Birthdays, anniversaries of one’s arrival on this planet. I remember all my birthdays were celebrated affairs with my “subtle reminders” being not-so-subtly presented to my parents a couple of months well in advance. With the cake, the presents, the blowing out of the candles, the present, and that irritating happy birthday tune before I get to open my presents. And of course, mustn’t forget to mention the presents.

Recently I had gone with some of my friends over to celebrate the birthday of one of us. A group of us reached the place. By “place”, I mean a cinema, which resembles something that wants to be a big mall when it grows up. It has this large number of small shops selling these intricately faked shoes, T-shirts, watches and other things that people take notice of when you go out     wearing them. Yeah well, before explaining the interiors of this place, let me talk about the entrance, because, that’s where we spent about an hour and a half waiting for everyone to arrive (Take notes   If   you want to.... This is how you plan your birthday bash when you turn 15…kids, make sure none of these minor details about how much time you wasted     reach you parent’s ears… If you want your ears intact that is). Well at the entrance there are a lot of posters of all the movies showing, and the latest releases and all the usual. There’s a large signboard, reading “Grand Al Mariah” (you have to crane your necks a little back to read this board especially if the car you have chosen to place your behinds upon is parked in front of the entrance). Well the place is called “Grand Al Mariah”, but just to sound like we’ve been   to     this   place really often, most of us in the town     call it “Grand”, or “Mariah” when referring to it.

Finally, after an hour and a half of waiting, and denting the bonnets of some

Cars/ “public seats provided for all the people whose friends get late”, our late friends

arrived . And just when we were about to enter this glamorous     place, one of us comrades, suggested we go play pool in another place, since, “Grand” usually got crowded at this time of the day. And since we were in a large group, and since mob psychology began working its way through our teenage crowd, we enthusiastically agreed to the suggestion, and crossed to the other side of the road, and entered this less crammed pool place that looked like it wanted to be as crowded as “Grand Al Mariah” when it grew up. The birthday boy paid for two pool tables and so we began to play. Now, being really frank, this was the first time I had played pool in my life and so, like all other rookies the only way I knew how to play was from those Tom and Jerry episodes that I’d seen (….and my mom says cartoons are bad). Yeah well, I kind of figured out the game, though it was pretty tough without a cute mouse running about the table. It was all about, holding the stick freely, avoiding contact with the stick, and the other person’s nose when you pulled your hands back, and also, trying to hit your type of ball (striped or solid) into the holes without getting the white one in. After a couple of games, we decided to bail, and with our bruised noses, we walked out, our spirits still on an all time high. And that’s when our stomachs told us it was time to eat.

Being wise enough to listen when our stomachs talked to us, we decided to go back to Mariah and eat something. And finally, after waiting for three and a half hours or so, I finally got to see the insides of the place, Grand Al Mariah that day. We walked about for a while absorbing everything around us: All the people walking by and all those shops on either side. We took a little time to get used to the atmosphere and then, we slipped into mall mode. This mode varies greatly from person to person, and also differs according to the company you are in. If you are going alone, you would have your hands in your pocket, pulling up your loose pants with fluid graceful movements at frequent intervals, with a pair of headphones sprouting out of your T-shirt (doesn’t matter if anything is connected on the other side of the wire… Its all about the presentation), eyes half-raised, back half-raised, and pants that require raising ..

And we went up to Macdonald’s, met a couple of friends on the way, and while Birthday boy took our orders and conveyed them to the waitress, I sat next to that Ronald Macdonald statue on the bench, ( the psychotic clown guy who wants to watch everyone grow fat eating his food… you know who I’m talking about). The waitress got annoyed seeing me playing about with his big red nose, and told us to go find a seat. And so we seated ourselves ‘properly’ and ate. Then, the inevitable discussion for the birthday gift began. We all started discussing what we would buy, pitching in some cash from all of us. There was an Adidas factory outlet nearby, and so we decided to decide what to buy when we got there.

And so with full, muted stomachs, we walked out of Mac’s (remembering to throw accusing looks at the yellow clown as we exited), and were off to the shop, a rather reluctant birthday boy in tow. In the shop, we took our own sweet time to “quickly” decide what gift to give him. But finally after a while, we found a watch was the best option. And so, one of the smarter people among us figured out how much money we all had to chip in each (Of course, me being the smartest there, didn’t have to prove it..). We all huddled together, change, being exchanged among all of us. The cashier began giving us those glances, so we don’t     spend much time like this. The watch was bought, and the birthday boy, (trying his best to hide his glee behind protests about why we didn’t have to buy it), along with us, walked out. And the cashier, with a frown, got back to his work …guess he always looked like that. And we walked out to where our parents would pick us up. And all this time, I kept wondering if something was missing. And that’s when my stomach whispered to me “it’s the cake, stupid”. This piece of information hit me so   hard,   I forgot my stomach had just insulted me. And so we waited while I contemplated on those fond memories of birthday cakes, decorations, and party hats of the past years.

In the car, I couldn’t help wondering… if I would send the same old reminders to my parents this time around my own birthday.