The 23rd Shift

Usually this day goes by just as any other day. For past so many years, after I knew I can remember things, when I skim through those pages out of my memory, I dont find an instance when I thought this day meant something to me. I never found a point in celebrating this day, my birthday, but the people at POINTS had different idea. The time had shifted the maturity paradigm of my life by 22 degrees and the whole process had passed off peacefully each and every time; But the 23rd shift was certainly different.

For all those bumps that I missed during my college years, I had to pay a heavy price and this day, I never had an idea what my friends had in store for me. First they dipped me in all possible colours available in the world, then tried punches , football kicks and all acrobatics on my body.But after everything, pain was the only sustaining component, but the paradox was I was happy. I smiled in pain, may be for the first time I was realising even pain can give you happiness.

Then the normal bday fundas with wishes from all the people around, evening treats to friends and the usual cake cutting ceremony. But the most fascinating thing of the day was the gift that I received from my friends. A book exhibition was running at our campus and we had a visit to the place today afternoon. My eyes were flirting through various titles and book covers and suddenly a book titled "THE TAO OF PHYSISCS" caught my eyes. I just moved through its pages and had an outline of its theme. The book was about the Universal laws associated with Physics and its relations with eastern mysticism, probably this has been something I have been searching for a long time. A book that would tel me about the untold relations between spiritualiy and science. I was fascinated by it and thought of buying it. Thats when my friend picked the book and he bought it. He asked me if I am interested and I told him,'Its ok, I wil get another copy later or borrow it from him and read'. To be frank , I did like the book , but was not much disappoined even though I couldn't buy it.

Finally at the end of the day, when I carefully removed the glittery cover that wrapped my gift, my eyes widened with surprise. "THE TAO OF PHYSICS" was smiling at me. Infact , my friends had bought the book for me. The incident broke my insensitivenesss for surprises.I never believed in them when I used to be at the receiving end. This day I knew how a little surprise could fill my heart with happiness. The whole pain that I took for putting the whole incident here at this point of time ,when almost all people around this part of the world would be cuddling under their blankets and strolling in their dream worlds, is more than a proof of how much the whole incident has moved me.

The lesson that I have been learning and learning from all past experiences and still love learning is "How it feels to have good friends"

Thank you guys, you gave me one of the very best days of my life.