Blogisode 7: Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays!

“With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” 
                                                                                            ― William Shakespeare

Ah birthdays, they're unique and weird aren't they? A day of special significance in your life, which may be taken across due to several reasons. Be it being a amp of joy to your parents on the said day,  or being a trophy of achievement due to your parents 'effort' or any other among the thousand reasons. But across the various ages that we celebrate them, the way of celebration varies across all of them. From going overboard to making it your day through and through, to trying to reduce attention to that, and sometimes to eventually see it as another day. In today's blog, I'm going to look at birthdays from my viewpoint, how they've changed over time, and as a bonus, in case of you're among the small group of friends on Facebook, and why do I send that weird, wacky wish on the particular day.

Birthdays-What about them?

As basic as it may sound, we get the rough idea. It's the day we were born, and probably entered our first onto this 'glorious' earth. But do you ever remember that, in the sense the earliest birthday you've probably celebrated?
Take my case for instance, the earliest I can remember when I actually got the idea of what a birthday was probably back in the second grade. During a random day back in the spring of '01, I remember the teacher requesting everyone to stand up and sing 'Happy Birthday', after which the fancy dressed birthday boy would distribute chocolates to all of us. With awe and intrigue, as soon as I reached home I asked my mom, what was a birthday, and did I have something like that. Surely enough, I heard a rough imaginative definition as the day I met them, and simultaneously with every year passing we celebrate that anniversary. Being the naive kid I was, it seemed believable.

And fast forward to the days close to my birthday, I went on to several stores to buy the best sweets possible (which was mostly removed back to the aisle by my parents :/ ). So on December 16, 2001, as I entered class, dressed as fancy as possible and told the teacher it was my birthday, and the same routine as mentioned previous followed on. And the evening afterwards I would get treated to a special dinner at a fancy restaurant, and receive one of the toys I've been craving all year around the time. And as years passed on, it became clear that December 16, was my day; a day I would very, very, VERY eagerly wait for. And yes, with that time, I eventually did realize what actually a birthday was. 

Childhood innocence ruined.

Birthday Parties

As it became a compellingly celebratory (to me atleast), I came to know about the ideas of birthday parties. It came to me, when I saw one of my classmates distribute certain special cards to many of us back in the third grade. A Birthday Party Invitation. So a few days before the party, I asked my friends if we needed to bring anything to this party. Our Presence - Check. Dress Fancy - Check. Gift - Wait what? So hours before, I dragged my parents to the nearest store, bought a doll, and had it wrapped and went off to the party. 

During the party, we played games, had great food, and of course, had cake.

And as obvious as it seem, you probably get the idea already- I NEEDED A PARTY FOR MY BIRTHDAY TOO! (And yes, you're mostly lying to yourself, if you're thinking you never did that).

So weeks before my birthday, after days of urging my parents to hold a party, it finally fell through. So rushing to stores, buying invitation cards, reserving a restaurant hall to celebrate, and of course, buy a big cake. And surely enough, it all went down according to plan (Mostly).

But as weird as it may sound, over years of celebrating, I've slowly noticed that there's probably a weird evolution in the way these parties work. Let me explain.

Age 0-3:

Probably way too young to remember such a case, but here, the parties are hosted by your parents, where they celebrate your birthday with family. And it takes place at home (cause home is where the heart is....). Though no strong memories of these in your mind, but a quick glimpse into old photo albums can tell a lot.

Age 5-12:

Here to help with this age scenario, let's picture a seven year old Dull McDummy Face.

As mentioned earlier, the party scenario is the usual restaurant hall scenario, party games, and an overly hyped up MC trying to make everything seem overly joyful. With invites sent to almost everyone you came across back then, going full Oprah.

Ah yes, fun times. And I went probably the most exciting part post party celebration is the gift opening, and checking out the cool new toys to play with. 

Slowly but steadily, there were few changes in these parties, from restaurant halls being shifted to your home and the food being replaced with take out. But not losing out the best bits. So yay :)

Age 15-18:

*Cue a fat, geeky, 17 year old Dull McDummy Face*

Being the mature, conventional teenager, wanting to adult out, without trying to be too kiddish, the parties during this time were, errr, limited to say the least. From invites being sent to a very limited group of friends (cause snakes everywhere, hiss), food being ordered take out, party games being replaced with video game night sleepovers and sadly, no birthday gifts (Or probably everyone cashing in a few bucks and buying one gift in total).

