It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time. ~Barbara Kingsolver

Last Sunday I celebrated my 28th birthday.*Sigh. I’m getting old but not mature enough. At least I did not act like I did last year. About gifts and presents : A Musical Greeting Card :When I was in school, one of my classmates showed me a cool Christmas card which when opened would sing “We wish you a merry Christmas “. That was when I had this intense desire to own one. It took a whooping 15 years to fulfill that wish .Of course mine sings Happy Birthday. A wind chime : I always wanted one for my bedroom. I hate the sound of silence either be it my workplace or my room. The tinkle of bells is said to soothe your mind and ward of evil spirits.hah! Money : I was telling my sister how we would look forward to that Rs10 or Rs 20 we got as our birthday presents from our relatives. We would spend it giving “treats” to our classmates. Treats included eating 3 by 6 masala puri and Cadbury éclairs. This was a long time ago when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime minister and “Star “was just a celestial object to be viewed when the sun went down. T-shirts : 4 color color ones :) Books : Thanks to my friends for “Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories “ by Agatha Christie. I wanted to treat myself and so I bought “ The Eye of the World “ ~ Robert Jordan. Flashback: Let us take a walk through memory lane and see how I celebrated my birthday hmm lets say it’s my 13th birthday. The day before my birthday , I would be busy shopping with my parents buying a box full of Cadbury éclairs .On your birthday you could wear “color” clothes to school (hah! color clothes ).Yippee no uniform. On D day I would be all excited , beaming in new clothes .In school , my classmates would sing “ Happy Birthday “ and I would be smiling and giving them chocolates, hoping that Julie would take 2 ( uhahahaaa).Giving extra chocolates to my best friends. A few to my brother and sister’s friends. I think I remember the nuns at my school giving me stickers of Lord Jesus (Vc scratches his head) . Back home mom would have prepared hot gulab jamoons and pulav .In the evening, I would be distributing jamoons to my neighbors .My grandparents and relatives would give me money, Rs 2 and Rs 5, which I blew on more chocolates and “treating” my friends to pani puri and masala puri. More later….. Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things. ~Pierce Harris, Atlanta Journal