Playing it by the year

I've never insulted my birthdays by referring to any of them as "yet another birthday". They've always been full of elation and excitement. I have always grinned from year to year. Strangely, this is the first time in my life that I am experiencing mixed feelings on my birthday. Random things are crossing my mind today:

• Today is Friday, the 13th.
  

• My last four birthdays were celebrated in the same office. I miss that.
  

• My last blog post was hijacked by commentators and transformed into a discussion about Adnan Sami's weight. And now people are wishing me there. High time I had a legitimate birthday post. :)
  

• Many people on Orkut, upon getting notification of your birthday, tend to wish you whenever they feel like it. Chirpy "Happy birthday, Sayesha!" messages on Orkut sent a week before my birthday really annoy the hell out of me. :/
  

• The older we grow, the more depressing birthdays get. Not because we're getting older, but because birthdays stop being a big deal.
  

• Generally I don't hint about what I want for my birthday, because whatever I want, I buy it for myself. But when you desperately want something like the Indian cricket team cap which you can't find in Singapore, you gotta hint. And how I hinted. Not just about what I want, but how what I want can be obtained. Sigh. Now I don't even want it anymore. :(
  

• Sometimes I feel that after a certain age, you don't age by years, you age by bands. Your age is expressed in terms like early twenties and late twenties, and that kinda age lasts a while, definitely a few years at least. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one.

• Viv gifts me a cool new mobile phone and goes off to work, while I - the manual-hater - struggle to use the unfamiliar UI to reply to the gazillions of 'Happy birthday' messages from people. Those who are wondering about the blank messages they've received from me need to wait till end of the day for me to figure this phone out. And oh, if you need receive a non-blank message from me and wondered why it was so emotionless, I'm still figuring out the emoticons on this phone. :)
  

• I like it when my friends find out about what I want, and get me that instead of random vouchers or money on my birthday. I guess I'm more of a gifts person. Unless the gifts turn out to be boring books, or ugly vases or photo frames or Ferrero Rocher chocolate (bleah)! But sometimes a little green note can make your day! Thanks to my Dad in law, I can afford that expensive dress I saw in Vivocity the other day. I was gonna gift it to myself, but I already gave myself a sexy pair of black shoes, in spite of promising myself that I'd buy shoes only after joining a new job. But now I feel less guilty cos he's buying me that dress. And I think that green note also has allowance for two more pairs of shoes too! :P
  

• Ever felt like you just wanna get away from everything and be by yourself on your birthday? Ever felt like you can't answer another "Happy birthday, so what's the plan for today?" telephone call?
  

• Viv's uncle calls and says, "Happy birthday, Bhai! Aaj kisi ko supari leke tapkaane ka nahin hai kya?" It's so great not to have to be a prim and proper bahu before my in-laws. I reply with a "Bhai ka budday hai, marne wale ko bhi discount milega!" Gosh he's so awesomely adorable! :)
  

• When I was a kid, Mom used to make chaawal ki kheer on my birthday. Early in the morning, I'd wake up to the smells of the birthday puja, which in spite of not being religious, I used to look forward to. I know the recipe to make chaawal ki kheer, but I won't make it. Cos Mom must have made it already. She does every year. But she doesn't let Dad have too much of it, because he has diabetes. :(
  

• What do you do when you see a 'Happy birthday' sms from an unknown number? Do you send them a generic thanks or insult the person who remembered your birthday by asking them who the hell they are?
  

• How do you react when a dear one puts you through emotional hell, tramples on your self-respect, and then gives you a very nice birthday gift? Is that supposed to be an apology?
  

• I don't know what is sadder - the fact that some people forget your birthday or the fact that it stops mattering whether they remember or not.
  

• I miss my friend and colleague Bananapen. She's the kind of person who can transform a drab birthday into a "special event". She'd plan everything so well, put so much effort into the surprise, the gift, the card, the cake. Ah the cake. As long as she was around, I knew there would be no mistake with the cake. She knew me so well. I'm not too fond of cakes, except for cheesecake, but then I have never seen a cheesecake being used as a birthday cake (wouldn't that be great?). But this awesomely yummy chocolate cake with a crunchy base used to feature in almost all of my birthdays in my old company, and I never got tired of it. Thanks, Bananapen! Cocoa exoctica, was it?
  ps: Freaky Friday! Just as I typed this paragraph out, she sent me a message saying she's dropping by, armed with a cheesecake! Yeay! :D
  pps: Yes, she was a victim of one of my 'blank replies' too. :P
  

• The last few weeks have been kinda depressing in a strange unexplainable kind of way. The only thing that cheers me up is when my sister and I switch on our webcams and I watch baby Aish do bharatnatyam on her keyboard. It's amazing how much joy an exclusive baby Aish wallpaper designed for your birthday by your blog buddies can bring you. Thanks, gal pals!
  

• When he called to wish me, my brother-in-law said, "Aish wishes you 'Dhatinda'!" Apparently, she can't say "Mummy" or "Daddy" but the only thing she says that sounds remotely close to a word is "Dhatinda". See, I wasn't kidding about the bharatnatyam bit.
  

• What do you say when your closest buddy poses a question like "So do you want a surprise for your birthday or you don't want it?" Where's a hockey stick when you really need it? :/

I think I need to make up for this rather weird birthday.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me a year.