Thirty something…

Birthdays are like festivals; you may choose to celebrate or just let them pass just like any other day. I have little to say about those who would just not feel special or are not made to feel special on their birthdays. This post is about those who believe in the day they were born and like to remember the day when their sense organs lost their virginities – the eyes for the first time saw light, the ears for the first time heard a sound, the skin for the first time felt an external touch, the tongue for the first time tasted milk and the nose for the first time took a whiff of air. So, it does make sense to celebrate a day like that for a lifetime.

I turned thirty this year – which statistically means that I have covered about 45% of my life, considering the life expectancy of 67.46 years for an Indian male (2009 est.) I will not divulge on the philosophical side of life – what I have achieved in thirty years and what I have not.

Birthday Celebrations at midnight of 03 Aug 2011

Neha has a knack for planning out my birthday and she does it so well. Last year she had planned out an entire day of fun and new things and this year was no different. The birthday bash started at midnight with a romantic setup of music, dance, wine, candle light, a delicious cake. I will be undermining her efforts if I fail to mention the thermocol ball filled balloon which she single handily hung on the ceiling fan. During our photography session that night, we experienced the difference between a warm light and a cool light on the theme of a photograph.

We woke up to a beautiful and pleasant morning. Sol had been shining bitter and brighter in the previous few days. The morning of August 03, 2011 brought in cool breeze and a cloud cover. We went to Mc Donald’s for its delicious breakfast menu and on stepping out we were welcomed by a gentle drizzle – the kind which is like a soft spray of water.

Breakfast at McDonald's, Sector 29, Gurgaon

We headed to watch a light comedy with a high level of cute factor – “Smurfs”, a mythical story about blue people who are three apples high. I grew up watching Smurfs on TV but Neha had missed out on this. Watching mysterious characters from childhood days took me down the memory lane which added to the flavour of the birthday – birthdays are supposed to make you remember each conscience year of your life  and photographs do thee rest. There was another peculiar yet not bizarre thing about the movie – for a greater part of the movie, we were the only people in the theatre – that added to the oomph of the day.

After the movie, we decided to go home and relax for a hour as after that we had plans to go to the Kingdom of Dreams. We first went to the Culture Gully section of Kingdom of Dreams where we satiated our hunger by eating a Red Snapper Goan fish curry. We hung around  the place for some time exploring the different avenues. At 6 pm a Mongolian troupe was performing an acrobatic circus called “Acro Mania” The seats we were allotted was not appreciated by Neha and soon after the show began, we grabbed some empty yet better seats.

Performing with the Mongolian Acrobats.. I am the one in the non-yellow clothing

An interesting chain of events followed which landed on stage with the performers for one of the acts. One of the performers was looking for lean people of different heights and they picked me up along with two kids. What happened next cannot be explained in words – I was made to lift the performer on my arms and made to jump and sit on the performer’s feet. The theatre of Kingdom of Dreams is called Nautanki Mahal which is a no photography zone. Before entering the place, we were made to deposit our SLR but were allowed phones. Before the show began, we clicked each other through the phone and we were asked to delete the photo. Security personnel and ushers were strategically placed in the hall and despite the tight security, Neha managed to click me on stage.

By the time the show ended – the last natural photos of  the day were quickly diminishing and the night was fast approaching. We had been seeing the lights of  the Kingdom for over a year from our terrace – and nightfall for us meant a change in scene from the photography perspective. After a good one hour of photography which was just enough to quench our thirst to freeze the moment in time, we headed back for home.  We had plans for a family dinner with Mom and Bro.

Family Dinner

Around 9:30 we were driving towards Ambience Mall to have a nice family dinner and we decided to dine at Fres Co – a nice Italian cuisine restaurant. I believe occasions like these are required to catch up with the family during this age of social networks where even though information is disbursed in real time but in reality it is just data which gets transmitted from one person to another. The personal touch of a meeting in physical space translates that data into meaningful information.

I will be doing injustice to my friends and well wishers who kept pouring birthday wishes through phone calls,  text messages and social networks.

Now, let me get back to enjoying the remainder 55% of my statistical life