Birthday Celebrations: A year added or subtracted from your AGE!!!

There is a big transition in birthday celebrations from the time we were born and to this point and we will see a lot of things happening in this drama of events in the near future as well. These two transitions are different in the sense is that in one case( School days) we eagerly wait for out birth day to come and in the other state(College days) we don’t want our birthday to come and we don’t make it public and avoid as much as possible.

When we were born, Our parents used to celebrate our birth on our behalf and there is this tradition in some parts of our country that if a boy is born then we used to have a lot of parties and if a girl is born then that is not seen as a moment of celebration. Then in the next 2-3 years, Parents gets an excuse to spend lavishly on their kid’s birthday depending on the condition of the family.

Then comes the age when we start going to school and during this time we used to carry toffees and chocolates to the school and class teacher used to announce before the start of the class about the birthday and the event of toffee distribution commences after the announcement followed by classes and that day we get the liberty of not studying and can do any mischief without being punished.

Then comes the age when we start going to high school and we used to give party in the school to our close friends and to the home friends in the evening. And the planning for this day starts well in advance .We negotiate for the gift part with our parents as to which gift, what cost and all that stuff and parents also gives us an option of celebrating birthday or getting a gift.

Then comes the stage where you believe that birthday should not be celebrated and avoided as much as possible. The first paradox is that you fail to understand whether “ One year is added to your age or a year is gone by from your age”.

When your birthday comes then the first thing that scares you are the “ Birthday Bumps”. You are treated not like a birthday boy but an object on which you can take out your frustration and that day anybody and everybody want you to realize the mistake of coming to this world and specially to this college. That day everybody gets this license to lift you anywhere on four shoulders and start giving thrashes with whatever objects they have and favorite ones are “chappals”,”Legs” and sometimes “Belts” and the most favorite places are classrooms, night canteen and hostels.

Then comes your birthday night and the real drama starts and this time you don’t plan your birthday but your friend does it and a mail is sent to all the students of the college on your behalf to come and enjoy your birthday. First these luxurious birthday bumps are given to that guy in the hostel and after this he is taken to the night canteen popularly known as NC where a bunch of frustrated people assemble together to give the Traditional Bumps to this guy. Then “Rajyabhishek” is done to this guy where milk, cold drinks, sauce, eggs are poured over this guy and the birthday cake becomes a cosmetic material that day.

Then for the next few days whenever he sleeps or sits (Because hips don’t Lie), he used to think why birthdays are celebrated and whether this day is a day of Joy or the other way round.