just another day

Teja bought me an orange reading lamp, a big one, to suit my aging eyes. I loved the effort he went through to have it delivered home without me catching on, since his pet grouse is that nothing he does, escapes me. Particularly since his credit card is an add-on to mine, and I get a sms every time he swipes it.

Dhanno got me a rich chocolate cake, ignoring all my diet plans. She made me blow out a candle and cut the cake, while Shy and she sung ‘Happy Birthday’ much to my embarrassment.

I ordered myself  Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Three Women’ from Flipkart, and Amarjeet’s ‘Teen Deviyan’.

Random House India sent me Mohammed Hanif’s ‘A Case of Exploding Mangoes’ and Samaresh Basu’s ‘Mahakaler Rather Ghoda’.

Pu gave me Devdutt Patnaik’s ‘Jaya – An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata’.

Pu, Shy, Dhanno and I went to see ‘Ferrari ki Sawari’. We laughed during a lot of scenes that were funny but also during the dramatic scenes watching  Dhanno as she cried and gasped and clutched her hair, unable to take the tension of bad things happening to good people. Later, we ate sandwiches and pastries at Cafe Moshe’s. We made plans for more girlie parties, and European trips alone.

Later, Teja served Dhanno and me cold, diced mango in bowls, while we watched several episodes of ‘Gossip Girl’, and exclaimed incredulously at the shenanigans of Chuck/Blair/Nate/Serena/Jenny, et al, which we ought to have been used to by now.

Several people who care about me and remember my birthday, called me, messaged me, mailed me. I care about all these people, but never remember their birthdays myself. I made a pact with my nephew Golu, that from now on, he would call me on his birthday, and remind me to wish him. The same goes for all you beloved ones out there.

It was the happiest birthday I’ve had in many years. Maybe because for the first time, I was not expecting any fireworks up in the sky, or people (read Teja) turning somersaults for my benefit.

And oh yes, we saw the posters and promo of ‘Supermen of Malegaon’ at the theatre. It’s a funny, fun, inspiring film. I reviewed it for Upperstall a while ago. Do go watch it.