Happy Birthday - The Way It Should Be

Birthday is "The" special day in our lives which comes once in every 365 days. After spending 9 months inside the protective shield of our mother's womb, it was this day when we came out to face the real world - A world which is much alien to what we might have expected while we were in there. It was on this particular day that whenever we cried, our parents smiled with joy & pride in their eyes. So, the occasion certainly calls for a celebration each year. Consistently, all of us love to celebrate our Birthday to make the day special in our own way. Some love to spend the day with the near & dear ones while some believe in partying hard to "Live Life King Size".

But, is it justifiable to celebrate one's birthday by causing general nuisance ??? Recently, I was visiting my friend's place when I was caught in a traffic jam. There was free booze and a group of people were dancing on the tunes of perfect lunacy. Amidst this chaos, in the middle of the road, some hooligans of the same group were exploding powerful firecrackers which were loud enough to rip apart the eardrums. It was a local politician celebrating his birthday with his so-called followers who are more of mental slaves and less of the class of sane homo-sapiens. Even the poor traffic policeman was having a hard time in dealing with such uncivilized barbarians. This obnoxious and vulgar display of so-called "Power" or "Authority" by the local politician showed his level of mental bankruptcy. The hooliganism showed the lack of self-esteem and dignity on the part of his followers. In fact, the followers were not actually following their "Leader". They were blindly following the free booze and chilly-chicken even though it meant to demean the very stature of their local commander. A birthday is a day when we should count our blessings rather than earning curses; and our politician was earning tons of the latter. Every harassed motorist and pedestrian was silently cursing this imbecile fellow and his insane followers on his birthday.

As my father says - "A Birthday is a day which reminds us of our unfinished business for which we have arrived onto this beautiful planet." It is a day to introspect and plan for the future. Even though birthday comes once in every 365 days, it still has the same precise 24 hours - not a minute less or more. At the end of the day, what matters is the way one has made use of these memorable 24 hours. In fact the best way to celebrate Birthday is to enjoy each and every moment of it. By enjoying, it means doing anything that gives us self satisfaction & pride. For instance, Sachin Tendulkar loves playing cricket. Nothing could be more memorable for the Little Master than celebrating his 25th B'Day with a century against Australia in Sharjah in 1998. But all of us are not Sachin Tendulkar. So how are we supposed enjoy this day by doing something great ???

The answer is really simple and is beautifully described by the famous motivational writer Shiv Khera in his tagline - "Winners don't do different things; they do things differently". Rather than doing a vulgar display of wealth, power & influence, one can do small things to make these 86400 seconds memorable. For instance, the enjoyment of attending countless phone calls of family & friends makes the day a truly "My Day". Devouring a tasty cuisine prepared by mother, or cooking a new delicacy & inviting friends to have a taste of it, boosts the feeling of being special. Spending time with family or some soulful moments with that 'Someone Special' gives us the feeling of being loved. Helping a blind person cross the road or buying a meal for a beggar, gifts us a sense of pride. Hence, there are countless ways in which we can "Make it Count" :)
So, last but not the least - "There are certain things money can't buy... For everything else, we have the remaining 364 days..." :)