Birthday Chills

And so another year has begun...
with my boss shouting ' Fast Start, Fast Start, we need closures by Q1 .' and all the rest of us hitching up our petticoats and patting our balls as the gender be....
and rushing off blindly, furtively in search of clients, who want to be left alone to recover from the New Year Blues.
2010, my 9th working year ....and i still don't know what my calling is :).
Some people flourish as parasites and i have a feeling that i belong to that genre, however since fate has not given me the opportunity to watch my toe nails grow, here i am sad and frowny rushing off into another year ...
I just spent my birthday is a cold banquet hall in fog ridden Daaalhi, with exactly
1 friend who is also a fellow employee of the meat packing firm where i work,
1 red haired client, who boasted of being a CIO, CFO and CEO all rolled into one.
2 toothy grinning hotel staff,
2 leering sales boys and
2 unemployable yokels from the event management agency.
As i bent over to cut my cake ,a moment of epiphany..
If only i could take that knife and plunge it straight through my heart , how much happier i would be ....
However i heard the populace burst into ,' Happy Barday TOOO You,' and i looked at my friend.Her eyes , like the Leonard Cohen song mirrored my thoughts'
'Yes,' said my ego.' even you, could have it better !'
That fateful day had begun extremely well, with all flights getting delayed(I was rushing off to Delhi for a seminar), presenters threatening to stalk home , customers not being able to navigate through the fog...
As the fog garnered shape and permanency, and i bit my nails at the airport, i got calls from friends and ex lovers.
Ex lover 1 said- Hey you have some lovely snaps on Facebook, could you if u don't mind , change the security settings of our 'fun in the sun' pics to one person only, my girl friend you know, don't want to upset her with my past follies ..
Ex Lover 2 smsed,' Happy Birthday my darling, I shall always remember you..,' or something equally banal.'
To which i typed back,' Thank You.'
This was immediately followed by a message which said,
Who is This ? and then
Thank You for What? and then
Don't ever message again.......
I thought this particular young man must be on the needle..and then chamka..
Of Course it must be the wife going through the Sent Items ....:)...
As another friend recently remarked,
Being a husband is not a status ,it is a position and my buddies was obviously Not On Top :)
My ex husband sent me an entire email..which was completely blank and astutely observed in the subject line, in capitals...'Happy Birthday..Your old.' :)
He always did catch on fast ....!
Moral of the story is not that I have made dating jerks a fine art form, but i obviously could author a short story collection called,' Still Looking for my balls.'
However yesterday was drowned in cocktails and sunshine, and February will hopefully bring new leaves and better tidings...
Today, i contort myself into unattainable yoga positions, i think of ....well the pain doesn't really allow u a lot of room to think..however the words which drift in the january wind strums like this...

I am being followed by a moonshadow ,
moonshadow, moonshadow
Leaping and hopping on a moonshadow ,
moonshadow, moonshadow

Happy New Year

The cake box stands on a table corner.
All that is left in it are crumbs.
Crumbs from cakes sent from home, crumbs from the West Indian Pastry Shop, crumbs from Elizabeth Aunty next door.
Crumbs of love, good cheer, bonhomie, laughter
Crumbs shared with friends from all over the world,
Crumbs..simple crumbs ..juicy, fragrant balls of fruit and flour and tinsel.

The Christmas Tree has been packed up like it was decorated ...in warm companionship. Friends , visiting from back home decorated it with bobbles, glitter, angels and a wee bit of ' Bangali gossip'
It made it to the family album of fellow comrades in my chosen town of residence as their children draped themselves around it with a wee bit of crunched chips.
Neo our newest canine buddy added to the humanness of it all by chewing an angel and a ball off it and ...
My long lost twin's husband from the ,' Marathi Manus' hotbed wrapped it in newspaper and put it back in the 'panetry' as my neice fondly calls it ...
with a wee bit of 'a morning after.'

The unwashed clothes in the green checked box overflow.
The wine stained shirt recounts the laugh which led to the spill.
While the black wooly monkey cap recounts the crackling bonfire on the coffee estate on Chikmanglur.
The red jacket boasts of the photo taken at Sim's Park in Cunnor with the winter sunshine kissing the bed of azeleas.
The towel is sad because it will never go home again having been left behind by it's rightful owner.
The innumerable grubby jeans are as usual not on talking terms with the fancy rags of the cocktail hour.
The Shopping Mall crew find the delicates with their French Mauritian soiree stories & their drunken Christmas Party & Night Out In Town scenes extremely ribald.

On the dresser , the remenants of the alcohol, the chocolates and the short eats remind the owner that the New Year is filled with distinct possibilities.
Nostalgia about the years gone by should be imprisoned in memory and tucked away.
Friends and family may have been lost on the way...but the last 4 weeks bear testimony to the fact ..that there is a wonderful life today which is Real, filled with love and is calling out to be breathed into.

So Happy New Year to ALL THOESE DENIZONS who blessed the portals of 159 Belview with so much joy in the last 4 weeks.
May your bellies be warm , ur lovers morally loose and your partners ever forgiving,
and may laughter ring in your ears after the joke is long outlived.