I am 25!

It's my Birthday today! :D 25 years successfully completed! :)

Of course, of my total 25 years, I remember 20 years properly i.e. about the time we moved to Pune. Thus, I shall account for only those 20 years that's stuck to my memory.

April 1990 :: New home. New School. New area; almost devoid of human population. I faintly remember hovering around amma and V; for I was lacking friends.

I remember -

playing Hide n Seek with amma as soon as we came home from school.

racing up the stairs with V to see "Who touches the main door first?" More often than not, he won!

not liking my class teacher, Mrs. De Silva; and praying each day that she be absent. "Oh please god please, let her fall sick today!"

participating in a song and dance performance for school annual day "There was a little Princess...". (Mukta, were you the princess??)I remember searching for my parents in the auditorium when, accidentally, I was the only one standing in front of the large audience after the curtain was drawn. I can never forget their smile which gave me the courage to stand there, without crying, despite the huge lump in my throat.

1991 - 1994 :: School time. Some new friends. New games. Amma's strict warning "Come back home by 7 PM... anytime later will not be tolerated". This discipline stayed throughout. Even today, though deadlines have been eased out, I still need to report my whereabouts including details - with who I am, where am I going and a rough estimate on when I get back.

1995 - 1999 :: Major metamorphosis. From a child to adolescent. From a kid sister to younger sister. From a frolicking-playing-care-free-daughter to ideally-should-be-mature-daughter. From a friend to best friend. Opinion clashes - with amma, with V, with friends. In short, adolescence at its helm.

2000 :: At the threshold of "LIFE". SSC board exams. Still undecided future prospects. V's accident. Domestic hitches. Advices pouring in. Suggestions wafting by. Confusions galore.

2001 :: First glimpse of BMCC, where I was to spend my next 5 years, until I graduated. Fear of ragging. New friends again. New relations. New realization. New found "Rebellious ME".Licked freedom for the very first time. Bunked Pharande's Maths lecture. Got firing from amma. Met my BFF, Pallavi.

2002 :: HSC Board. "Bring it on" attitude. Prodding into college activities.

2003 - 2005 :: Freedom at its best. No lectures attended. Blacklisted. Squirmed out from the parents-teacher meet situation. Extended childhood at home. Certificates for Extra curricular activities. Discovered my liking for French. Alliance Francaise followed shortly.

2005 - 2007 :: Officially/ Unofficially/ Casually/ Formally/ Socially, FINALLY, according to people and parents, I was of marriageable age. Search parties let out to find "THE" one for me. Despite the complaints, despite the tantrums, despite pleadings, despite emotional blackmails... search continued. Reluctance to attend social functions for the fear of being "spotted" by the prospective groom's family. Break from French classes. MBA/ DBM classes occupied evening time.

2007 - 2008 :: French Resumed. Completed Diplome with Distinction. Hunt for job begun. Landed one for teaching French at an institute.

2008-2009 :: Still teaching French. Frustration at so called-job. Suggestions from amma for a small compromise regarding job aspects. Stubborn-ness not to compromise and stick to what I thought. Grooms pouring in with myriad "expectations". Aunts calling up to "suggest" "great matches" for me. Only to be thrown away with a side-glance.

2009 Beginning :: Job hunt still on the go. Interviews here and there. Self assurance of doomed future. Met a stranger... and soon forgotten.

2009 Mid :: Singapore trip for a whole month and half. Refreshing stay. Away from frustrations. Away from groom-hunts. V, N and Baby J and fun. Baby J's unending fever. Tensions.

2009 Mid :: Furious job hunt. Landed 3 interviews. Got through all three. I got to choose one of them. The stranger and me, met once again.

2009 Mid - End :: Office -home, home- office. Fun at office. One of my best friend gets married. Stranger was a friend now.

2009 Mid - End :: Routine set in. Enjoyed the routine. Small hitches in office life. Blinded by friendship.

2009 December :: A curtain raiser for me. A clearer vision. Friend was not "just a friend". There was more to it than just friendship. Got respective parents involved. Parents meet. Parents say "yes" and a happy "yes" at that. I welcomed Kiran in my life...

2010 :: Kiran who was once upon a time a stranger, then a friend, then a great friend became my boyfriend, my lover and is now my fiancé and will soon be my life partner. Preparations for a new life begins...

One chapter of my life ends here. Only to start writing a new one after a few more days. As amma says "This is your last birthday as "Prabhu"."

Of course there was more to it than I have mentioned here. In a nutshell, however, this is how my 20 years would look like.

A new set of relations to be handled, new responsibilities, changed status and balancing acts will soon start. It scares me... it excites me, nonetheless.

I guess, at 50 I'll make another post like this, accounting for the life journey from now till then.

P.S. This rocked!

:) :) :)