19th Birthday Bash

15 October, 1991 - the day when this little brat let out its first cry and let the universe know that she had entered this world after all. I must say that I was born on Durgashtami (mallus would definitely know of this auspicious day especially thanks to the movie Manichitratazhu) and that made it all the more special for my family members as I did prove too hot to handle!

And now 19 years after that, my family has still not found the perfect solution to contain this little devil. This 19th birthday of mine proved pretty good for me, rather I must specify that it was good till 2 pm in the afternoon! Friends and family alike made it all the more special and God alone knows what all preparations went into this birthday bash of mine. First and foremost let me start of by saying a big thanks to all the my near and dear ones for making the day extra special (though I did spoil some of the surprises, sorry [:)]). A big umma to all my roomies, extended roomies and my family!!!

14 October,2010- I had my LD lab in the afternoon and it ended pretty fast and so me and MG (Marilyn) met in front of the MB and started walking back, describing all our lab events and commenting on it not even sparing a single moment. Then both of us headed straight to our mess (this month MG ending up in the veg mess for a change) for tea or rather some more evening gossip. While we were sitting there and chatting, I see anju and akhi enter the mess with a big bag in their hand. I saw them animatedly talking to the mess chechi and I knew the reason! MG suddenly sees anju.

MG: "Anju's not in this mess. Is she?"

Me: "No man. She came to keep the cake in the fridge here [:)]"

MG: "What caaakkk....... Oh shit... Anju..."

She ran to anju's side and explained to her that I knew of everything. It was worth seeing anju's face. ROFL. She ignored me and with that million dollar expression of hers, she ran out of the mess. Akhi, in the meantime, tried to change the topic but she herself could not help laughing at how embarrassing a situation they had created for themselves.

I came back to the room to find anju hiding behind a book and trying really hard to not look at me. And out of nowhere both of us just burst out laughing. MG entered the room and then I was trying to calm anju down saying that the surprise was just broken earlier and when anju left the room, I kept on making fun of them saying that I needed to practice that surprised Miss World expression for that night when I had to cut the cake. " No thanks... If you do something that idiotic, you wait and watch.. ", MG said.

At around 6 pm, anju gets a call in her mobile. She sees the number and says, "Varsha, Varun achachan is calling". I checked my mobile and seeing no call in mine I told her to answerr her call. She answers it and gives her mobile to me and all I had to say was, "Its for you. You talk to him [;)]". Then it strikes her. She runs out of the room with the mobile. MG, sudhi and nids enter the room then just to see me lying head down on my table and laughing.

All: "What happened?"

Me: " Varun is planning a surprise for my birthday with anju and I just got to know of it."

All: "OMG..."

MG (running out of the room) : "Anju forget it. She knows it."

And after all the conversation outside my room, they enter to see me grinning widely.

MG: "For all the pain and trouble you have caused us, we are surely giving you a special GPL tonight.'" And the expression in everyone's face said that clearly.

The truth was I was feeling pretty bad that I had poured water over all their plans. But it was so hilarious to see all of their faces when they were caught red-handed.

At around 7, everyone disappears from the room and I realized that all of them had gone to meet Varun outside the LH gate. I just look out my window and I see two familiar figures on the walkway behind the BB court. And suddenly anju screams, "She saw us." That was it. I had reached the zenith of controlling my laughter and I just burst out laughing. In 5 minutes, the entire 911 gang was in the room. Their vicious expressions said it all. With much venom in their voice they made it clear that the night was one I would never forget thanks to all the kicks I would get!

I promised myself that I would not spoil any more fun and I swore that I would atleast act as if I knew nothing (though later I realized that I did not know most of the things), after all I was a dancer. I got ready to take a shower and as planned earlier by my friends I was to wear a party top for the celebration. On seeing the top they went like, "ohho.....ooooo." And when I said the 4-digit price tag of the top, all that MG could say was, " For that piece of GLASS??!!!!"

I took a shower and only later did my friends realize that it was to escape all the cake facials that I otherwise might be subjected to. But my friends have always maintained that there are better uses of the cake for the stomach than for the face! My friends on seeing me in the new and hmm (other adjectives) top, passed various comments the MOST DECENT one being, "Hmmm... This is a Ladies Hostel.. No point!" [:O]

At 11.30 (after 2 hours of everyone missing from the room) , MG enters the room and closes my eyes and leads me outside for the apparent surprise birthday bash with the cake I had seen earlier in the day. I must say it was a sweet celebration with all my friends there and we did have a lot of fun!

