TWENTY!

Two decades ago, I lay
with my eyes closed, hands fastened,
clasped in my makers’ bosom..

One decade ago, I beam
with my pretty pink frock, red lipstick,
milk teeth making way for vampire-like ones..

Here I am, today…
Carrying memories weighing a twenty years,
Frozen and Numb….


20 years! Phew! It’s not sinking in!!
Despite my claiming to “age gracefully”, being twenty does feel different! And a lot older.. a wee wiser as well! :) To mark this day where my life’s almanac ticks twenty, I had a bunnnnnnnnnnnch of people who’ve made it incredibly special for me…



At dot twelve came in tons of hugs and wishes from all my friends who wouldn’t let me stop smiling for the next couple of hours… Indu mole promptly lit the first wick of my birthday’s kuthuvilakku, followed by Shooti wooti, Cheri berry, the happy budday ringtone gifter Prashanth, Preethi saroj, Barath, Sandy brandy, my lil drunk Sanju, Valu baby and the Bangalore brainchild Vidyashankar.. :)
Mommy and daddy gave me a bear-hug and wished their twenty-year old monument a life of a hundred years… And my bro gave me a sheepish grin, a conscious hug, whispered “happy birthday” and off he went, perching himself in front of the television that telecasted the rather ugly India-Bangladesh match…

Woke up this morning, with Nitu’s call… Jerked out of my bed when the Sand man called! Went to the Ganesh temple with mumma, lit lamps and prayed for my dearest… Paid visit to another temple on my way back home, just to find my lil bro awaiting me with his hand-assembled “basket of goodies” as he likes to call it.. :) In it I find, pretty combs, a Japanese fan, rose tissues, nailpolishes (and a remover to compliment it), pens… and a lil card writ in ink conveying his birthday wishes… Mommy then gave me the very pretty sarees she bought for me (perhaps, signifying that I’m getting older!)… :)

Hand full of goodies, I enter my music-filled room, and hear shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks followed by a “happy birthday” in chorus! The dumb-struck me shook my head and saw Nisi, Shooti, Icy, Taki, Arch, Sangee, Sandy and Swa flashing their brilliant thirtytwo! The dumb-founded me broke down, completely overawed by the ‘surprise’…. “Phoo”, I blew my n number of candles and cut my pretty brown cake, feeding these babies turn after turn… I got myself an ample ounce of sweet-butter on my moonji(courtesy:Nisi)… and on my hair too(courtesy:Sangee)… I looked something like this:



Then came the gift-opening session…. Taki, Icy, Arch, Nisi’s skirt+mug+mask+jewel box+pretty paper bag+hand made card…. Sandy Swa’s terracotta wall-hanging+grand top+earrings+ mobile pouch… Shooti’s antique face-vase+pearl chain+ram earrings+kutti rings… Sangee’s very thoughtful embroidery kit+pearl earrings+chappal keychain+mobile phone accessories!!!! **my moonji all lit up right now**

Soon after, I did some very appalling “manly” bum-shake to Sean Paul’s Get Busy that completely took away the moments of grace that swa jus delivered with her “Kajra re”… I then, coyly took over the camera to video-fy the danseurs perform – ‘variya ‘and the many songs to follow!

Then came the birthday-girl decking session! All my newly acquired properties were strategically placed all over my body… take a look!!!!!



Meanwhile, mommy made us all a mini-lunch.. Sambhar saadham, alu fry, senakezhangu masiyal, cabbage-peas curry, curd rice, vadumaanga and chips! We kottified beautifully… yapped around for a while, and then the pretty girls went back to their abode… Milli-seconds later, I found myself weeping into my pillow…
Nisi, Shooti, Icy, Taki, Arch, Sangee, Sandy and Swa – thanks a million… you really made my day, so special, so special.. very very special.. To see us all coming together and having such a good time on my birthday was completely overwhelming… really really touched by your gesture, bumbees.. love you all… so much. Thanks a ton…

Lolling at home.. watching tv… orkuting…. Went out in the evening to see the sleep + alcohol deprived S man, who promptly blurted “you look FAT in this dress!” Grrrr…. I chewed his brains off for a while… made him watch aaalllllll the videos in my cam. Nibbled some cookies and then got back home… With this, I call it a day. A special one.

Vikram, Arjun-puri-ganga aunty, Abhi, Sid P, Giriesh, Shitu, Vivek, Rsn, Vanita, Tanu, Benny, Prasad, Vijay, Prakash, Sandeep, Vasuda, Perima, thanks a ton for calling in…
Shweta, Manoj, Vasan, Biju, Sid Deb, Aks, Priya, KK, Deepu, Saikat, Vidya, Mansa, Arjun, Ritesh, Reynah, Preethi, Anthea, Gautam, thanks a ton for messaging in…
Divya Bharath, Vidya, thanks so much for emailing in…
Not forgetting to mention, every one of you who’ve left me orkut scraps… I know I had eight pages full of wishes…. Overwhelming… Thanks so much :)
**hugs** to all you guys… Love you all…

Cheers and smiles,
Me :)

PS: Awaiting lunch with the V boy tom.. With that, my birthday celebs would rest, for the year! :)