Birthday Series: 3 to go: What is the big deal about birthdays?

This is a guest post by Sindhu :)

In our family, we have this practice of celebrating the first birthday by inviting close friends and relatives. Of course I don’t remember my first birthday but we do have a few photos taken during the occasion. Me in a pattu pavadai with almost nil hair on my head J

One of the birthday parties I remember which happened during my childhood days is my cousin’s. The cake was Mickey Mouse shaped. We filled a balloon with glitters and tied it on the fan. Once the cake was cut, my other cousin burst the balloon and the entire area was filled with glitters. Later I went to buy potato chips for the veg briyani served for the dinner. The shopkeeper gave a weird look seeing me drenched in glitters. The same cousin turned 21 a few days back and all she wanted was a big sized GOT t-shirt.

I lost interest in celebrating my birthday a few years before. It just happened without any particular reason. I turned off the FB birthday notification. Sometimes I laugh by seeing posts on social media such as ‘can’t keep calm it is my birthday month/day’. But who am I to judge them? It is their birthday and their wish to celebrate it the way they want.

Once I used to invite all my friends and neighbours for my birthday party. I used to send gifts for my close friends’ birthdays. Later the practise of gifting someone has stopped completely. In my engineering college, there was a gift shop which had very good collection was greeting cards. I sent a greeting card to my dad from that shop and when my mom called that day, she was almost in tears as the card had beautiful wordings. I was thinking about all this and wondering why I stopped the nice gesture of sending gifts. A gift could be a materialistic thing but it shows how important that particular person is to me.

A birthday may not be a big deal to me but it could be a big deal for some of my close ones and a kind gesture can make their day even more beautiful. So from this year, I have decided to send gifts to some special ones in my life on their birthday. And you know what, even if I don’t consider my birthday a big deal, I am blessed with a few dear ones who make it a big deal J

So what is the big deal about birthdays? 

I for one, am sure glad that she kind of found out :)

Sindhu is a dedicated marketer who always has a smile on her face. She can make anyone feel welcome in minutes, and make a daunting crowd feel like a bunch of old friends. Obviously that means that she has a lot of friends! :)