Birthweekend

Yup, I had one of them birthdays. Again, this year too! Yeah I know, it’s funny how these things keep happening every year without fail!

I really love when my birthday’s on a weekend, sure helps with the partying! So much happened last weekend, I’m almost not sure I can remember it all. Will try to summarize for your benefit though:

Part the first, or, Can I change my mind. Again?
Started the day before my birthday, Friday the 13th, by going to the city with my dearest Saks. I love it when my bday falls on a Saturday & there have been many a year I’ve brought in my birthday on Friday the 13th. Still this year decided to stick with Saturday, so the plan for Friday was, after much (much) discussion; Breakfast at Leopold’s, Dinner at the Club (since I was skipping lunch).

Suffice to say, plans changed! Breakfast from Leopold’s was had in the car & office (lol!) and dinner was at China Gate. If you ask Saks, she’s likely to tell you that we reached the club & were entering when I changed my mind. But don’t believe her, because it was slightly before we entered that I changed my mind. So there.

I finally (after more debate & discussion) decided to bring in the b’day with my parents (yes, I’m a good daughter that way ) so vetoed the plans to go to Hard Rock Cafe with the guys & headed home by 11.30pm.

Part the second, or, The System
People close to me have learned that my cell phone is usually unreachable in the midnight hour of D-day. So of course, I have to face quips like “What is the waiting period to get through at night?”. Some wise and handsome men of course call (long distance!) right from the 13th “in case I don’t get through at 12″ and sing Happy Birthday to me. Honestly, lots of people sang to me, but you, were the best

And then of course, D-hour.
Mum & Dad wish me. And the phone rings. My first caller seems almost disappointed he got through. “You mean to say I’m the first?”. The horrors!

And then comes the incoming calls. Call after call.

Here’s where “The System” comes in place.
# 1: After listening to wishes & thanking people, explain that you’re using ‘The System’ and you may suddenly put them on hold if an incoming call comes through.
# 2: The System consists of immediately switching to the incoming call, as soon as you see it. This ensures that you do not miss anyone’s calls as most people are likely to hang up if they hear the “she’s on another call” ringtone.
# 3: After taking the second call, tell them you’ll be right back. Switch back to person one.
# 4: Tell person 1 you have to go.
# 5: Continue until all incoming calls finish, which might be a while, but, hey - at least there’s a system working.

The System has been tried & tested (by yours truly) - though there are a few bugs still. Sometimes one gets 2 incoming calls. Yes, my phone is capable of that. And in that case, I have no idea what to do. Anyway, I’ll continue tweaking the system until I’ve got it right

Part the third, or, More Flowers? It’s Hard being Popular, but Someone’s gotta do it.
Handy Hint to get through this stage: Keep a whole bunch of five rupee coins in a jar near your door, along with working pen, so you are ready to tip & sign off for deliveries.

Also would be sensible if you get all the vases out the previous day so you don’t have to hunt about for yet another one after getting more flowers.

I was also happily surprised by the number of cakes I got gifted this year. A lovely trend I must say that I hope stays. Flowers are nice but, chocolate cakes are, well, edible

In the midst of the madness, I also went to Mass. It’s been another year full of blessings and I’ve a lot to be grateful for.

Part the fourth, or, You’re Never Too Old To Have a Party.
Will not attempt to go into details, as the pics speak for themselves. I couldn’t (obviously) put up all the pics, so apologies if you’re not here, send me a mail, I’ll send you a link!

(click on pics to enlarge)

Part the fifth, or, After Partying, Continue Partying, or, Don’t Mess with Us, We will speak to the Management
At Rah, Phoenix Mills.

(click on pics to enlarge)

Part the sixth, or, Come, Eat my Baingans!
Where most of my nights end, at Vistas in the Taj Land’s End. “Baingans” = Bringals. And not from the Taj. And the pic below has nothing to do with that. The pic below, well, that was another story all together

Part the seventh, or, It’s Toast Time, what you thought we had enough?
At a friend’s (great host; better sport) place. Some of the toasts to me included:
“You are really what I call a friend” (highlight of long, very touching toast)
“In Four Words: Awesome Spirit to Dance” (no I didn’t understand that either, but it was pretty late by this point)
Immediately following: “In One Word: Bindaas” (and then he continued in lots more than one word! Very very sweet again)

(click on pics to enlarge)

Part the last, or, Does your Vagina Talk? And if it did, what would it say?
The next day, at Pritvi Theatre, Poor-box productions’ 151st performance of ‘The Vagina Monologues‘. Amazing performances, amazing monologues. All in all, Very brilliant.

Thank you, to one and all who played a part making my birthweekend very memorable. I am so blessed to have the friends I do. God bless you all.

Tags: 14th-July, Birthdays, Flowers, My-Birthday, Partying, Photographs, Pics, Pritvi, Telephone-Calls, The-Vagina-Monologues