Birthdays bring new possibilities...A second chance or in other words..yet another chance. With hubby away and therefore a traditional celebration out of the way, I decided to take it upon myself to plan my birthday.
If I were to reborn today, what would I do differently? I thought hard.
Every year I've received gifts from others..I decided to start a tradition where I'd gift others. Would gift folks who dont normally receive gifts. I started the day with gifting my house help. I gifted my maids, the cook and the driver. The look on their face amusing..One of them even thinking if this is an indication that I'm expecting a birthday gift in return. I had to ask them to just smile and make my day. Of-course the smarter ones started showering me with their well-wishes.
The next installment of gift-giving was stalled bcos of the Cricket World Cup extravaganza that has now made my birthday somewhat of a historic date. So, armed with sweets and clothes(some new, some designer-wear stuff that my kid has outgrown), I went to the lesser-priviledged neighbourhood today...(cant take credit for the originality of this idea though..Its been somewhat of a family tradition I finally felt like following.)
As soon as I got out of the car and signalled the kids with bags of clothes and sweets, there was an uproar. Kids flocking onto me, pleading, begging, crying. And towards the end, grabbing and snatching out of my hand..felt like a deer in the middle of hungry tigers (well, in this case tiger-cubs). To my chagrin, a "survival-of-the-fittest" battle had even started on the side. Stronger kids snatching away clothes from the weaker ones. My act of benevolance was turning into a road-rage..Well..call it a "street-rage" since no motorists were involved obviously.
All and all, though the rowdiness was un-called for, the heart did tickle. Just knowing that I'd been a source of their momentary joy and excitement. And amongst the crowd, there was a little kid whose eyes twinkled and lips slowly parted when I sneaked a "BabyGap" jeans into his hands.
Just a glimpse of that smile was a gift to myself. A birthday well-received and well-spent.