A Day of Surprises

Chapter 1, Episode 1

It was truly my day!

It was 24^th Day of April in 2015. Like every year, I was way too excited this year as well.

On 23 Apr, 2015 at 7:00 pm, I was back at home after a hectic day at work. But, not too low on energy, I was planning to cook and enjoy a perfect dinner with a movie. After all, it was the night before my special day!

Being a girl from a Punjabi background, my tongue lurks to enjoy something spicy, teekha, chatpata, every now and then. So, trapped in an hour-long brainstorming to decide the perfect meal for the evening, I called up my Mom, told her about my cravings and finally decided to cook a typical Punjabi menu – Rajma, rice, boondi raita and salad. The thought itself tempts me a lot!

It was around 8:00 pm. While cooking my “perfect dinner”, I thought to call him and have a word. I tried calling him for around half an hour but couldn’t. Feeling hopeless, I was about to bang my phone and then what? I received an SMS from him which read, “Hey! Trying to call you since late evening but something weird is happening, my phone networks are jammed, neither I am able to receive any call nor I am able to dial. I tried and contacted the customer care executives and they said that some maintenance activity is going on, some kind of upgradation and it will take another 5 hours for the network connectivity to be back to normal.

I was hopeless!

Within a second or even nano (yes I become “Neo” from the Matrix movie), all those advertisement where this network company claimed about their network proficiency started playing in my mind, that dog which I always found to be a cutie pie and always had a desire to adopt, swear to Jesus Christ, at that moment, I just wanted to have him as my meal on my plate. I couldn’t help wondering about the people who find those ugliest zoo zoo’s adorable.

The telephone network services are really very poor these days. And, believe me when you have something special to share, celebrate or enjoy, either their fully competent executives will call you to annoy you by trying to sell their most ridiculous plan or your phone networks will be the first one to ditch you.

The message completely ruined my mood. There were two reasons – I couldn’t connect with him when I wanted to and he, too, had somehow managed time to talk to me but these networks..uff.

It was time to be ready for an evening of boredom. No birthday wishes, no calls, no messages. Skipping my perfect dinner plan, I hugged my bed way too early this night as compared to my usual nights.

Chapter 1, Episode 2

Lost in my dreams, it was 11:50 pm. And, my phone beeped to irritate me. But, what was that? It was his call. Like my last birthday, this year also he had called me exactly on the same time. I was so excited, happy, jolly, and bliss. Oh God, words are not enough to describe my happiness!

Highly delighted, I received his call. The first three words I heard from his side were “I love you”. I was amazed, I was happy, I was superbly excited! I returned the same gesture with lot more love.

Our conversation started with the usual daily office and other stuff. Gradually, we started recalling some blissful memories from the past year’s celebration. This melodic conversation continued for around half an hour. While we shared the notes of love, my phone kept on beeping the “call waiting” alert unceasingly.

We relived some of the most beautiful moments on call this night. He told me that he won’t be able to come and meet me on my birthday, he told me the reason which I found genuine, however somewhere deep in my heart I just wanted to yell, “I do not care whatever happens; I want you to be with me on my birthday. Do something”. He said he will come a day after my birthday and then we will go out for dinner. But again killing my emotions, I said ok. He also asked me to promise him that it doesn’t mean I won’t celebrate my birthday. I have to be in the same enthusiasm as I was before he told me.

I was like REALLY?? It was more like a teenager who waited the whole year for the Prom night with her perfect partner, and when the night arrived her partner said to her, Please go to the prom with your gals, we will go out the next day.

Just not to spoil his mood I said yes.

After his call, I attended a few more birthday calls from my family and a few friends. They showered love, greetings and blessings to make my day even much more special.

It was 1 o’clock. Finally, it was time to hit the bed. I was wondering if I should have adopted that cutest dog and those zoo zoo’s..they are the most innovative thing I have ever seen.

Chapter 2, Episode 1

Oh God! I am late today!

The clock is ticking 7:30 am. I am late for work. With no time left to check my phone, I still did to read 75 unread Whatsapp messages, 188 Facebook messages and a few emails with birthday greetings.

I was happy! The day had a great start.

In fact, I had a lot more calls to attend, messages to read and have fun all through the day.

I had everything planned for my day. What to eat, what to drink and what to wear?

Prior to my birthday, I had a long discussion with him over the phone on “what to wear on my birthday to work”. And so, as decided I wore Indian attire to work. I wanted to look my best in the Indian attire.

