Mihika woke up with a new enthusiasm to celebrate her 9th birthday on March 29. At 7.30 a.m. Mihika and I drove down to visit Daddy and Amma at Goregaon. It was a pleasant morning drive. Amma prepared shira for Mihika and also gave her mango shake to drink. We returned home by 11.30 a.m. By that time, Maneesha, who had taken a CL, had begun her preparations for the evening party.At 12.30 I took Mihika to the Metro Cycles Shop near Opera House and bought her an Avon Focus kid’s bicycle, as her 9th birthday gift. Mihika was overwhelmed and happy. We all settled down for a simple lunch and soon went into the sleep mode.
Appa, Mummy, Manju, Jiten and Manasvi arrived at around 6.30 p.m. Around 7 p.m. Milpa and I, went to the Nana Chowk to fetch the birthday cake and other party consumables from Warden Bakery. Raja Kaka & family and Arvind Kaka & family had arrived by the time we reached home. Soon Sandeep & family also arrived and the mood was set for the birthday party. Mihika’s eyes brightened up once her friend Anandita, Gowri’s daughter also arrived. There were 30 people in all.
Even as a round of tea was being offered for the elders, I rolled out the first game of animal race. Anandita, the Cheetah, Manasvi , the Chimpanzee, Milpa, the Tiger, Advika, the Polar Bear, Siddhant, please don’t laugh, the Hippopotamus and Mihika, the Lion were ready on their mark, as the dice began to roll. Even as the swifter animals lagged behind, the Hippo began its march and by the middle of the game, had taken a decisive lead over others. Manasvi’s Chimpanzee began late, but made rapid recoveries to finish second. Advika’s Polar Bear finished third.
8.30 p.m. It was time to cut the birthday cake and wish the birthday girl with memorable presents. Jiten took swift snap of the Black Forest cake, before ‘aakraman’ was declared on it. The next game was the ‘neighbourhood housie’. All the participants were asked to fill up 10 names of persons present in a grid of 15. Chits were already made containing names of all those present. As we called out the names from the chits, participants were to cut the names called out. Mummy (Jayashree Sattur) won the Jaldi Five, while the ‘couples’ was won by Appa (Srinivas Sattur), Anand Kaka and Rama Kaku. Ajay won the Full House honours.
The table was set and the dinner was announced around 9.30 p.m. The menu was – theplas, aloo- matar ki sabzi, kesar pulav, chutney’s and raita, Mexican salad, dhoklas, baby idlis and jalebis. We ran out of aloo matar ki sabzi towards the end – either because it was too tasty, or we simply failed to measure the requirements properly. Post dinner, we held the prize distribution ceremony and Mihika gave away return gifts to all the children, including Nikhil, whom we refused to recognize as a big boy, until he got married. The party ended at 11.30 p.m. as Mihika went to bed with all the fond memories.
