Being 25 (2nd edition)

My 25th (2nd edition) birthday was made very special by surprises from friends, some really cool gifts and cards, and one more thing. Being wished by many people who have never met me in real life.

So I came back to office after a meeting in a school, to be greeted by the sight of two envelopes on my desk. I opened the first one and I was so utterly surprised that I had to rub my eyes to confirm that the country name I saw on the stamps was not my imagination.


This was a card sent to me by a very smart blogger. In fact, this chap would do very well in the stalking business. He had guessed my birthday using the combination of my yahoo id and my zodiac sign. Then he had used his ip tracker on his blog to track my company, googled it to find my mailing address and sent me this card. But since he knew neither my full name nor my department, he addressed it to 'Sayesha, Editor, Children's books section'. I nearly died laughing when I saw that. What an absolutely adorable geek.
















Then I turned my attention to the second envelope. I'd guessed right, it was from ROS. She had sent me a handwritten letter, a card and a very interesting book. As soon as I saw the nice handwriting on the card, I knew Virdi had had no hand (literally) in it. ;) It was evident that her geneROSity had forced her to include the names of the other two blokes in Chatur Chaar too. I guess it is difficult to plan a Chatur Chaar surprise without the official surprise planner. Okay fine is saal maaf kar diya, agle saal yeh sab nautanki nahin hona chahiye. *Sayesha looks coyly at her nails.*


ROS had "edited" the book, and changed the story to a hilarious one. The book had snippets of fairy tales, and she had changed the characters to hilarious ones.

"Snow White Sayesha hears singing in the forest. Who can it be? It's the seven dwarfs Chatur Chaar!"

"The prince is holding a wonderful ball at his royal palace. Who will be his dancing partner? It's Cinderella Sayesha! The prince falls in love as soon as he sees her."



"Everyone thinks Cinderella Sayesha is beautiful...

...except her jealous stepsisters MACs!"



Other hilarious lines included:

"Jasmine Sayesha and Aladdin Mithunda (our favourite) take off on the magic carpet. Wicked Jafar Shaan is foiled again!"

"Flora Virdi, Fauna ROS and Merryweather Vikram wonder where Briar Rose Sayesha has gone. Oh, there she is, singing in the forest. The woodland animals love to listen to her. Prince Phillip Shaan is also in the forest. He hears her beautiful voice and falls in love!"


On Wednesday morning, I found this cute little envelope from a colleague who was gonna be on leave on my birthday, so she had warned me not to touch the card till Thursday.

I recognised her handwriting, but decided to be patient and honour her request and open it only on Thursday.

On Wednesday night, I figured some of my friends would be turning up at my place at midnight, so I spent some time cleaning up my room. These days, my room only gets cleaned up when I am expecting people. Sheesh.

Two of my closest friends came a bit early. We were sitting and talking when another friend called. "Achha, which cake do you want?"

"Huh? Why are you asking me?? Can you like surprise me??" I said.

"Errr... there's strawberry, there's almond..."

"Eeeeks! I HATE almond cake and strawberry cake! Don't get that!"

"Errr..." He said.

And then I realised why he had found it safer to call me before getting the cake. I am the kind who has very specific dislikes, especially when it comes to birthdays.


"You know what I like yaar! Just get what you think I'll like." I said.

"And don't forget Nachos and my super spicy dip!" I reminded him.

This is my all-time favourite snack. I remember a time when a friend and I finished a whole big packet of it within half an hour while watching 'Dil toh pagal hai'.



He got me a cheesecake! Yeay! He said he got it cos it was called the 'Princess cake'. (Yes, in some circles, I am known as the princess.) Lately, I have developed an affinity for the colour pink, and so I was quite thrilled to have a pink Princess cake (which was NOT strawberry!) with 25 (please note the number) candles on it.

Soon, old friends from university started streaming in. From the blog world, Clueless and Starbreez came. Just around midnight, calls started pouring in. I got a call from Kusum, followed by one from Rohit. Virdi called soon after, and Vikram called just when I was about to cut my cake. (Yes, that's Viks on the phone in the picture above.) My friends got impatient and started singing "Happy birthday to you!" and so I had to hang up. ROS sent me an sms. I think she tried to call but my line was probably busy.



There I am, cutting my pink princess cheesecake!


























Hilarious card from my friends A and R - the front



















The inside! Hahahah! :D



Knowing my obsession with the series, Starbreez got me the SATC book! Yippeeeee! I think I need someone to confiscate it till after my exams! :O















Clueless got me a magnet that perfectly matches my beliefs, and an anklet that I have been looking for, since last year when I broke my old anklet - a single strand anklet with very little frills - a most perfect piece of jewellery. Singapore only seemed to have double strand anklets. In fact, I looked for it when I went to Manila too. But they only showed me what looked like cowbells. I had almost given up when Clueless got this for me. And the most amazing thing is - she had no idea I wanted that anklet so bad! In fact, she was wondering if I would like it!















