Naina and Navin were staring at their mother during the breakfast. She was eating in silence, without uttering a word from her mouth. “Mom has never been quiet like this”, Naina murmured to herself.
“Mom, tomorrow is my dance rehearsal.” Naina said joyfully. Mother smiled wanly and spoke softly, “Good! I want you to give the best performance in this annual gathering. And no squabbles with the girls. You girls just need a reason to make fun of each other.” Naina laughed at her advice.
“Navin, what about you? Anything’s special tomorrow?” Naina asked Navin who was munching on his sandwich.
“Hmm…No, sis.” Navin replied innocently. He was two years younger than his 8-year-old sister. Both the kids were bright in studies and in extra-curricular activities too.
“You said me yesterday that something is special tomorrow.” Naina budged him to speak something but he made a deliberate, innocent face.
“Oh yeah!” He screamed and his parents were amazed by the sudden reaction. “I have to buy card paper tomorrow for preparing charts.” He said coldly. “That is very important to-do task for tomorrow.” He added, looking at mother from the corner of his eyes.
Mother stared at him in bewilderment. “Since when have you become so particular about your stationery, Navin?” She asked him in surprise. “And that too, buying card paper and stuff? How do you remember suddenly? Even I forgot completely about your Work Experience project.” She added.
“Mom, I am trying to be like my intelligent sister.” He winked at her.
Father was amused to hear this from Navin. He cleared his throat and said, “But I am having a gut feeling that the kids are hiding something from us.” He looked at Mother and she too nodded her head.
“What’s happening, kids? What’s so special tomorrow?” She asked them.
“It is Tuesday.” Naina answered immediately.
“Just another day of life.” Navin added wittily.
“Oh god! These kids of the new generation are four times smarter than us.” Father heaved.
Soon, the kids and their parents finished the breakfast and went off for school and office respectively. In mother’s office, her friend asked, “Hey, so what’s special tomorrow? It’s your birthday… Kids and hubby must have planned something.”
“Nothing special. The kids have almost forgotten, I suppose. It is not their fault. They are so occupied with the school schedules, projects and homework that they don’t even get time to check the date and day. Everyone’s busy these days.” She replied gloomily.
“Last time they had a bash.” Mother’s friend, Anjali reminded her.
“Yeah. Because my birthday was on a Sunday. And they had been discussing it in front of me a week before. But this time, they don’t remember it. And long are the signs of planning for a birthday bash.” She answered and resumed with the office work.
She was engrossed in her office work and she didn’t recollect that it was her birthday the next day. She again wondered whether the kids and her husband had really forgotten her birthday. Can’t blame them, she said to herself. Busy life!
At dinner, no one talked about the next day. On the contrary, Naina was pretty excited about the dance rehearsals and Navin was continuously talking about his favorite cartoon. Before going to bed, her husband reminded that he was supposed to leave for Bangalore this weekend.
“Oh! No one remembers my birthday”, she again reminded herself. She couldn’t catch sleep at night because she felt sad and unimportant. It’s true, it is just another day in life. Maybe, she will receive calls from her parents wishing a Happy Birthday and at that time, the kids and husband will realize that is was her birthday. Maybe, even they will forget my birthday and never wish. Of course, office colleagues and friends would be remembering my birthday and will call me up to wish. But the real fun would be at home when we all will have a blast and go out for dinner.
Suddenly, Mother felt that she had been thinking too much about her birthday just like Navin thought about his belongings. She turned over to her side. It was 12 AM. Her cellphone buzzed and it was a message from her best friend wishing her a Happy Birthday. Oh! She never forgets my birthday. Mother smiled genuinely for the first time. But the next moment, she heard a sudden thud on the door and was flabbergasted to see her kids jumping and running towards her bed.
They were screaming in joy, ‘Happy Birthday, Mom! Happy Birthday, Mom!’ Naina was dressed in a fairy dress that she had received on her birthday. And Navin was funnily dressed and he had pasted balloons on his knees and arms. He looked extremely funny.
“You never told me that you were planning this. I thought you forgot.” Mother exclaimed and hugged both of her kids.
“It was Dad’s idea.” Navin shouted in joy. She had completely forgotten about her husband and he appeared at the door with a cake box.
“This is unbelievable! You all have been planning this without letting me know.” She said laughing.
“We wanted to surprise you. Last time, you could see each one of us preparing for your birthday party. But this time, we divided our tasks and did it in hiding.”
“How did you manage?”
“Simple. I was supposed to get the cake before you arrive from the office. Naina and Navin decided to hide it in the guest room.” Soon, they entered the guest room and it was decorated beautifully.
“You never checked the guest room during the week. Hence, we could manage to decorate it.”
“That’s great!”
They had a nice cake cutting and a birthday celebration. Naina gifted a pair of earrings, while Navin had prepared a hand-made greeting card. Father had brought a saree for Mother.
“Now, come on. You have to go to school tomorrow.” Mother nudged the kids to go back to sleep.
“Mom, it is your birthday. How can we go to school on this special day?” Navin winked at his Mom.
—————————— The End ————————————————————————–