Agni's watermelon brithday! :)

The whole of last week has been fun. Real fun. Agni's brithday made it fun all the more.

Last tuesday was Agni's brithday like for everyone among Kats's friends he was made to cut cake at the stoke of midnight.(I learnt to use 'at the stroke of midnight' from Cinderella's story you see.) Every brithday is celebrated ina different way. The cake is made differently for different people, like Agni likes watermelon, so for him a cake in the shape of watermelon, with a red top made from jam with chocolate droplets as seeds was made. For Shanti and Kats the first time they celebrated their birthday it was a litchi cake, with Happy Brithday future chemists written on it.(They were born on the same day, just a year apart and many many miles apart.)

Celebrating birthdays togehter by invitng the whole class started with Agni's brithday a year back. Agni and Kats were not good friends back then you see. But Kats decided to attend his birthday-I was pushing her too, I wanted to see what could happen-cause she believed that if by being there it might make him happy she'd do it. I remember her helping her friends and giving crazy ideas for his 'fake' gift. Some which are my favourites are stuffing empty cookie packets with paper and sticking them with cellotape so that it looked like it had cookies in it, wrapping chilli flakes packet in layers of newspapers and putting it inside another cover for a chocolate, a stuffed surgical glove that poped out the moment you opened the box and guess what, the glove also has a mystery gift,more chilly flakes packets. :p After Agni was let to open this 'mystery box' he was later chased with eggs. Yes it was holi, but in March at mid night with yellow greasy eggs. Poor Agni he was soaked in smelly yellow egg. I guess by the times all the eggs were over he might have been stuck to one place, or rather frozen like a statue.

His hair I remember was stuck in one place like the hair of the clay dolls that you get in the mela. And he smelled real bad. He must have been upset, becuase he was never given his actual gifts then at the time he was made to cut the cake. It was hidden under the huge mess in his room and he was made to find it. Becuase girls and boys live in different hostels we are not allowed to go there. They were supposed to use skype to show us how he searched for them. But they couldn't connect and we were angry. Becuase after all the egg holi Agni was too tried to even thank his friends and class mates who had come. Kats was very angry, I was angry too; but Kats was very angry. The next day he did give a chocolate to make up for his not saying thank you and it worked for me, but didn't work completely for Kats.

This year Agni's brithday was differnt. Himadrija and Indigo's room was like a far off uncle's house on a cousin's wedding. Fullf of activity, full of people laughing, talking. Like in all the weddings and functions where the whole family the far off and the direct ones meet, Agni's brithday this time was like the entire family of friends meeting after a year.(Their hostels had been split in July last year you see.) Everyone had a new story to share, a new song to sing and still it didn't seem like there was a year between that day when they had all, together, last met and that day. Every one was doing something for Agni, Vidya and Himadrija were working on the wrapping and decoration of Agni's gift, Kats and Indigo on the brithday card.. when it was 11:30 pm all ran down stairs togther.

I don't know wether Kats and her friends are lucky or wether Agni's lucky, but it is on his brithday both last year and this year everyone came togehter. Happy Birthday Agni! Grow older and never forget to give the chocolate you gave the last year again for your next birthday. Yes, you read it right, he didn't give a chocolate for this year's birthday.

Chulibuli feels sad for Dadu

The door bell rang once, but we were too busy with Lego to rush and pay attention to it. Also it was an odd time when it rang, it couldn't have been mummy, daddy and Kats's friends normally don't come to visit her. The bell rang again and the door 's latch was used to knock. It was then that I understood that it was Dadu.

Dadu is a really old man, who sells eggs, agarbattis, chanchur/mixture, and buys old paper from us. One of his eyes have almost become completely white and poor Dadu can see properly only form the other eye. he had told us once about his grand daughter, she was in school, and wanted some of Kats's old note books for her to write. I remember spontaneously making Kats ask about her granddaughter's Daddy and mummy, and he was silent. It was a strange silence, Dadu seemed very sad then. Dadu as much as we have known him has exactly 3 pairs of clothes and a sleeveless sweater and a brown full sleeves sweater. When it is a little cold he wear the sleeveless sweater and colder the full sleeves one and the coldest both together.  His slippers have been the same for the last so many years that we have seen him. But unlike other adults he smiles a lot. When he smiles I think he forgets that he has lost so many teeth. I often wonder how difficult it must be for Dadu to brush, because with such huge gaps between his teeth insects would find it very easy to enter his mouth.

Dadu's son has vanished, Dadu is very old and he still works. I remember making Kats ask mummy once that when one is old one usually shouldn't work, but why is that Dadu is working. Mummy said to me, "Normally when one is old, one expects ones children to look after and do no work. Dadu's children are not there. Dadu has a little grand daughter to take care of. And isn't it a good thing that he is working? Instead of sitting at home all day long, all lone he goes around, sees the world, meets people of all kinds. He can tell better stories to his grand daughter. " so true, the more people you meet, the more places you see the better stories you can tell. But why do children vanish when their mummy-daddy grow older? I always had that question, but somehow could never ask anyone yet.

It is good that Dadu gets to meet so many people and tell better stories, but sometimes when it is too cold or too hot and his legs ache too much to ride his cycle with the box of eggs on his carrier and the bags of agarbattis and chanchur/mixture hung along his cycle's handle he still comes.  And it is then that Chulbuli feels sad for Dadu.