 

After quickly preparing my favorite breakfast (poha), I started to get ready. I clad in a blue Churidar suit that was stitched specially for the day and paired it up with matching accessories that perfectly escalated my overall looks. The day was special and so, I intensified my looks with cosmetics.  

Chapter 2, Episode 2

As my daily routine, I reached the bus stop at 9:40 am, met my friend and left for the office. I reached office, punched-in my attendance and walked towards my workstation.

The day at work had a different start today. As compared to the good day greetings that we exchange with a smile every day, I was welcomed and greeted with loads of wishes and smiles. It felt like I have just won the Olympic gold medal in boxing or like Aishwarya Rai’s homecoming welcome after she won the Miss World beauty pageant

Acknowledging greetings with courtesy, I reached my workstation to find flowers and bouquets. I was amazed, happily amazed.

While I was trying to control my excitement, I saw a bunch of flowers walking towards me. I tried to find out who it actually was behind those beautiful flowers. And guess who? It was the admin and HR department with flowers, a greeting card and a surprise gift.

So, the day had already gifted me two amazing surprises.

I was embracing all the love shared by my colleagues. I was happy and excited like a room without a roof.

But, but, but! There was a lot more to come.

I have been a part of this company for more than a year now and so, I have a bunch of good friends here. A surprise from their end was expected. The much-expected surprise from their end turned into reality when I saw them walking towards me with flowers, gifts and cake. Surprised I was!

They gifted me the bouquets, so pretty to take my eyes off them, followed by chocolates and a cake cutting ceremony.

All this was too much to handle.

Ignoring the fact that I do not get an off on Saturday, there’s one factor that proves to be a plus point for me. As per our company policy, the birthday Prince/Princess gets a half day off. So, as I was the “Princess of the Day” I left for my home post lunch. I was pampered way too much by my friends and so, they didn’t miss the chance to drop me home. It was a half hour fun-filled drive from office to home with my friends.

Chapter 2, Episode 3

The day was exciting. I was enjoying my day. I was happy.

I reached home and called him to share my happiness, excitement and how special I felt today. I spoke continuously for about half an hour and suddenly, I realized that he hasn’t been speaking anything. I said, “Speak up something?” And he said, “No, No please continue. I am listening.” I don’t know if you believe this or not, but I could feel his happiness in his silence. He was happy because I was happy, He was happy because I had a great start of my birthday.

The one thing that could make me feel low today was the fact that he won’t be with me today. Though, I wanted to ask him so much if he could make it for today, but I preferred not to. It could have ruined his mood if I make him realize that I so wanted him to be with me for this day.

After enjoying a lovely conversation over the phone for over an hour, our conversation was paused for few hours on a note that he has to finish his office tasks and I should take some rest now. It was 3 pm.

Chapter 2, Episode 4

It was 5 o’clock and I was again craving to have something spicy and chatpata. I picked and dropped a number of snacks before finally picking up a packet of chips with cold drink to satiate my craving. So, this was my party of the evening as I had decided to celebrate it on my own.

Lying down and relaxing, I was munching chips with coke. My phone rang and I was surprised to see him calling me again. I thought it was his way of not making me feel alone and might be he too is not feeling good.

I picked up his call. Our conversation went on as:

He: Can I come down to your place tonight?

Me (Surprised and extremely happy): Yes, of course. What about Saturday?

He: We will meet tomorrow as well. But, tell me for tonight.

Me: Yes.

He: So what should I do now? Should I go back?

I was flying high in the sky like a bird. My heart started singing and dancing. I was feeling out of this world.

I eagerly rushed towards the door and unlocked it to find him standing in front of me. Surprised again, I was!  

Words cannot describe how it feels when you have your beloved standing in front of you when you least expect him.

I hugged him tight and said Thank you in our mutually decided way (wink). He hates it when I thank him for anything. So, instead of saying Thank You I said, “I love you”. He kissed my forehead and said “Love you too”.

I was so happy that tears almost started rolling out of my eyes.

The actual birthday celebrations began now.   

He had got two birthday cakes, one for our personal celebration and one for celebrating the day with friends, snacks and gifts (this is what I knew).

Setting the mood right, we began our personal celebration with a romantic cake cutting. He chose to set the ambiance in a romantic mood with dimmed lights and playing the soft music playlist he had created on his laptop. Talking about playlist, it reminds me that he is very particular about his choice of songs, even more particular about the queue of the songs in the playlist. Honestly, I too get annoyed sometimes but today ahh..I’m not in my own. It was so lovely!

