01 Jul 2022  |   06:43am IST

SHARING JOYS ON SPECIAL DAYS

N J Ravi Chander

Among my earliest memories are accompanying my parents to the bustling Shivajinagar bazaar in Bengaluru for my birthday shopping. Our favourite haunt was the Old Poor House (OPH) Road, lined with small garment stores chock-a-block with people. I fancied shirts bearing colourful prints of birds, animals, aeroplanes, ships or automobiles, and my parents ensured to pick the right piece. 

A trip to the family tailor, BS Rao and sons, on Wheelers Road, Cox Town, followed the shopping outing. The burly, pot-bellied tailor with a pleasant disposition would make us feel at home. He took down the measurements with a tape while his assistant recorded them in a long, dog-eared notebook. The tailor would then snip off a piece of the fabric and attach it to the page that held the jottings for easy identification. Back then, people seldom donned readymades, and clothes were tailor-made. However, tailors rarely met deadlines, and tensions became palpable as the birthday approached.

Birthday celebrations were simple family affairs, sans cake cutting, photographs or blowing candles. But the elders would make me feel unique by stirring me out of my slumber early and greeting me: "May you have the best day and year, and may the heavens shower their choicest blessings on you". Then, following a refreshing hot-water bath, I would gleefully slip into my new outfit and be led into the puja room to thank the Almighty for safely steering me through another year.

Since my birthday fell on January 15, a Pongal holiday, I missed the celebration at school. The birthday spread at home usually included non-vegetarian fare, desserts, dry fruits and nuts. Pleasant surprise gifts would arrive as a geometry box, piggy bank, toy or money. Finally, after sunset, the elders would whisk me away to the nearby shrine to offer special puja.

A handcrafted and attractive Channapatna wooden rocking horse gifted by a grandaunt was one of my first birthday gifts. The photograph with me astride and my mother beside me (taken at Sujan studio in Cox Town) is one of my prized possessions.

Few possessed a landline telephone, and terms like social media, texting or the internet were alien. Hence, answering calls or responding to text messages didn't arise. 

Schoolmates from affluent families arrived with boxes of goodies and chocolate bars   the latter reserved for teachers and close buddies. The birthday child stood next to the teacher facing the class as the students rose to the chorus, 'Happy birthday to you'. The beaming birthday child, smartly attired in sparkling new clothes, stood out in the crowd. Grand celebrations after turning one, fifty, or a hundred are par for the course. However, we also mark milestones when a person enters the teen years, turns sweet sixteen, comes of age, or turns into an adult. The completion of each decade after turning 30 also grabs attention. But while birthdays are a day to enjoy good food, gifts and the company of your loved ones, people would do well to mark their special day by sharing their joys with the underprivileged. 

IDhar UDHAR

Iddhar Udhar