Search over! Yeay!

My friends hung around till about 1 or so... by the time I cleaned up and went to bed, it was almost 2 and I had to get up at 6 am the next day, as usual, to go to work.


So I showed up at work, my eyes drooping with sleep, when I got something that totally woke me up. The receptionist in my office called to tell me that there was something for me outside. Virdi had sent me roses - the most beautiful white roses ever! And they were in this cute little bucket-like thing. The bouquet was much admired by my colleagues. Some curious ones asked me, "Hmmm... secret admirer?"
"No. Hand-stalker." I wanted to say. :D
But I said, "From my friend in India."

His note was hilarious. It said, "Tum jiyo hazaaron saal, saal ke din ho pachaas hazaar." (Note how it contradicts and yet validates my new age structure.) Happy birthday to you. Now give me your hands quick! :)" Hahahah! I was reminded of Sholay's "Yeh haath mujhe de de, thakur!" :D


Another friend sent me a Sasa skincare set. But what was more extraordinary was the little accompaniment he had sent. A handwritten three-page letter from a guy who's the laziest bum on the planet! That was such a HUGE surprise!





My colleagues also landed me a surprise, brilliantly executed by my team, notably by my editor Banana who can give anyone a run for their money in the creativity department. She and I have planned so many surprises together, that she knew she had to outdo whatever we'd done so far, all by herself. And boy, what a job brilliantly done!

My team is *touchwood* the most fun team in my company. We have two e-fairies, one elf and a new-bee (the newest editor), and I am the queen bee (a name I am not too fond of, but have been living with). So my team decided to give the queen bee a royal surprise. Purple being the colour of royalty (and a colour I like, besides blue, pink and black), everything about the surprise was purple. They got purple roses delivered to the reception. The receptionist then called me to deliver it. The bouquet was beautiful but it had no card!

"Who delivered this?" I asked her.

"I don't know!" She said.

"Which florist was this?"

"Err... From the building opposite our office..."

"WHAT?" I was a bit freaked out. Anonymous guy from the building opposite delivers a bouquet for me to my office? As I walked back to my cubicle, still pondering over the mystery of the bouquet, I saw like half the office at my cubicle. They were all grinning away, and there was my favourite cake (cocoa exotica), complete with candles, sitting smugly at my desk.

After I blew out the candles, I wanted to cut it immediately, but Banana said, "No no, see the card first! If you cut the cake, everyone will take a piece each and go back." (Ah! Experience!)

So I opened the card. The creative darlings at my company had made a mock cover of my magazine and called it the 'birthday issue'. It was a sunflower field and the faces of my colleagues were sprouting from the centre of the flowers. My team members and I had bodies of bees, and we were shown hovering above the flowers. The card was a treat to see! (Can't put up the pic here, as it has photos of other people).

The elf had written me an ode, but the e-fairies and the new-bee did not like it too much, so there was a disclaimer beneath his 'Ode to the queen' saying "We had nothing to do with this." and signed by the three girls. It was super hilarious.

I turned my attention back to the cake, only to hear Banana say, "No no no! Open the gifts first!"

"But I wanna cut my cake..." I protested.

"No no no, open the gifts first!"

Okay, fine.


The gifts were adorable. More skincare stuff, a set of pink and purple towels from Esprit, and a pair of REALLY comfortable bedroom slippers. I was asked to wear everything and pose for a picture. So I pretended that the towel was an elegant pashmina shawl and put it around my shoulders. Then I took off my shoes and wore the bedroom slippers. I think I looked quite a sight. I was scared they'd ask me walk around in them the whole day, but thankfully they did not. The slippers were so spongy and comfortable, I could not help but hop around in them for a while.


Finally, the photos of a ridiculously dressed Sayesha were taken, and I asked Banana, "Okay, may I cut my cake now?" My 'boss for the day' finally granted permission and I attacked the cake.

Yummy!








Banana then proceeded to take pictures of what she called "competitors' gifts". (See how market-oriented my editors are?) She put the two bouquets side by side and took a shot.

That's one incredibly sight, isn't it? When I was carrying the flowers back home, I got a lot of jealous stares in the train and the bus. Yippeee!

Many bloggers also sent me emails/e-cards - Hitler's soul, Rohit Talwar, The girl who sold the world, Harshi, Macho Girl, Sinnerman, Surreal Reality, American Pie and Shub.

Thanks everyone, for making my birthday so special! Thanks for all the gifts, cards, emails, phone calls and sms messages. Maza aa gaya bilkul!

Happy birthday to me :)