As boring as it may sound, it truly showed that it wasn't necessary to have a grand celebration to have genuine fun and happiness. So double yay :)

Age 19-21:

Happening probably about right now, let's see how doodle Dull McDummy Face has aged.

Ah, they up grow so fast.

One weird exception noticed in this scenario, is the way of video wishing. You know, that weird way of being quirky, out of the box, and an imaginative approach to wishing someone 'Happy Birthday' for a quick 20-30 seconds. Been a part of many of them, but would love to get surprised with one.

So how do birthday parties work out in this age scenario. It seems to be a possibility of two scenarios:

1. The Party Monster: Extroverted. Overly Excited. Energetic. The birthday party scenario, in this case, is to try to make it as lavishly grand amongst the friends circle as much as possible. Like holding beach parties, or going clubbing in EDM concerts. Where did I get this idea from? Blame Indian Teleserials.

2. The Quiet One: Silent. Introverted. Not wanting to celebrate that much, but an inert desire to do something special. Probably the most relatable at the moment, the party scenarios here, errr, lying near to a cinema theatre and watching a movie to yourself, eating at a fancy place, and buying new pair of jeans, while you're at it. Basically, the ideal hipster-ish form of celebration. You would probably a good, close friend to join in, to give you company. Is it fun? It's up to your interpretation.

Ages beyond 50:

In a weird way, it's around this time where the parties seem truly cherishable. Surrounded by friends and family alike, probably at the most peaceful of times, it's around this time you would look onto the past few years, and try to recall the times. Looking at my grandparents and uncles during their celebrations, they seem truly happy when the day arrives, while providing sarcastic hints towards the due date. 

And what about gifts? Probably the most kindest of acts, where they would provide meals to nearby orphanages under their name. Truly memorable. 

As naive as it may seem now, it appears at around this time, it would be an entire turn around act for us, and the best time for it as well, which is probably the most needed in the current day and age. With ages passing on and on, looking back at the time spent and memories made, it is truly necessary that we need to do the best deeds at these times, go back to fulfill bucket list goals, reunite with old friends, try to reignite that old flame, and make life worth living once again.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

To all those who've patiently waited for when I was going to post something next, first off, thanks a ton dude. Imagining a wide audience who truly like my content is one of the things that keep me going. And secondly, with college almost coming to a close, and along with it a bunch of memories and closing events, it's been a rush for me to even finish a set of lines, though I had the rough idea behind it. Trying to keep up with the 'Two Blog Posts A Month' policy I promised in my head, it's slowly getting tedious, but oh well.

Now, why a blog on birthdays? No, it isn't anywhere near my celebratory day, but it was to someone very close. Happy Belated Birthday Dad :)

I don't need to write a whole article just to prove how necessary and ideal, you've been to me so far, and thank you so much for that. I only hope that one day, I can do you truly proud in a way you would never see coming.

And keeping to the theme of birthdays, some of you may probably wonder about the weird birthday message wish on Facebook. That is, if you happen to be friends with me on FaceBook and you've downloaded the Messenger app, after endless requests from FB (Thanks Mark), you've probably seen wishes like this.

Or...

Or this over the years...

 Why these weird symbols as a birthday wish? Well, it may seem too extra, but well, in my opinion, there's a small part of me that wants a birthday to be grand, even in the way I am wished, so while bored and scrolling along the keypad, wasting probably about a good ten-fifteen minutes. And thus trying to break out of the monotonous 'Happy Birthday Man! Party Hard XD' or 'Happy B'day!!' and the many others like so. And upon doing so, in an attempt to bring out change every time I do such wishes, I change the type every year. And while doing, I'm honestly losing ideas on what can/can't be typed onto the keyboard. So not to sound too rude, but probably a wee bit snarky, it would be nice to take a few minutes and appreciate the wish, if it lasts that long.

As always, appreciate thy feedback :)

Merci Beaucoup et Au Revoir,

Dull McDummy Face