a happy birthday

if you read my blog, you know that the plan was to boycott my birthday this year. if only i could've trusted my friends to do the same. not everyone is blessed with friends one can count on. sigh.

although i had (blissfully) gone to bed before midnight (for the first time in eons, on the birthday eve i.e.), the phone rang a few times at 12. although my cellphone was off, some incorrigible (read thoughtful) fools had fished out my landline number and called. by the time i was up to take the call it had seeped into the answering machine. though no one left a message, i knew who it was (but feigned ignorance and went to sleep). of course, dad had taken a call just a minute ago from a 's__' and told him i was sleeping. s has a namesake fairly unpopular at home, and dad thought it was him. he (dad) was thus less keen to wake me up. sorry, s :(.

incidentally, my brother-in-law's brother was visiting with his family (on transit) and we share the same birthday. as host, i felt i had to ensure that his birthday was celebrated, and as guest, he felt he needed to ensure that mine was :). no boycotting there.

the day began with an early morning walk in lodhi gardens. the timing was perfect for photography, with the then rising sun. i took many pictures as we walked along the lawns. they say whatever you do on your birthday, you'll be doing for the rest of the year. i don't think i can go to lodhi gardens for morning walks all through the year, but maybe i'll be happy to just wake up at 6am. and to be able to take pictures everyday would be a terrific bonus. (thank you, god!) (later, s asked me what i did all day, and when i started excitedly about the picture-taking, he said he wanted to know what i did for fun! what a fool :). he has since been educated on my definitions of 'fun'.)

there was a long meeting at ns, for which i spent 2 hours in commute. the meeting was successful, but all too long. it made me all the happier to be back though, in the comfortable confines of a home filled with visitors to play host to. in the evening, we went to ihc for a splendid concert organized by hcl. the concert expressions of the mind had a sarangi performance by ustad sabri khan and his grandson, and then a bharatnatyam performance by geetha chandran and her troupe. ustad ji played two ragas - puriya-kalyan and gaud-malhar (i'd try not to crack my usual joke here, but it was god-level :). it was a beautiful and warm feeling to be in india, in the monsoon season, and listen to a malhar raga performed on stage. it was something else.

the bharatnatyam performance was in 3 parts, spanning patterns of space, of memory, and of time. i loved the last, for it was a fusion of kalidasa's ritusamhara and tchaikovsky's seasons. it was danced without the ghunghroos, which made it all the more fascinating. the coordination was without flaw, the grace unparalleled, and every season portrayed with haunting beauty. i did try to take some pictures, but i am sure they do no justice. if only i could have the auditorium to myself, ask the dancers to pose on demand, and photograph them. oh, to dream!

i ran into aa there. to think i could run into people i knew in a concert in delhi - a city that houses 20-something million. it is a small world, isn't it? after the concert (which had started quite late to begin with, because the chief guest - secretary of rural development - took his time coming), we had a big family celebration in the form of dinner at dilli-o-dilli (not my top choice but the chinese restaurant there allowed children above 18 only. unfortunate!). i will eventually post photos; these still need to be downloaded (surprising, yes) because i'm not really looking forward to poorly shot flash-filled pictures. sigh.

this wasn't all though. the post would be incomplete if i failed to add how my day was filled with loving phone-calls and emails from loving loved ones. i oozed with a feeling that defines warm and fuzzy. so much for boycotting the birthday. so much for counting on friends to do the same.

sigh.