What are the birthday gifts you got this year? Or the year past? Or since your childhood? We hardly remember all of them. I cannot recall every precise one too.
But some of the gifts — like a book or a pen or a memento — I can remember. In 2005, I got a surprise gift from one Devdan Mitra. It was March 3, my birthday-eve and one of my close friends was planning to celebrate it in our way — hitting Bhalo-Mondo, a mud-walled thatch-roofed restaurant at Santiniketan. Suddenly, about 3 in the afternoon, this Mitra — Mitra in Bengali stands for friend too — called me up on my Reliance cellphone. I met this 40-something only twice — once on January 3 and another on January 20 that year. So I was a bit taken aback. How on the earth he could know my birthday the next day? Why should he wish me greetings — like my other friends? Anyway I took the call. Came that surprise gift: a voice quite cool, yet serious. Stern. “You have been selected to work with my desk at The Telegraph.” Precise was the message. I stood stunned. I was taking a short nap at that time; I thought it must be daydream! But it was not.
Once I got a toy guitar from two angry young men — one was my elder sister’s Hindustani classical teacher and another my table pundit! This was in 1987. In 1992, a year after I was admitted to one of the prestigious institutions — Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur — in Class V, I got Ramakrishna Kathamrita (the sayings of Ramakrishna) as my gift from my parents. Books and pens I used to get from my elder sister on most of the birthdays. In 2001, I managed to get a Parker from her too. She is quite nice with gifts and never ever missed a single birthday to send her greetings through a letter or over the phone or sending an SMS.
Well, this year another surprise was in store for me. The desk at where I am working since the call made by Devdan, is so energetic and youthful that a separate file is saved in our archive noting birthdays of each and every member of the team. We don’t miss the birthdays; we celebrate the days with a midnight cake party; followed by an evening one when the b’day boy/girl becomes kalpataru — a mythological creature who gives away whatever one wishes. Usually, the evening party is full of biryani or chowmein or momos or what not! I was also scared that this March, I’ll end up with my salary before the 10th day of the month. However, I was lucky. Nobody, yes none of them, wished me “Happy Birthday” that day giving me the best surprise gift I ever got! And that too from people with whom I spend at least nine hours everyday! Probably we are becoming too busy, with ourselves.
