together, please invite me to dive in with you, I will be privileged to have your company.

"Oh, well, then do you want to grow younger?" Of course, I do. Who does not?

...but I read somewhere, "Staying younger is about Living honestly, Eating less & slowly, and Lying about the age". 
Yeah, I am only trying to live honestly; Eating loads and faster; My body won't let me lie about my age, Damn!!.

Anyway, as many of you, I want to treat my birthday as a normal day. I would politely request the same to my near and dear ones the same. That is the greatest gift for me ever, but my near and dear ones will never let that happen. There is a saying "Pride is one of the greatest sin", but I am happy to commit that sin after knowing that I am gifted with so many good friends. Yes, my wealth cannot be valued by any means.

Talking about gifts, there were so many birthday gifts I have had in these years, which fascinated me, emoted me and made me feel special, importantly made me feel younger. However, only few birthdays and gifts will stay green forever in you, which will take a special place in your heart, which brings tears of joy whenever you think about it. Yes, there was one such birthday which blew my mind and left me speechless. It was a birthday which was filled with endless surprises, a true effort from my friends and family to make it as a special one. Year 2008 it was.

Tamil and Chakku were master minding all the activities for that day. A lot happened for that day & on that day. Here I am, I split open my heart and share the highlights of my love and laugh...

Broken surprise: Tamil was hunting hard for a cake in the late evening to surprise me @ 12 am; she could not find one; called Chakku to find an alternative solution; by chance, I picked up the phone; she spoke everything about the cake to me without knowing that it was me; the cat was out of the bag; she screamed in anger and scolded Chakku for not keeping the mobile in his possession. Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!

2008 Bday cake

Pride is a sin: I felt so proud after breaking the surprise; yes, I felt like a king; However, that did not last long and I was proved wrong; Tamil is so clever to turn things around in no time; she made a plan B, a cake which (I think) was never made ever in the world; A custom made cake with all my favorite food; A well organised circle of Chicken Biriyani; which had the Dosa as roof; Parotta pieces to decorate; along with Chicken leg pieces and boiled eggs; world's first cake with this combination. An innovative effort, bowled me off.

Surprise visitor: Surprises were all over, I thought; but I was again proved wrong; there was a special visitor about to grace me; Chakku challenged me to guess who; I tried, but failed; all my guesses were wrong; someone came behind and closed my eyes; I still could not guess who it was; at the end, it was my uncle, Panneer; he is the busiest person in our family; hard to reach; I was touched deep in my heart to see him on that day; his presence made me feel special. Love all around.

The final touch: Is that all? Is that all for the day? No way; they had a final touch planned; Yes, that was an everlasting gift pulled by Chakku,Tamil and Sujai; the pals bowled me over again; it is a gift to cherish at all time and a treasure to be kept safe forever; it was a handwritten opinion about me along with the lovely teases, wishes & blessings from my friends & family across the globe; collected for over a month to surprise me on this day; the highlight was that, most of the letters were from my friends & family who I never thought would even write a letter these days; all the letters were funny, humorous, touching and written with lots of love; mind blowing and everlasting; tough to beat this one ever.

I have posted one of those letters below; which made me laugh my brains out; written by my sister Elakiya; Java programmer; do not try to compile this code; this is strictly for your eyes only;...and hey, I am actually not as the code says, it was just a teaser thrown by Elakiya; just for laugh. Here it goes...

Dear Brother, what can I say about you? I cannot explain about you in normal words, so, I am explaining about you in our own language, here you go,

import java.util.naughty;
import java.util.silly;

public class Kari implements BirdWatcher {

String name = "karikalan";
Integer age = 21; //Long long ago
String hobby = "BirdWatching";

public static void main(String girls[]) {

EachDay activity = new EachDay();

do {
if(mom.sees) {
activity.actAsGoodGuy();
}
else {
activity.flirtWithGirls();
}
setInterval(5); //5 mins
}
while(!tired);

try { //girls attention

if(girls.lookAtYou) {
activity.hideBaldHead();
activity.changeInBodyLanguage();
activity.speakBritishEnglish();
}
else if (girlsParents.lookAtYou) {
activity.sillySmile();
activity.moveAwayFromPlace();
}
else if(girlsParents.stare) {
activity.sillySmile();
activity.runAway();
}
}
catch(NoGirlsFoundException e) {
e.print("Be sad, go to work");
}
catch(NoGirlsPaidAttentionException e) {
e.print("Pretend you are not sad, and say, none of the girls are good looking");
}
}

Hope you are happy with my gift brother, Wish you a many more happy returns of the day.

With Luv,
Elakiya

.....will post few other touching and humorous letters in the next posts. If you have any memorable experience like this, please share across.

Kari invites...

Bro! When are you going to do it?

It was Tamil, who sounded excited, eager and anxious. I heard her heart through her voice. One should be a very holy person in his/her previous life to see the behavior of excited Tamil ;-). Well, it is always good to see a kid wobbling around all the way when she learns to talk and walk, isn't it?.

