Well nothing pathbreaking really… just that today I began my 29th
revolution around the sun. Considering that the entire continent [well to be
more precise, a badly weather beaten island which perpetually denies its
part of the European continent] I currently inhabit dosent bother about my
existence… [ok, except Arindam] I thought I might as well write a note
here.
Actually, I dont know what I was supposed to do today. Even after all these
years Ive never quite got the hang of birthdays. Ive tried different
strategies… in school days I used to give chocolates (or biscuits) to
everyone. And in college days I used to give treats to friends or Amma would
invite HER friends (wow, what fun) for lunch and toil all morning in the
kitchen to prepare a super lunch. Then for a few years, I tried just keeping
quiet and hoping that nobody ever noticed it (which usually worked) so that
I could enjoy cribbing later about my unimportance for a whole week.
Probably the only aberrations were during MSRIT years when some of you chaps
were unkind enough to remember!
The following is just about birthdays in **general** (puleeeze don’t assume
I’m ranting about mine!)
A friend said that sadly, people have become so preoccupied that they dont
spend 5 mins every day morning to notice what is special about the day they
are about to begin. Hmm I used to think that too (on my birthday of course).
But then I dont have any calender with others’ bdays either and seriously
cant imagine myself making that a habit!
Its debatable whether bdays are worthwhile events or not… what with
reality being that a man is born everyday and all that kind of thing. But I
felt its probably a good thing to remember somebody once a year atleast.
Of course, theres also the other debate about whether a person should
announce his own bday.
I felt that the common assumption is that
(a) “they will remember if they care for me”
(b) its egoistic and impolite to remind others
For (a) I have an explanation that on the other hand its probably unfair to
expect others to remember some unfortunate accident that occurred over a
couple of decades ago. And furthermore I dont need proof from people whom I
know care about me whether they care or not.
But for (b) …er …Im not sure… guess I’ll just have to go with being
egoistic and impolite.
Or maybe there are other approaches like giving subtle hints (though
personally I’ve never been good at the subtly hinting business).
I believe it dosent matter how old one is. Most people consider it too
kiddish to celebrate bdays. I say blaaaaah to them.
So… anyway I thought I’d blatatantly misuse this opportunity to make a
speech. So… (ahem)… here it is:
********************** <— [ neon lights ]
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Ladies and gentleman, your attention please…
I am currently of the conviction that _everybody_ has a right to pursue
their life the way they like it. No matter which holy religious book
declares what, all yardsticks for comparision of "better" and "worse" people
are defunct!
All creatures on the planet are engaged in their own pursuit of this elusive
thing called Happiness; they have every right to experiment with different
means, at their own time, until they find their own approach which suits
them the best.
Healthy exchange of ideas are always welcome, as long as we don't _expect_
others to match our own self-imposed standards!!
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I'll probably regret everything I said tomorrow… but that happens all the
time and I'm kind of getting used to it, so until then…
Cheers!!!
Sanjay
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