One more time

So, umm, this is the customary birthday post all about this particular birthday. I am starting to get a bit bothered by the amount of these that keep stacking up but well, each year is quite a different experience from the one before, so I dont think they're all that pointless.

There have been quite a few years in the recent past when I've been trying to do the grown-up thing and just stay home having a nice dinner and spending quality time with friends and family. But somehow it always turns into this raucous milestone thing - hey, you're 21 now, let's go get beer! Or, hey, look you earn now - let's go to a fancy place to celebrate.

But this year, for reasons rather beyond my control, I think I shall end up getting the mature birthday that I'd always wished to have. With Piyu's eternal altercation with assorted viruses continuing into this year as well, it's just going to be an intimate dinner at her place after all, with movies on the DVD player and four big bowls of buttered popcorn.

And as against bunking lectures and going out for cake like always, today I woke up bright and early and went to work in the OPD, to examine patients and prescribe for them. It was like every other day at work, but I just felt so much more enthusiastic and cheerful than usual. Which for me is really saying something.

And finally, mum's gift to me was a gorgeous red Kanjeevaram silk saree, almost exactly like the one she has, one I have been coveting for several years. There's something special about the way this is the year that she thinks I am finally old enuff to get one.

Growing up can be a tricky, and sometimes, messy business. You must allow yourself to accept that you will make mistakes, while simultaneously trying to learn from them to avoid making more as you grow older. That is the very essence of lessons learned throughout this particular Psychiatry posting. Mistakes will be made. The way you deal with the fallout makes all the difference. Some people give up and others break down, while there are those that will just get up, brush themselves off and keep up the good fight. Maybe I'll know for sure what kind I am by this time next year.

Whatever the answer to that is, I hope that I'll be alright with it. That's what birthdays are for. We're all growing old all the time, every moment of our lives, inching slowly towards death. But one day every year, all of that catches up with us quite all of a sudden when we're busy chalking up another year of life wrapped up.

Irrespective, introspection must be one of the actual benefits of having a birthday. Like getting free beer from friends is. Boy, it sure feels great to be a grown-up! :D