Birthday Diary-I

12^th July:

The day before 'the day' is most tormenting – the bouts of anxiety and excitement, in turns, make you want to drop dead and wake up straight at 12 am. Anxiety, because, if you're married to a geek of a husband like I am, you never know whether to "Expect" or "not Expect". And Excited because, there's this faint ray of hope that a surprise might be waiting at 12, triggered off by a belief – MAY BE he remembers he's married to a hopeless romantic.

With the love of my life - D, the Pain of 12^th July doesn't end at that. I have to go through this another tormenting exercise of suspending curiosity – my faintest expression of wonderment might make him give in and explode, if he is planning something at all. He's just not the "Surprise!!!!!" type, like most men. But our honeymoon made me reassess – he, at rare and special occasions does walk the 'Extra mile' and when he does it – boy, you're swept off your feet – Really!

So even though I saw him messaging secretly, hush-hushing to people over the phone and sneaking outta home around 5pm – I feigned total ignorance and thought – let this one go….next, I am grooming him on "How to SURPRISE your Wife on her Birthday".

10:00 PM: Seeing D still with the godforsaken Stargate and I had to re-consider my guess. I like the series too, but on a day like today when I am almost sure "something's" happening at 12 and at home, I was expecting him to clean up the house, charge the camera cells, ready Boom (food, poop) etc. May be he's planning it out somewhere else, may be at Firangi Paani, like we did last year on his Bday! Knowing him, I still volunteered to do all wrap-up work and since I wasn't sure where exactly the party could be tonight, as a precaution, I also tidied up the house. ["Birthday Girl" with a broom…Sigh!].

10:30:

D: Let's skip dinner and check out Irani Chai. You love that creamy thing with Osmania biscuits, na?

That sure is a catch. Sacrificing DINNER for cuppa and biscuits, not even something I'd die for – that's not D!
And since we came back home soon after, it was confirmed, it's a house party. If not the guests, the cake and food are coming for sure.

11:30 PM: To give D the "I did it" feel, I gave him a 'good night' yawn and retired into the "lounge" (a low-lying arrangement I hype up by calling it a lounge) with Booms, switched off the lights and tried hard to catch some beauty-nap. Btw, I didn't change or wash off the make-up. :P

11:45 PM: Booms sirens off.

12J: Rachita-Santosh, Scarlett-Sharanya (he was another surprise, coz I had no clue he's back from Hong Kong), Geetu ba-Poohar da, Vikas-Ajay, Rajoo, Pritish, Ady – all walk in one by one, and along comes the cake and food. And we've a blast till 5.

(To be contd.)