Lock down had extended on and on, and as I had dreaded, my birthday fell in between these lonely days. I was depressed to even imagine celebrating my birthday completely at home, with no cake, no visits to dance class or school, no hugs and shake hands from my friends, teachers, and relatives, no distribution of sweets, chocolates and so on.
Already, every year I seldom celebrated my birthday at school, because my birth date is in May, and it was always vacation time during May. So, I was waiting for my board exams to get over, and have a blast on my birthday, when Covid-19, our little friend, came in with his army.
I decided to accept it, that I had to sit indoors all day on my birthday. But I couldn’t get over the truth that I couldn’t have a proper cake from the bakery. Every year, if I celebrated my birthday or not, I always had an awesome cake from the bakery. But now, that was not possible. So my mom came to the rescue, and made an amazing 3-layer cake, with Dalgona coffee frosting! It was a simple cake with simple ingredients, but tasted as awesome as any other bakery cake!
I was happy that I got a tasty cake to celebrate my birthday. But what made me more happy was the numerous wishes and calls I got from almost all of my friends, akkas, relatives, and family. At midnight, my grandparents called to wish me. Then in the morning, I woke up to see so many wishes from my friends, teachers, relatives and akkas. I was feeling so elated, in the morning itself. Then, slowly, as the day progressed, many more wishes came in. Many of my friends and akkas wished me on their Whatsapp statuses and Instagram Stories. And a whole lot of wishes were there on Facebook too.
In the evening, my school besties Poojithaa and Yesodhara did a video call with me, and made me even more happier with their small surprise. They had written “Happy Birthday Malu” on big sheets, so as to show me in the video call. It made me so happy so see my friends again. And their surprise was awesome too.
Then later, we did a video call with my dance class friends and akka. It was also so refreshing to see them all, as I had last seen them on March 8, after which there were no classes at all. We talked and laughed and teased everyone, just like we do in dance class. It felt like I had really gone to SDN for my birthday.
The whole day, I was not alone at all. I didn’t feel alone, like I did on all the other days. I had thought I would be so sad on my birthday, but there was no moment such as that. It was, actually the best birthday ever, because so many people had never wished me before, on any other birthday. There was no party, no gifts, no grand cake, but I felt more happier than the other birthdays.
I really do hope this pandemic ends, and our regular routines start off once again. When life was busy, we used to think a break from daily routines would be refreshing. But now when we have a complete break from everything, we yearn to go back to the regular, busy life. This shows that social life is also as important as money and status. Now we are not able to see our friends, go to offices and schools, and no leisure activities. Now we can’t go shopping even if we have money. Life has changed a lot. We can only pray that it will return to normal.