Vantage point




Wednesday, August 28, 2002

THE BIRTHDAY REPORT

So I am back after a brief hiatus caused due to a host of quizzes, assignments and projects.

First about my birthday. Satyen and others will be pleased/sad to know that I did not get any bumps or kicks. The reason being the size of our hostel. All hostels till now have had a capacity of 30 or at the most 60. The Hostel Reps are in charge of gathering the data about birthdays. The Hostel 11 is the first Hostel with a capacity of 90 and the HR forgot to jot down the birthdays of the Top Floor guys. I did not feel like shouting from the rooftops that it was my birthday. Hence on 00:00 hours, 26th August, I wasn't kicked, bumped, splashed or Kane-ed (that's not a typo for 'caned', Kane-ed means when you take ample amounts of cake and rub it in the face, hair ears and nasal cavity of the person whose birthday it is. Word derived from Aniruddha Kane of Virginia, formerly a resident of Pune, who gleefully indulged in this activity. Virginia, beware!)

The day that followed was good. My parents and my sister called up in the morning, and urged me to buy a cake or something. Then Madhura called up from a PCO booth, before her GRE preparation class. I had a liesurely breakfast, something that rarely happens. Then off to class. We had a couple of tests, and I studied a bit, gathered data for my project, watched Apollo 13, followed, ironically by the famous FOX documentary about how the NASA never went to the moon.

In the evening, I was reading some stuff, when Satyen called, and later, for the first time, Suku and I spoke on the phone. It was great talking to her.

All in all, a pretty decent birthday considering the surroundings. Maybe this Sunday, I will take some friends out to dinner to the city. I did not buy a cake by the way. I am not a big fan of cakes. I did however polish off two packets of Chocolate Chip cookies that I mentioned earlier. Hide n Seek!!

I also got many many many emails, the replies to which I am still sending, 2 days after the birthday.

My best birthday gift, however came from Yorkshire. India beat England by an innings and 46 runs in the Headingley test, and came back to level the series 1-1. The Indian team batted perfectly, bowled like champions and fielded like tigers. On a pitch more suitable for the English seam bowlers, the Indian team totally outplayed their opponents. Tendulkar went past Bradman's 29 centuries, and made 193. It would have been good had he gotten to his first double hundred abroad.

All in all, a memorable day.