I still remember Gavin calling me up on my 21st birthday and saying it was my last important birthday because after that you just get old. I feel that as I just get older at this point. It doesn't even phase me. At least I still get excited on my birthday even if I am not throwing parties or doing anything too crazy.
I still had work today so I set out with my birthday glow on. Getting a taxi this morning was so painful! 6 different taxi drivers shook their heads when I asked if they could take me to Kamala Mills. I guess even the taxi drivers didn't want me to work on my birthday. By the 7th taxi driver I was loosing my mind and when he said no I put on my puppy dog face and said "pleaseeeee" and it worked because he said get in.
At work they had decorated my desk space in the corner with colored balloons and a sign. It was so sweet I knew there would be cake later too!
I was so unproductive at work. I spent the whole morning responding to texts and calls from relatives and family back home. I was distracted but it felt good. I had never had this many people wish me on my birthday! They definitely shouldn't make people work on their birthday.
At around lunchtime, I started receiving edible presents from my relatives. The Pals sent boxes of sweets! I received kaju Katli, dhokla, and jalebi. Of course I eagerly tried all of them and shared them with everyone in the office too! After that I joked with Sonali that I wanted a rose falooda cake but would settle for rose falooda so she surprised me with a royal falooda! How sweet! I was running on pure sugar today.
At the end of the day my boss returned to the office to wish me and cut the cake together. All 7 of us gathered in the conference room where they sang happy birthday to me and cut the cake. Here in India I have observed that I have to first cut the cake and then be fed a piece. Afterwards I had to go around feeding everyone a small piece. The cake they got me was exactly the one I requested - a rasmalai cake! I had become obsessed with the Indian cakes at my sister's graduation and thought they were way more interesting than the usual chocolate cake. I loved it!
Bhakti was joking that I would need to climb some stairs to burn off all my sugar and everyone in the office all at once told her that I am the crazy one who casually climbs 16 flights of stairs daily. I guess I have to start scaling them twice now.
For dinner that evening Maria and family took me out to an Indian restaurant called Copper Chimney in Worli. I got all dressed up in my sister's light pink kurta! My favorite dishes were the two starters of dal soup and paneer. The dal soup was very light and felt nice on my throat. The paneer on the other hand was very nice and soft. The main dish was malai kofta which was good. Everyone makes their kofta differently and this one was more vegetable based with peas. It tasted amazing the next day as the flavors had set!
For dessert, Auntie Linda had sent a decadent chocolate cake from Theobrama. It was very rich and chocolatey but so good! I don't think I have ever eaten this many sweets in one day and most definitely have never received so much! I felt so loved on my birthday it was amazing!
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