Two days ago my friend Ameya gives me a call, after a long time. He tells me that his father would be turning 60 this year on 26th March and he has arranged a surprise party, and invited me for it. Fortunately, I did not have any prior commitments on that day so I agreed to visit. His entire family knows me, and it had been a long time I had met them. He needed some help with the preparations and asked me if I could come a bit early for the same. I agreed.
Today, I reached at the venue and Ameya was there busy with preparations along with a few more common friends. Not wasting any time, I joined Mangesh in inflating balloons. I think we had close to a 100 balloons. I could actually feel the unpleasant, greasy taste of those balloons on my tongue. I joined in with other decorations, setting up the desk and getting certain things which had been completely forgotten and were needed urgently.
We were all set with out preparations by 6 pm and the venue looked extremely cheerful. Ameya's father reached the venue by 6:30 pm. It was a pleasant surprise for him, was a bit overwhelmed by the occasion. The flow of events was something I was aware about but had never seen personally. Ameya and his siblings washed his father's feet with milk and water, which is known as abhishek. Mud diya's , 60 in number, were decorated in a thali which was used to bless uncle. Ameya's family is a big one, it's a joint family. Elderly people who were there blessed uncle, which was followed by the younger generation coming over the wish him. Cake cutting ceremony followed in some time and we all were singing "Happy Birthday to you.." not at all in sync. This was followed by a few games which we all played and enjoyed, and then uncle received gifts from all the guests. Dinner was served by 9 pm and we wrapped up everything by 10:30 pm.
Since the time I heard about this event, I had been thinking a lot. I can imagine how things would have been for my dad when he was doing what I did today, preparing for a birthday party. I am very happy for uncle because of the fact that he has such a wonderful and loving family. Making him feel special on his birthday just highlights the fact that Ameya and his family love him very much. In fact, the entire family loves each other. This is something which is rarely seen these days and I hope and pray that this love persists in Ameya's family as long as the stars shine.
On a general note, it is high time to realize that our parents have done such a thing for atleast 10 - 12 years just to make us feel special. Shouldn't we do the same in their old days atleast? Ameya did plan and execute this event for his personal satisfaction but it has helped to ring some bells in some minds. Jayesh, my friend who lost his father 2 years back, would have been wondering if he had done such a thing when his dad was alive. Prachi, Priti and Ashwini, whose dad's had also visited the event must be thinking that now even we would need to do such a thing for our mom's and dad's as they may make comparisons which would be difficult to handle. Mangesh and me are wondering if we can do a similar thing for our respective dad's as my dad would turn 50 this year and his dad would reach 75 next year. More than meeting my friends after a long time, more than spending a good time with Ameya's family, more than enjoying the party and more than savoring the delicious food, I have realized that this was a nice gesture which should be done with your parents and loved one's atleast sometimes. It should feel nice, you can imagine how peaceful would it be.
