The Best way to Celebrate your Birthday!

At the outset, let me thank you for your birthday wishes and prayers! It was the best birthday yet and though I always think that of my birthdays, this one was extra special. I usually like doing a good deed on my birthday sort of like my personal Ganga snaan ( bath in the Ganges River considered holy enough to rid you of all your sins), however this time I got stuck at work a little while longer. The rains spared me no Lee way as if testing my pledge of doing something out of my way. 

I spent my birthday evening shuffling the racks of a nearby super Mart to find a perfect thing to donate. After a long internal dialogue, I was out of all the shortlisted options when my mother gave me a noble idea. I went to the food counter and collected Dal, Atta and Chawal ( Lentils, Flour and Rice) packets. I added two packets of cream biscuits, the ones that were a prize for me while growing up. I sprinted from one column to another in my pencil heels which I wore to work to look like the birthday girl ( I know! 😂 ).

Once out with my packets ready, I drove around with my best friend, confidant and accomplice in every good and bad, Jagshaan Singh, around the town looking for those who might need it. And as always, my faith in design got reinstated as I stopped by a stall with an aunty and a kid selling roasted corn on the cob. As I nervously got off the car thinking how to approached, words spontaneously came out of my mouth and I spoke to them as if I knew them, told them about my birthday and I would like to celebrate it by giving them some rations. I can not define what the lady’s face emoted. For a moment it was devoid of any emotion at all and she looked up at the sky and smiled back at me. The kid stood by her like her personal pillar of strength and he looked up at her with a happiness that humbled me beyond imagination. They accepted my gift with open arms but not without gifting me a special ‘ chhalli’ as a birthday gift! As I ascended back into my car elated at my first attempt, I looked back at them, aunty smiling back at me with tears.

A passerby saw me doing this and asked if I had more rations to offer. I of course jumped at the invitation, he pointed me in the direction of the foot over bridge and under the stairs was a whole family who had just been kicked out. I was amazed at how God sent me to them. All the traffic and getting stuck at work made sense. They had utensils, infants, kids and elderly. I gave them the weeks food maybe but it was so much more than giving a party for 4 hours. Honestly, this wasn’t as easy as going to an orphanage or an established home. I did face mockery, some even turned us back saying they have enough and we should keep it. But giving to those who didn’t expect it felt like God’s work. I didn’t want to click pictures or publicize this as a loud pompous declaration of my novelty but send this out as a message to all those looking for a way to Celebrate life. Celebration of life is incomplete if we celebrate it dissolved in the idea of us being important. What is important is to give. Giving is a joy that gives you what nothing else can! True Happiness.

I wish you a very happy birthday and I hope it helps you just as it made a huge difference in my life!
Xoxo

Sherry