After cake cutting, he gifted me a beautiful dress. I tried the dress and acknowledged compliments from his end. This was followed by a round of snacks and drinks with (never-ending) chat for two hours.

Each moment spent with him is to be treasured for a lifetime!

While we were still enjoying our conversation, he received the call from our friends that they will be at my place soon.

It was time for me to get ready and look my best. He wanted me to dress twice – one when the guests arrive at my place and second when we are ready to move out to celebrate the day. The first thought that clicked my mind was if he has recently watched “Maine Pyaar Kiya”. Hope when I dress twice he will not play “mere rang mein rangne waali pari ho ya ho pariyo ki rani…”

There’s one more thing that he is very particular about and that’s the dressing style.

I lead him to my wardrobe, showed him my collection and he chose what to wear and when. Accordingly, I dressed myself. After seeing me all clad up in a beautiful dress, he said, “You look gorgeous. But, your hairs are all messed up. Come here.” And, this was the time he expressed his love through actions, not words. He held the comb and started combing my hairs. Emotions were overflowing. I just kept looking at him with a smile. J

Love is always more beautiful when expressed through such tiny gestures.

I was ready to welcome the guests and celebrate the day. The guests arrived on time and greeted me for the day. I served them snacks and then, we proceeded to cut the cake. After cake cutting and some gossip, he said, “Chalo, you get ready.” This surprised the other guests at my place. They were like, “You still need to get ready?” He replied, “Of course, it’s her day and she has to look her best.” I just smiled.

I adorned myself in the dress gifted by him. I was dressed to kill. I was looking astonishingly beautiful than ever before.

I stepped out of my room. He couldn’t take his eyes off me. I blushed.

He was very happy to see me dressed perfectly. The other friends too showered compliments. And then he said, “Ye Raja beta ka kamaal hai. (One of his favorite dialogues)”  

It was finally the time to move out of home and let the party begin.

Just to let you know, he is an excellent planner. For anything and everything, he makes sure that everything is in place beforehand and well-planned.

We have been together for around 2 years now and so, he very well knows what I like and dislike. Keeping everything in mind and my preferences on priority, he had planned the entire evening. But, none of us had a clue about it.

As we stepped out and sat in the car, he played the music. And, the track was some 80’s birthday track. Like other details of the evening, he had planned the entire playlist as well. He had calculated the time it will take to reach from one place to another and accordingly created the entire playlist.

Enjoying the music, I asked him, “Where are we heading now?” He said, “You will know once we reach there.” I smiled. So, there were more surprises to be unveiled (I thought). 

The next surprise for the evening was our first stoppage at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib. I was obliged. I felt like hugging him right away but couldn’t (you know limitations..lolz). He is not a religious sort of person (or maybe he has watched too many Amitabh Bachchan starring 70’s movies in which Amitabh Ji always had some or the other issues with God) but just because I am, he took me there. We spent around half an hour feeling the serenity of the holy place and then, moved out for our next destination.

We had our dinner planned at CP. But, he was asking the way towards Noida. I was confused but happy and so, I preferred to stay quiet. We drove towards Noida.    

On reaching there, I was pleased again. The venue he had chosen for dinner was Park Plaza. The reason was quite obvious. I am fond of exploring new and different food joints and places. And so, he took us there for the evening.

After a delicious meal, he asked, “So, time to go home?” And, all of us said “yes”, as we all had a great time and we were ready to go home. We moved from there and headed towards home. And, when we were just about to reach and, and when we thought now it’s the end, Dear, this was actually not the end.

He took a turn and I said “You took a wrong turn, it’s not the way to home”. He looked towards me, smiled and said, “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost”. Yup I know it’s an old dialogue, but you can’t help when someone is a movie-buff. At that time, the only thought that occupied my mind was what’s next?

Our next stoppage was “India gate”. A walk at India Gate is one thing you can ask me for at any time and I am in for it. I get to enjoy some “me” (actually we) time there.

While I was enjoying and celebrating one surprise of the evening, he was ready with another one for me.

After a super-duper romantic evening, it was time to be back at home. Desolately, I didn’t get a chance to express my true feelings, emotions and the way he has touched my heart to the core and made me happy.

Through this write-up, I would like to convey my message to him. Sweetheart if you are reading this, I would just like to say THANK YOU from the deepest bottom of my heart. And, yes I know you don’t like me saying Thank you, so in our love terminology I LOVE YOU from the core of my heart. You are a real gem, a sweetheart. Blessed to have you!