Chp 168. Birthday High

I’ve just celebrated my birthday a couple of days ago. Man, I was high. Extremely high.

I don’t think I’ve ever spent any of my birthdays that high before. It felt kinda great, though a little bit tiring the next day from all that high effect. Seriously, it was such a different experience, being so high... at least 8000 metres above sea level high.

They say people should go the distance on their birthdays. I went for a distance of more than 2500 kms on my birthday. In the end, I clearly did not see what the big deal was about going such a distance. All I felt was tired.

Heh. So that was how I spent my birthday - On a direct flight from Aizawl to Mumbai. I reached Lengpui Airport so early that there were hardly any security personnel around. You gotta love being the most peaceful state in the North-east. There is so much more freedom and liberty as compared to the rest of North-east or even the rest of India for that matter.

I reached Kolkata Airport and there was the 12-hours bandh declared by the Trinamool Congress. Hence I couldn’t meet a couple of my friends in Kolkata. I reached Mumbai Airport and there was the 72-hours strike declared by the auto-wallas the next day. Blimey, these curfews and strikes seem to be following me everywhere.

I had to come to Mumbai again suddenly because my sister met with an accident last week - Her auto rammed into a bus and her head dented the bumper of the bus while smashing the headlights totally. Fortunately, the bus is not in such a bad shape; the mechanic said it will take a week to repair it.

My sister is not in a critical condition either. After staying with her in the hospital for a couple of days, she was discharged yesterday. She still cannot walk yet, but she can now open her eyes (which she couldn’t before due to the concussion and stitches on her forehead).

The day I reached Mumbai, I went straight to the hospital. My sister, deeply hurt and injured as she was, still managed to plan a birthday cake for me along with her friends and a couple of nurses. I find that really sweet of her but extremely unnecessary too. Anyway, it was an amazing chocolate fudge cake and I blew out the candles amidst my meek protests.

I must say a deep and meaningful thank-you to all my sister’s well-wishers and people who wished me a happy birthday here on my blog, my mail, and my orkut profile. Even though I’ve stopped appreciating my birthdays a long time ago (because nobody likes to grow older after 18) I guess deep inside we all still love being remembered by family and close friends.

I don’t know how long I will be in Mumbai, but I plan to make the best use of it. My main priority now is to take care of my sister – cater to her demands, exercise her legs, carry her to the loo, read her a novel, adjust her leg-pillow, and feed her. Oh, did I not mention that I am a great cook? Hehehe. Thanks to my short stay in Delhi, I now know how to make rice, dal, fry potatoes and boil smoked-pork. Now people who eat what I cook hardly complain of stomach-aches or diarrhoea anymore. And my sister, who still cannot walk, now has no other option but to put her trust in God and hope somebody did a good job in teaching me how to cook. Lolz.

It’s also good to be back in Mumbai where I can finally watch “AXN India” again instead of the “AXN Hong Kong” that we get in Mizoram, which is blacked-out half the time and which I’m probably sure is an illegal broadcast.

Watching TV in Mumbai also means skipping past gazillion number of regional channels, but I still feel that is better than skipping past local channels in Mizoram that are broadcasting yet another mushy Korean movie.

It’s not that I have anything against the Koreans. I just hate those romantic movies of theirs, that’s all. I love Korean action flicks. So I guess I love three Korean movies.

Apart from taking care of my sister, I plan to continue my workout whenever I can. One year in Delhi gave me a protruding pot-belly, and one month of intense basketball training in Mizoram took all that away. I am definitely not looking forward to going back to that Delhi physique.

Looking for a morning jogging partner here in Mumbai. If you happen to live near my place in Jogeshwari East (very slim chance) and happen to read this blog post of mine (extremely slim chance, tending to negative infinity), then please do let me know. I would love to jog with somebody in the morning.

So long for now.

- 9930961576 (My new Mumbai number).