It’s 10 PM, 2 hours to deadline, you put your phone on
charging as you know it’s going to be a long night. You have a tentative list
of people in your mind that are going to call, any addition will be a pleasant
surprise and any ‘no show’ will be a big disappointment. You rehearse your
responses as you can predict most of the conversation. There is nothing to
worry about as you are no longer in college hostel, you don’t require any
padding, no one is going to crush raw eggs on you and pour juice in your hair
before venting out all of their life frustration on your butt. Life is going to
be much civilised now.
It’s 11:30 PM, your best friend calls, nothing unexpected,
you knew it, although there is nothing new to talk as you talk to him every
second day, you just tease each other by mentioning at 26 Nadal had won that much
grand slams, Sachin had played the desert storm, Zuckerberg had founded
Facebook while we have done nothing, not a single tale of greatness yet we are
the heroes of our story. Now you wait for those calls who will get into
waiting, you keep on waiting, nothing happens, you take leave from your best
friend and wait till 1 AM. You check on Facebook, no birthday wishes there too
unlike few years back when the wall used to get flooded with so many wishes.
It’s a bad start for 1st birthday outside college
life. Lots of thoughts, no one has yet changed the class group name, no one has
yet changed the name of other groups. School friends, graduation friends,
post-graduation friends, 1st job friends, 2nd job
friends, Facebook friends, friends of friends, so many domains, so many networks
yet no 12 AM wishes.
Utter disappointment, followed by attempt to sleep while
coming to terms with the reality and setting the expectation low for the day to
follow. Random dreams, phone beeps, it is 7 AM, 30 minutes before your 1st
alarm, your old school mate has woken you from your dreams and brought you back
to reality. The call start with birthday greetings followed by his explanation
of not wishing at 12 AM, phone beeps again, call on waiting, engineering
college friend calling now, birthday greetings followed by her explanation of
not wishing at 12 AM. 5 more calls, same pattern, birthday wishes followed by
the explanation of not calling at 12 AM.
The party has begun, whatsapp has flooded with message, all
the relevant groups name have been changed. Bombardment of calls, too much to
catch up, too many stories to tell, too many things to share. Rest of the gaps
are filled with replying to people on whatsapp and thanking people on groups. So
much change whatsapp and Facebook has brought in our life, even the shifting to
Facebook app from desktop version has changed the pattern of birthday wishes.
No one checks birthdays at 12 AM anymore, people get to know about birthdays by the Facebook
notification early in the morning and hence the walls and calls do not start
flooding at 12 AM, the timing has just shifted.
What’s more wonderful and amazing is the shifting of platforms of wishes. Those who used to wish at 12 AM once by calling, some of them won’t
even wish anymore, some of them will just write a formal message on some
whatsapp group, some will express their wishes on Facebook wall. People who
used to wish in person on whatsapp will shift to some random group, people who didn't even use to wish last year will give you a call, people who do not even
existed in your life last year will be buying you your birthday cake and you will be throwing with them late night. There are
constants and variables in life and that’s the beauty of it. With time, both
the birthday celebration and birthday wishes will get more mature. Life will take
its toll. As the clock ticks by, as the count increases, the anxiety and fear
also increases, too many people to catch up with, too many dreams to chase, too
much to explore and too hard to keep pace with life.
Guess the constants on the day of your birthday are your
greatest assets even if you talk only twice a year on each other’s birthday. I
have realized that a birthday is not only a nice time to introspect but a great
occasion to catch up with people and also a nice conversation starter. A birthday wish might be an indicator of what place you occupy in someone's life but definitely not a valid proof. In the
end, life is much more about who bothered to remember and wish at 12 AM, there
is no time for true wishes.
