The nurse came out of her reverie and did what she’s been trained to do. She cleaned me up, wrapped me in a clean cloth and informed my family.
If the signs of my birth were absent, my family tried to compensate for it by starting a carnival at the hospital! The aunts and uncles rushed to the hospital to coo and aww. Grannies fussed over me, astonished by my resemblance to dad! (For years, I’ve tried to imagine how my pink wrinkled face with miniature body parts would have resembled my dad’s rugged looks, but in vain.)
Amidst all this pandemonium, I slept like a baby. (The comparison is quite ambiguous. How can a baby not sleep like a baby? Generally, there are two types of babies in this world. The type that is bothered by the slightest shift in the global wind pattern and starts wailing at midnight, then there’s that deific kind capable of sleeping through a storm only to wake up two days later, blissfully unaware of the chaos. I belonged to the latter.)
How do I know so much about my birth?
Because for the past 26 years, I’ve been forced to listen to it in loop! Usually, it’s my mom. But on rare occasions (say my birthday), my granny chips in.
My family always celebrates my birthday by throwing a big party. I never really understood the necessity of it. Maybe because I don’t understand my role in the party.
What am I supposed to do in my birthday party anyway?
All I do is mutter ‘thank you’ awkwardly and pose like a retard for photos!
On the other hand, my family thoroughly enjoys it! They dance like hippies and chug beer as if it’s water!
Every year, as my birthday draws near, I get philosophical! I question everything from the existence of quarks to the purpose of pineapple topping on a pizza. It irritates my friends to no end!
Of course, it’s not my fault that Osho chose me to make seasonal appearances. If anything, I’m grateful to be of some use to the mankind!
Does that truth penetrate through their thick skull? Never!
If you ask me, they’re probably the simplest creatures ever to walk on this blue-green planet. They are neither worried about alien invasion nor about the dark chocolate chai ruining the image of both chai and dark chocolate!
I do understand how it all sounds. I can imagine the wheels turning in your head, trying to find a plausible explanation for the maze of mumbo-jumbo I’ve fed you on. My friends call it ‘Ib’s fifth state of matter’! They think it’s a weird quirk of mine!
Maybe at the end it all comes down to the way we’re born!
Maybe if our ‘birth stories’ are alike, there’s a possibility that you’re blessed in similar fashion as well!
Maybe you’re also wandering in the pursuit of something?!
In that case, hola my friend!
