22 down...Many more to go

I just completed 22 trips around the sun successfully on the 1st of this month :). I spent my b'day in a foreign land for the first time away from all my near and dear ones. Mom wished me well in advance and the happy messages just kept pouring in - Anand and Vinita, Nams, Pady, Hrisheekesh, Akshat, Sachin, Meher, Mohit, Siddharth among others.

Sunday was a working day and there was lot of work to be done as my boss was leaving for Paris later in the week for a meeting. Even as me and my boss haggled to get our simulation results in order, we were frequently interrupted by the messages and phone calls for me. Finally, I had to apologise to him and tell him that it was my birthday today. Well, then he too wished me a very happy b'day !!!!!!!!

Ramzaan time has been bad in some sense. Have to leave office at around 2 pm. Rush to the nearest hotel to get packed lunch and rush back home to eat and get back to office all in an hours' time. Oct 1st was no different except that work kept me in office till 3:15 pm after which I got back home hungry and tired. Had my lunch, once again went through my routine of re-reading all the smses I received for the day, gifted chocolates to the two children of my house-owner and went off for a nap.

I got up later for a nice chat with mom, dad, sis-in-law and brother who had just returned from Jammu after a short official trip. Despite being far away, all the lovely mails and messages from some many well-wishers just made me feel so good.

My parents, brother and sister-in-law had specially couriered a gift from India - comprising of a sweet little greeting card and a book so special that I shall treasure it for a life-time. Coincidentially, I had read the entire book earlier in Crossword, Powai much to the ire of the shopkeeper :) The book was on Sachin Tendulkar written by Peter Murray which travails his journey as a 16 yr old in Pakistan to the WC 2003.Besides there were a lot of newspaper cuttings from mom. I am amazed at the kind of effort she puts in cutting those articles for me. When I was at home, I rarely had the patience to go through them. But here I find it a relaxing yet sensible way of spending a lazy night in company of some good music on my CD player and mom's articles.

I thank Namrata Srivastava for visiting an orphanage that day and distributing chocolates to all the little children there on my behalf. It was a very touching gesture and really it's such special moments which makes life memorable even after your hair has gone white.

In the evening, I walked along the Corniche coastline, enjoying the breeze and feeling the moment. I realised that I am on the threshold of something special. The past is history, tommorrow is a mystery but today is a gift which is why it is called present. Through my years at IIT and even at school, there have been some frustrating moments, some highs and some lows. Now-a-days, I have begun to take life with a sense of equanimity and it is really helping me. Now-a-days, I compete only with myself - If I can be happier today than I was yesterday, I consider myself to be successful. I credit this change to a lot of people who have been very dear to me in my life and I know they shall always be there when I need them the most.