The Monday before my birthday was shaping up to be a bit of a fail. All our other volunteer friends in the area were either going to be away or working. Dhruv (Host-mums grandson) was leaving for college the day of, and the rest of the family members were apparently going on a last minute trek. So at the start of the week I was in fear of having my first legal drink alone or with friends over Skype…great. Yet India didn't even allow that possibility either because apparently the legal drinking age here is 25…So I continued to remain pessimistic for the duration of the week. Friday came, and after school things started getting seriously suspicious. I noticed the maids were baking cakes which I hadn't seen them do since my arrival 4 months ago and my host mum said that perhaps I should go "have a rest" it had been a long day…hmmm. All hope however was again exacerbated when I was told by one of the six year-old grandchildren, Ryan that the cake was for Dhruv's surprise going away party to be held that night, so it's a bit unlucky your birthdays tomorrow…Thanks.
Dhruv, Dheera, Raghu and some friends from South Africa finally arrived and I was pretty much in my pyjamas and ready for bed after a long week of what I thought were disappointments. I was then called down stairs at 11:30pm for 'Dhruv's farewell Party'. What I wasn't prepared for was the fail of a surprise soon to come. At 11:45pm after a couple of beers I remarked that it was only 15 minutes until my first 'legal' drink. Everyone awkwardly laughed and then pretended they had forgot my birthday which I believed…awkward. Then at 12pm everyone screamed surprise we didn't forget…hahhahha what a royal fail! Everyone lost it laughing and I think it's one of those things that you really had to be there to understand that because it was such a fail it was hysterically amusing. It all turned out rather wonderfully despite it's start, as we were blessed with a full-moon and warm air. We all sat outside on a big picnic rug and Dheera entertained us with her crazy Fire Poi which was awesome!
As the beer slowly started to run out and our ears became more sensitive to the small speakers disguised by outside sounds, we decided to bring it inside for a better sound system and some cheap local birthday shots. A few more shots later, some terrible tone deaf singing and the standard deep drunken conversations about religion and the meaning of life we called it a night. Yet the sun was already well on it's way at about 5am so it wasn't much of a beauty sleep. I'm glad the weirdness stayed minimal as on Dhruv's birthday we were drinking out of antique goblets at a royal family members house (don't ask) , made pea sandwiches? and performed Uptown Girls a little too eagerly…
So as you now know in India they like to bring in the birthday at mid-night as opposed to celebrating the night of. Pros you get to have your first drink at mid-night whoo… Cons you wake up after two hours of sleep, hungover, looking like you've aged significantly more than one year, for the rest of the family consisting of grand-parents and young grand-kids who were not apart of the previous nights antics eagerly waiting to greet you as you walk down the stairs. Now the downside of having young grand-children in the house means that sleeping in on your birthday is definitely not an option. In fact walking down the stairs was not even an option. I was forced to mattress surf down an almost vertical antique staircase still in my unflattering pyjamas...I definitely wasn't feeling like a legal adult at all. Then there they all were, half the room was filled with hungover zombies and half was filled with cheerful chums ready to sing Happy Birthday. It was a pretty amazingly diverse group of people. 9 members from three generations of my Anglo-Indian host family, two new South-African friends Kate and Mike, Winta my volunteer partner and of course Uncle Bob aka David Attenborough (an old English friend of my host Dad). Due to Bob's presence Happy Birthday was soon followed by "Why was she born so beautiful why was she born at all, because she had no say in it her parents did it all" So I felt right at home. The day was mainly spent catching up on sleep, skyping dedicated family and friends and eating cake that was actually for me SORRY DOOV. Dhruv then left that afternoon at what we thought was a 4:30 send off. 2 hours later roadside we finally hailed down the bus.
Now if you've ever met Uncle Bob, you'll know he loves to talk! If you thought I was chatty then times this by ten. He is a life-long mountaineer who refers to himself in his english accented Hindi as Pahari Sahib (Mountain man). He has spent his whole life climbing the Himalayas and many other peaks around the world. He is like a super chatty, friendly David Attenborough (in fact he is actually friends with David and they have a we hate Bear-Grillz club!! anyway getting off track that's another story) So due to Uncle Bobs love of story-telling my birthday dinner (as well as every other dinner since his arrival) turned into a story marathon about his good old trekking days. It lasted for so long I started to zone out however, I do recall some rather amusing lines such as "That reminds me about the time I lived in a cave" and "We were so high up the mountains his eye-balls froze" Love your work Bob! After it finally wound up we were so tired we decided to have a slumber party and watched the worlds worst horror film…Note to self don't let Dheera choose! If I had to sum it up in a minute it would involve two people getting stabbed for no apparent reason by some randoms in masks and then the credits rolled so really it was more of a comedy.
All in all it was a wonderfully unique and enjoyable birthday spent with some seriously awesome people! Also noteworthy I would like to thank all of you who have donated so far to my Birthday wish donation pool. So far I have raised $1873.50 (aussie dollars) with your help for the lovely villagers of the Kullu Valley who needed some support in the areas of education, health and clothing/toys etc.
xx