Returning back to the room, I told anju that I was going to take a power nap for 20 minutes and that I had to wake up and study for my exam scheduled for the next day. MG and anju, meanwhile were perched on anju's bed and gossipping about me and since even after my persistant questioning they had no plans of revealing it to me, I just dozed off.

In the middle of the night I hear another birthday song and it came from pretty close by. When I opened my eyes, I saw that all of 911 were standing there with a nicely lit cake in the dark room.

Me: "OMG. You guys are crazy. How many cakes man?!"

All: "Its from Varun achachan."

After the song, I blew off the candles and cut the cake. This cake was exclusively for the 10 of us! And while all this was going on, anju hands me another big bag and I open that to realize that there were two BIG packs of Celebrations and some comparatively smaller Temptations packs inside it. That was my birthday present from Varun. That made up for lunch and dinner for 2 days for the 10 of us!

Then came the funnier parts. My birthday presents from my friends.

1) Prank message- I get a message from one of my friends and apart from the birthday wishes there was something pretty weird to the entire message and later I realized that it was a prank from MG and anju! The video they took of this entire exchange was pretty hilarious and there are time even now that me and anju sit and laugh over it!

2) Bag - My college bag tore on my way to college and I had to make do with the new bag that my parents got me as a gift and I did not want to spoil it by taking it to college. My friends knew of that and they got me a sweet bag as my present. And till today I have been flaunting that bag of mine!

3) Card - This was the most enjoyable gift of all and I keep on telling them that. My friends were keeping on pestering me to open the bag and finally when I did, I found this huge card in it. I take it out to the incessant coughing from all my friends. I see the cover of the card filled entirely with one alphabet (an alphabet that comes in the first 13 alphabets of the English language, and nothing more will come out of this mouth of mine) and I just kept my mouth shut.

MG: "Hows the design? [;)]"

Me: " Thank you my dear. I can see your art work clearly in here especially the alphabet. I refuse to comment on the design of the card. *weird smile*"

MG: " That is not fair! We would not have done that to you had you not spoiled all our surprises. This is our sweet revenge. Hey, did you see all that little hearts next to the alphabet and to some 'key phrases?*wicked smile*."

Me: " I did see all the hearts and alphabets and all the coded things in there. And I am just going to keep my mouth shut." I knew that they were waiting for me to comment on all that and I was not going to play into their trap!

Anju: " Now that is how we add some 'personal' touch to the entire thing. [;)] " *hi5 between anju and MG*

Me: " I see all the 'personal' touch that you people have given it. Do you realize that I can't take it back home and show it to amma?! (But now considering the fact that even amma pulls my leg quite often taking it back home is not going to be an issue as I have already told amma the entire story) .The only person I can show it to is to Varun thanks to all your artwork with that one alphabet and the code-name in that!!! I made up the code-name, how can I not recognize it, you fool?!!!"

Anju: " Didn't we just make your day thanks to the card? [;)]"

Me: "No comments. All that I can say is that this definitely was 'one hard kick'!"

Apart from all that there were personal little mails from all of them behind the card and each and every letter was so cute that I actually could not stop laughing. Anju made sure that even that letter from her was not spared of the alphabet! After all this is the opportunity she got to make up for the earlier embarrassing moments!

After all the fun we could possibly have, mostly fun at making fun of me and more leg-pulling, all of us dispersed at 2 in the night and somehow me and MG could not even think of our supposed exam the next day!

The day went off well and then came the dreaded afternoon when I sat down to write my exams. The exams went so terribly bad that I came back and cried for the first time in my life over an exam. And all that Varun had to say was, " Ok. Maybe you won't get a 30 on 30. Please for God's sakes be satisfied with a 29 [:P] and stop worrying the rest of us. This is the problem when you get so used to extremely good marks. Welcome to engineering, my little sister!"

Apart from that exam of mine, it was an awesome day, well spent with friends and family and I must say that the 'surprises' were indeed amazing. Though the card caught me unawares (as I was pretty sure that my friends would not pull my leg on my birthday card) they made sure that I was embarrassed like anything on that card, the birthday was one Great Day!!!