Day 12 (29 December 2009)

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday has always been something I look forward to every year. The wishes and the feeling of being special (even for a day) fascinate me a lot. But this year, things were even better. The last few weeks had been the most wonderful of my life. The food seemed more delicious than ever, the sun a little brighter than usual.... My life was melodramatically beautiful! (of course attributed to Khushi's presence in my life)

I had gone to Pilkhuwa the previous evening so that I could celebrate with my friends the next day. After the midnight birthday wishes (the time when you feel like the busiest person on the planet), the first half of the day was rather fun. The regular "movie and lunch" party with my buddies was a memorable affair. We chatted, screamed, made fun of each other, ate food, wasted food and chatted some more. In short, I had a typical teenage birthday celebration.

However, the best memories were yet to come. Due to the conservative nature of the society there, and the crazy nature of my friends, I could not call Khushi to my birthday party. However, during our conversation at midnight (she was the first to wish me), we had come up with a plan to meet.

It was late afternoon, well past lunch time, that I rang the bell to Khushi's house. Her mother answered the door. I greeted aunty and explained to her that I had to borrow some books from Khushi. After a brief chai-paani and a discretely whispered "Happy Birthday", Khushi handed me a couple of books. Sandwiched in those books was my birthday present. I was given strict orders not to open it before I reached home.

I thanked aunty as I left and was tearing away the gift wrapping as I walked out the door. It was a beautiful hard-bound diary. I tucked it in my arms and walked back home.

As I lay back on my chair and put the bundle of books on the table, I noticed something weird. The diary she had gifted me seemed used. I flipped it open and started going through what was written in it. A few minutes later, I was struggling in vain to fight back tears.

The diary Khushi gifted me was a memo of EVERY wonderful moment we had shared together. The first time we talked, the memorable conversations we had, my stupid antics, my 3 failed proposals, EVERYTHING, EVERY MEMORY was recorded with the date and in some cases even the time! I did not know how to react. The overwhelming feeling I had at that moment was bliss.

I had never received any birthday gift remotely as wonderful as a record of the most precious memories I had! It truly was a HAPPY birthday for me, and I owed it to Khushi.

For a long time, I preserved that diary, hiding it in my computer's CPU (so that my mother would not find it)! Whenever I thought of Khushi or missed her through the years, the diary brought alive all the vivid and joyous memories. In fact, most of the events mentioned in "14 Days", the story I narrate to you, are recollections from the diary.

Unfortunately, my mother recently found that diary (thanks to my fidgety cousin), scolded me a lot and destroyed it (that's a whole other story). Yet, I preserve the cardboad cover and a few blank pages of the dilapidated diary. The writing and the pages are gone, but the memories remain etched on my heart forever.