Surprise surprise!

Tragicomix asked: A post at 4:32 am?

Sayesha replied: Yupp, got up really early today. For a good reason. Will talk about it in my next blog post :)

So here goes...

Today I gave someone a real surprise. Not the kind that you know is coming, but pretend to be surprised anyway. But the real kind. That kind that throws you off.

A friend of mine just got married. (Yes, another one. Stop grinning, weird hair Anil!) I went to receive him and his wife at the airport this morning. The flight landed at 5:30 am, and so I had to get up really early. At the airport, I passed him his house keys (he had authorised me to pick up his keys from his agent in his absence). The couple took a cab and headed home with all their luggage, not knowing what was in store for them.

What he did not know was that I was the one who had shrewdly convinced him to authorise me to pick up his keys from his agent. 'Cos it was all part of a master plan I had in mind.

When I had gone to pick up the keys, the old tenant was still living there, and the house was really messy and dirty. There was old stuff lying all over the place. I made a study of the place and listed things that would make it live up to its potential. So I, along with another friend, took up the task of making the place livable. We got my maid to spruce up the place and make it sparkling clean. We bought stuff that they would need and redecorated the place. Moved the couch and the coffee table, and removed the multi-coloured carpets, to make the area look more spacious. Took off weird things that the old tenant had on the walls. The idea was to make the place unrecognisable for him. Errr... in a good way.

Last night, we put the finishing touches. New bedsheets, pillows, cushions and covers. Flowers in the rooms. Food in the kitchen. And here's the best part -- we put post-it notes with all kindsa weird and funny messages ALL over his house! You name it, we had it! In the shoe rack, inside the fridge, on the TV, inside the closet, on the doors, on the toilet covers, on the bathroom mirrors, on glasses, every possible place imaginable! The post-it notes were everywhere!

I particularly remember this huge picture frame of 2-3 babies on his wall which I found irritably tacky. It was too huge to be taken down. So I put a post-it on it, "If this picture is still here when I visit you guys next, I shall disown both of you."

My friend had some funny ideas too. We had bought some snacks for the couple, and the post-it on it said, 'Snakes for you'. I found that incredibly funny! :)

I had been planning this for the last one month. Yesterday, I was so excited I couldn't wait! It was totally worth the sleep I lost last night.

Today, the flood of sms messages I received from them as they discovered more stuff and more post-it notes in their house, totally made my day. In spite of me barely being able to open my eyes to read them.

Never realised giving someone a surprise can give one such a high.

And yes, sometimes it is so cool not to be there to see the look on your 'surprisee's' face. Try it.