Karthik Kastury

Revisiting my 22nd Birthday!

On the 15th of December, I turned 22 and I think that’s so far been the best birthday I’ve ever had. Partly because, for the first time in my life I wasn’t writing an exam like in school or college. 

It’s been a almost a couple of weeks, but I wanted to write this post, so as to capture the memories forever,and someday in the future I’d be able to look at it, smile and remember all the wonderful people around me. 

It all started at Cafe Picasso after Faaris’s birthday which was on the 14th of December. I got my first set of birthday bumps one hour before my birthday began. It was almost after five years that I got bumps, and it felt so nice after so long. Birthdays are incomplete without the bumps. I wrote semester exams on my birthday every year during Engineering. Quite a nice time to have your birthday right? But 2010 will go down as a historic year in my life. 

Got to the room at about 11.30 in the night, and in another 25 minutes in, I got my first call. Again a strong departure from my engineering days, where I used to be fast asleep during the midnight. Got wished, got scolded by Pooja but it was fun talking to her after so long. One of the luckier people with whom I’ve been very nice :P. At the same time, the guys got wild. Got kicks, punches, pile ups, pillow fights and everything in between from Kenneth, Raison and Rathan. 

The calls kept coming, and the best part was the number of TCSers who called. It was really nice of them to do that. I caught up with so many people after so long. Deep inside I felt guilty for not staying in touch with the people I’ve come to live with. This one side of me needs some serious action. The calls kept coming till 2.30 or so. Most expected, and some unexpected conversations that night gave the kind of a kick to a birthday that you can only dream about. The best part was from my TCS ILP(Initial Learning Program) batchmates, who warned me of consequences if I didn’t turn up at the Cafeteria on the day that was to follow in the dinner break. Finally I crawled into bed, and even in my sleep, I was putting my memory to some tough work. Hardly got sleep, but I was up again at 7.30 in the morning.

Rushed home to meet, Mom and Dad. I couldn’t get to see my sister because she’d already left to office by the time I got home. Took blessings from dad and mom, and then went to the temple. During this time, Ajila almost got me fooled with the way she talked. I couldn’t identify who she was, but the moment she uttered something in Hindi it all fell apart. Got back to the room at about 10.00 and talked to few more people. 

By the time I got to office, I was still waiting on a few people. People whom I’m very close to. I know a few did try and call, but I didn’t call them back for obvious reasons :D. Aapta called when I got to office, while I was having lunch. If there’s been anyone I could be more of an idiot with it has to be her. Either ways it was great talking to her after so long. I got to the Zone and started prepping for the Mainframes Exit test that I had. The Jinx is never gonna go I suppose! Exams, Tests on birthdays. 

People at Office kept wishing, and as the dinner break rolled by I was ready for the first scary moment. I was literally dragged by M69 batchmates to the cafeteria. What followed after was one of the most chaotic birthday celebrations ever. It was simply awesome as far as it goes as to how I felt. Got sprayed in the eye with foam, cake all over my face. It was a scary moment with some 40 odd people waiting to pounce on me and whitewash my face. In a space of five minutes I went from looking Indian to looking all Creamy [:P]. Quite visibly embarrassed I walked out of the cafeteria to clean my face, because an hour of work still remained. The worst nightmare was the absence of washrooms in the first floor and the second floor. So I’d to go all the way up to 3rd floor to wash my face. A good 20 minutes later, and a few hundred people giving me these weird looks I emerged out of the wash and entered the floor. 

I get back only to find my bag missing, and Raison, Nivedita and Nikitha are all acting crazy. I end up going back to Cafeteria and ask every single soul there for my bag, and then to lost and found section. Finally when I get back, and a bit of a verbal duel with Raison, Nivedita reveals the whereabouts of my bag. Where was it? In Raison’s Cubicle. Wow. Dumb me.

The last hour of the office goes super fast and at the end of it I decide to be evil. Take my own sweet time completing my SPOC duties and by the time I get down, everyone is busy discussing where should I my birthday treat be. Without me in the discussions :D.

So we walk to Ambit and catch a bus going via Thirumangalam, and when the tickets were taken to Blue Star, I already knew what was happening. I was blindfolded along the way, and I tried doing a repeat of what Kenneth did last year. 

I manage to get the blindfold off at Saravana Bhavan to double check my assumption as to where we were going. Got my blindfold on again, and walked to this place where we stop. Sheikh starts cracking some PJ’s to whine away some time but didn’t quite manage to do it. Then I was made to revolve around the place I was standing. The best part was the bright light source right in front of me, so how much ever I spun I knew where I was. 

Finally we enter Parfait3, and right in front of me was this beautiful cake. It looked simply awesome. Felt like eating the entire thing, but I was already suffering a cake overdose. A smaller version of the cake facial followed. So I gave my birthday treat at P3. I think it was the best ending to the day I could’ve asked for. The dinner was sumptuous. The only regret being I didn’t meet my sister the entire day. Got home at 12.00 and mom and dad were already asleep. 

It was 24 hours lived, and lived totally. The best birthday I’ve ever had. Now is the time to say thanks to everyone. 

• First to my Mom, Dad and Sister for being awesome and always there for me. 
• Kenneth, Raison, and Rathan for the festivities in the room. 
• Everyone who called in the midnight and throughout the day. Thanks guys. You really made my day. 
• My ILP Batch M69 for everything they did. It was truly humbling. Thanks guys. No batch beats M69 yet in TCS. Cheers!
• Kenneth, Raison, Rathan, Nikitha Salian, Niveditha, Raji, Nikitha Shetty, Amogh, Faaris, Shwetha, Mridula, Sheikh and Girish for the awesome cake and the dinner. 
• Special mentions : Anjali, Pooja, Raksha, Ajila, Krithika, Prabhav, Aapta, Chaitra, Harshit, Ashwin Pai, Praahas, Rishita, Mario, Rajat

Luckily I escaped birthday bumps redux. Thanks everyone for making it truly special. Love you all <3. 

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The best ever. Period.