The days are racing with each other, when are you going to do it? you are pushing things to the last minute and going to lose the race with the time.

It was Tamil again, who got fed up of asking the same question again and again (not even .1% of the times she spoke to her new friend over the phone ;-)). I had to appreciate NOKIA's QA team for making such a withstanding product. There were also rumours that due to the high revenue the Indian government got through the calls made by lovers, they are planning to launch a sub-ministry called "Love all" ministry ;-).

Dey, have you got the content ready? are you going to print it or not? Do whatever you want, I do not know what you are thinking. I am not going to say it again, then it is your wish.

She was furiously serious and seriously furious this time.

Well, all the emotions were pitched on me for one thing... wedding invitation. Recently we have fixed a boy for Tamil to be her life partner (whether the boy is in a fix or not, only the Oracle can answer ;-)). My Great Great Grandfather dictated that, only the bride's parents should print the wedding invitation. Now a days, people do not even remember their grand father's name, ha, their words? yeah, it is in the bin. Well, I am printing one to invite my friends for my sister's wedding, ahrrr.. my first kid's wedding. So, G.G.Grand pa, I am not breaking the custom ha? so bless us from heaven.

Why should I delay it? if I can get a nice concept to pour in the card. It takes time, a long time. Should I be usual or casual, sentimental or emotional, responsible or irresponsible; I told you right, it takes time. But, at last, One fine night, I got it.

The clock in my house was close to finish it's day's task; The sofa yielded it's physic to hold me; after lots of sentimentally usual drafts torn and binned, I started to tear my hair (believe me, I do not have much left;-)); closed my eyes to search for some light; tic tic tic, the clock kept me awake; it was at that right moment, I heard someone humming a hit song; very mild; very casual; not organized; like a freak trying to spoil the music; loud laughter; heard some footsteps; I tried to focus, my eyes were still closed; thig thig thig thig; I heard someone running; suddenly I felt the sofa was bulging next to me to hold someone; who was it; I opened my eyes slowly; Shreeeekkkkk!! my heart jumped out of the vessel; my eyes were opened to the boundaries; my blood was pumping hard; and it was hot; shivering and speechless I was; I do not remember us having a mirror next to me.

Yeah, I saw myself sitting next to me; crazy eh?; but, my clone was different (was wondering if he was a clone or a clown ;-)); relaxed; agile; enthusiastic; humming; in a jolly mood; just an opposite of me; the outlook and the behavior says it all; I was staring at him for a long time and he did not seem to care; wanted to scream, could not; did not know what to do; it took time for me to recognize that he is a jolly side of me; Yo, dude whatz the time? he asked; I looked at the clock, it was 12:40 am; when I turned to answer him, he was already using my laptop; I was still shivering and nervous; My eye lids became heavy; I glanced at the time again, it was 1:30 am; by the time I turned, my clone was not there; I looked for him everywhere; he was gone; I looked at the laptop, the cursor was blinking at the end of the following content in the Textpad,

2008 B.M.V.

Mom: Tamil, who do you like in our family? Dad, Me or Kari?
Tamil: Dad and Mom are my eyes, my brother is my heart.
Dad: How can you be without us after marriage?
Tamil: I hate to think about that, I will never get married, I will never leave you, mom or Kari.
Mom and Dad: (concerned).

2008 A.M.V.

Mom: Tamil, who do you like in our family? Dad, Me or Kari?
Tamil: (Singing duet with Vasanth... in her dreams).
Dad: Tamil, answer mom, she is waiting for your answer.
Tamil: ufff! I heard this 1000 times, ask something else Mom.
Dad: How can you be without us after marriage?
Tamil: Vasanth will take care of me, God! why the days are not moving faster?
Mom and Dad: (still concerned, now about Vasanth).

Well, I too am concerned about Vasanth, after all he is a huMAN race. When Vasanth visited the worry factor and asked me what to do? what to do?, I boosted his confidence by making him aware that my dear ones are around to save him. Only then he agreed for the life time deal on Dec. 5th 2008 at 6 am in Ponmani Marriage Hall, Coimbatore. So, friends, I know your wishes are always with us, but ensure your presence to at least introduce yourself to Vasanth so he feels comfortable to call you when he is in Tamil trouble.

Vasanth's well wisher,
Kari...

B.M.V. = Before Meeting Vasanth.
A.M.V. = After Meeting Vasanth.

Confused; angry; furious; happy; teased; let down; funny; why did I push Kari to get the invitation ready; It was Tamil who was having mixed feelings.



Bro, are you really going to print this in the invitation? She asked. Without a doubt I said (I just said it but...).

...but I cannot let my kid down at any cost, can I?, a week later, Tamil had a look at the invitation shown in the image, the first printed copy. When she finished reading it, her eyes were filled with tears of sentiments and joy.

So friends, please be there to make Vasanth comfortable by being on his side.