(Sep 5, 12:52pm)

It's mom's birthday tomorrow... This time, I haven't planned anything at all.. and that's second time in a row, as last year I was in Cardiff, and hence without any celebration...

But last year was better... The grand university premise and the parks which dotted it, was a respite...

It gave me space to think... to look around to the trees and cottages nestled far, far away, without any construction hindering the view.. to throw my imagination to eternity..

I think I had taken time out of college and sat in the nearby Bute Park... alone... making some silent prayers...

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But what would I do tomorrow... It's Noida... and it's a monotonous work at office.. I hope it's my off tomorrow..

Probably then, it would be a better day...

I would offer some prayers in the morning... in home only... and then go to South Delhi.. I have thought of a plan... I always have plans..

Sometimes to rescue myself in a trying situation.. sometimes to let bygones be bygones and collate strength to move to the future with renewed zeal.. sometimes to just bring some new engagement in monotony..

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When I visit Patna later this year, I'd be meeting my long estranged aunts... my mother's younger sister, and my mother's brother's wife...

We kind of patched up last year... which is a story... but anyway... I will be visiting them right when Dusehra would be at hands..

So I have thought of buying two saris for them..

And yes, I would be buying them at Nalli, South Extension, tomorrow.. That would be a beautiful way to engage the day.. It would give me a feeling as if I am buying them for mumma..

Then I may have lunch in some good place.. that would be a good way of spending the day.. After all, September 6 has such fond memories for me.. It can't be spent banally..

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When I was young, I would save money from piggy bank... thirty rupees.. forty rupees.. sometimes fifty...

I would go to this stationary shop called Wave... not far from my home... they had beautiful birthday presents... I would buy some present for mom, besides preparing hand made birthday card..

That would be one rare occasion when mumma would let me go out alone.. In Bengali families, you don't let go your children un-escorted until they are well into the teens,..

After I returned, I would hide the present with great caution... I would think of the places to hide well in advance..

In 1996, I had gone to buy a gift... At the same shop... on the evening of Sep 5... I had bought a beautiful white duck, which had very delicate, lovely white roses and leaves stuck in its cavity..

For quite some years, it was a drawing room attraction over the show case... I don't remember when we lost it.. may be some part of it is still lying somewhere in the lobby room along with other piles of things..

It had started drizzling.. mumma was very upset, and waiting for us anxiously..

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The next day my cousin and a family friend had come over when I returned from school.. Mumma went with cousin to a joint called Khana Khazana.. To collect the chinese food we had ordered for the guests..

One of the lovely things which I did was I completed all the home work in the two lunch breaks we had in school.. so that when I eventually returned home, I would have no pending work distracting the celebration..

XXX