Happy Birthday to ME

When I was a kid, I never knew why we celebrate birthdays. I had this misconception that elders are always going to be elders and I will always remain a cute little kid. I thought that’s how the world is. For me; birthday was simply a day on which I cut a cake, my family members sang a happy birthday song for me and gave me lovely presents. Ah! This reminds me of a beautiful incident and I can’t stop myself from sharing it with you.

One of my uncles visited my home with his four years old daughter and I asked her; “When is your birthday?” and she replied; “Jab meri phupoo mujhe gudiya deti hain na tau us din meri birthday hoti hai.” (“It’s when my aunt presents me a doll.”). How cute!

So let’s get back to my story. Later on, my mother explained that this is not the case and that each year we grew up.

The next thought that struck my mind was that if each year, on this particular day, a year is reduced from a person’s life then I just could not see a point in being so happy about the fact that we are becoming closer to death.

I wondered and wondered but failed to justify the celebrations. And then my father came to my rescue. He told me that we do this because each year a person becomes wiser than previous years and have more achievements on his/her credit and that calls for a celebration. I could not help myself but to agree with him.

It is my birthday again and this time I have my reasons to celebrate.