My Fake 10th Birthday.

I'm a May born summer baby, which means all my school life ive had my birthdays during the summer vacations, at grandad's, Mangalore usually with cousins n family... now dont get me wrong, i love them all.. very very much. But as a kid i always wanted the typical classroom birthday, atleast once.. wearing a pretty frock while the rest of the school wore the same old boring uniform... with a box full of chocolates while the rest of them waited for me to distribute it... and oh no.. tch tch.. not before you sing that lame song to me... even if it sounds terrible when sung by 50 odd children in pitches that would deafen dogs. :)

ATTEMPT 1: I attended a convent school in Bombay till i was 7. One day, some day, Sister Rosy was giving us instructions about dressing up in colour clothes the coming week for some Saint's feast. Unfortunately i only heard the part about the clothes and assumed it was for the next day... i dont really remember what i was doing...hmm..
Anyway so i go home and tell my mother who loved dressing me up about the whole arrangement. When it came to clothes i had my ground rules (No whites, if worn dont blame me if it comes back home brown; no itchy shiny material that makes me wanna scratch; no high necks that make me feel like im being choked; no clothes that limited my range of motion while climing walls)...
So i go to school the next day wearing a pretty skirt only to see my whole class in uniform... now i dint know what to do, i was 5 yrs old for cryin' out loud! So when the kids looked happy n asked me if it was my birthday i agreed because well, they looked so happy and nobody wants to make kids sad right?... okay FINE also because i got wished 49 TIMES and i knew what else was ins tore!!!!! :P. But what i did not know was while i was enjoying my 15 minutes of fame, my mother was explaining to Sister Rosy what had ACTUALLY happened. So this story ended with a pasting........... *sigh* i was only 5 yrs old! Sister Rosy was mean...

ATTEMPT 2: In the 7th standard, i was now studying in Bangalore. I knew this was my last chance for a 'school birthday' cos well next year i was going to attend High School 8)... which then was like Hollywood to the rest of us non-high-schoolians (and College was considered Heaven....well ignorance is bliss they say)... Anyway so i tell my mother i HAVE to celebrate my birthday in school atleast this once! Finally my mother gives up trying to convince me, so we go shopping for something i have never bought before (or since)...
Two Whole Big Bag of Toffees (i remember it was Caramilk, cos thats the only one which was sold in big packs in that store).. And I don't mean to sound like an amateur criminal but "I've never seen so many sweets together in my whole life"!!
So then the next day, i dress up in my best clothes, put my stash in a big box and wait at my building gate for the autorickshaw to come pick me up at 8:30 for school...

*tick tock tick tock... 8:25* ate one choc at the gate.

*tick tock tick tock 8:35* ate 2 more

*tick tock tick tock 8:45* by this time im stress eating 3 in a shot... its an art by the way, unwrapping 3 toffees at a time.

*tick tock tick tock 9:00* (school is supposed to have started) mum yells out to me from home... i run back panicked cos i was one of those kids who considered reaching late, the Eighth Deadly Sin!!! (explains why i reached an hour early..or the rest reached one hour late!!!! for a lunch meet last week....Grrrrrr!)

Apparently my mother received a call from the school saying that day was declared a state holiday because a politician had passed away.

I assure you, when the rest of the school kids in Bangalore were high 5'ing and skipping back home i was the lone child sad that day even though i did not even know who the politician was....

Of course then on, ive had some of my BESTEST birthdays with friends and family and looking back at my fake 10th birthday, sorta funny. :)

And also never ate another Caramilk in my life since......... (not because it dug out heart aching memories but because in the next 2 days i finished the whole box of it.... now just the name can reproduce the smell of elaichi... *shudder*)

This post is dedicated to the Andhra CM, Y S Rajashekara Reddy, who passed away in a helicopter crash yesterday.

To the ignorant, tomorrow may just be another holiday, But you will be remembered by the ones Near and Dear to you.
....May your soul Rest In Peace....