Two birthdays and three birthday parties!

Apologies for missing from this blog for almost a week. I had been busy with two birthdays and three birthday parties.

My little one was born three years and a day after one of her cousins. So, the festivities started on Thursday with the cousin's birthday. It was a weekday, so we opted to attend the friends-and-family do on Saturday.

Friday was the little one's birthday. I had planned to take the day off, but she had a party at her play-school. We (actually my wife) decided to have a little dinner for parents in the evening where all of us could get together.

As luck would have it, an interview request I had put in for an IT major came through on Friday evening. Unfortunately, he can only do this time and then he is off for three weeks. Don't worry, we will start at 6.30 pm and wrap up by 7.00 pm. For sure.

Braving the peak-hour traffic between Delhi and Gurgaon (which is one of the Indian home of the big IT majors), we got to the venue on time. He is on an important conference call. Do you want to set up your equipment and he'll join you soon. Soon turned out to be almost an hour late.

The interview jokingly suggested that I make a dart-board with his picture on it. You can tell your daughter that this is the man who delayed your Dad. But his spin-doctor had other ideas. Here is a little something from us. The little something was a USB Storage Device, just the kind of thing you would give a four-year-old.

Thankfully, the little one was still awake when I got in around 8.45 pm. We got to spend some time together and celebrate the occasion.

Saturday was the cousin's birthday party in Gurgaon. It was scheduled for 12.00 pm and we were there 20 or so minutes late. Yet again, we were the first guests to arrive. Most guests started floating in around 1.00-1.30 pm - with one coming around 3.00 pm.

On our way back, I had a unique experience. I was driving on the fastest lane on the NH-8, which connects Gurgaon and Delhi. Suddenly, the red brake lights of the car in front of me flashed. I braked immediately to avoid running into that car.

There were about six or seven cars in front of me, all having braked with a feet or less of each other. Worried that someone had had a bad accident, I inched forward carefully.

It was nothing of the sort. A man had missed one of exits on the 80 km per hour motorway and wanted to reverse 200 hundred yards to get to the exit. You could have killed someone with your stupidity, I told the man. He was totally unperturbed and busy reversing his car.

Sunday was our 'party in the park' for the little one. She wanted a Nemo Cake and Pizzas at her party. Delhi weather has improved in the last few days and it seemed like an idea we could deliver on. After toying with Nehru Park and Lodhi Gardens, we settled on the park in the front of our house.

Notices displayed all over the park warn against gambling, drinking, throwing garbage and ball games but don't say anything about get-together. And it has a lot of benches for people to sit and enjoy the sun on.

To my surprise, the guests started arriving well before the schedule start time of 12.00. After taking them to the corner we had identified for the party, I headed off to pick up the Nemo cake. While I was away, my wife got summoned by an elderly neighbour - Organising parties in the park is not allowed. Ever since some foreigners did it, the environment has been spoiled.

No, the foreigners didn't leave any toxic waste in the park. They had a get-together with friends for a kid's birthday. They left the park in the same condition they found it, didn't talk loudly, didn't organise loud music that blared late into the night and didn't take up parking lots allocated to the residents.

Isn't that what parks are meant for? For use by residents who pay for and care for the park and aren't fond of putting up tents and offer matar-paneer, daal makhani, pulao and naan to celebrate something?

Luckily, my better half took the more sensible route out of this - by playing the we are new to this locality card.

The elderly lady chose not to take the matter any further. It was a lovely sunny day and my better half had organised face-painting, pass the parcel, bubble-makers and a balloon-seller for the party. The first three were a hit but the last one didn't attract too much interest.

The pizzas arrived at 1.30, as did a couple of small bottles of Coke - to mess up our no-fizzy-drinks resolve. The little one soon discovered it, as did some grown-ups. I had to give in and get a big bottle to allow some refills.

Some considerate guests and the eager gardener helped us return the park to its original self within minutes. The remaining guests moved upstairs to our house to continue the party.

I haven't bumped into the elderly lady yet, but am sure stories are going around about the foreigners who are spoiling the environment!!