Thou shall be surprised

Once upon a time , (yes this story WILL start like a story) , there lived a girl called Samyuktha. She was forever fifteen years old , while her friends whizzed past and reached the sweet sixteen landmark and some even reached the purgatory called 17 ( you neither are sweet 16 - the age to be in or the important 18 - where you officially become an adult! ) And you couldn't even blame her itch to become an year older! For a person whose height reduces her age by big margins and her body weight which brought about both mock and genuine surprise at the previously unseen levels of malnourished -ness, you couldn't deny her birthright - age.
The poor child needed at least her age to broadcast her level of maturity. Her mental maturity at best could be called childish. Although there was no guarantee that people would believe her age even if it was genuine - as if she could take her birth certificate wherever she went?! her previously mentioned mental maturity didn't let her think about this much!
So she waited and waited , through her pre annual exams from February to her annuals in march. She also waited through the seven arduous days of holidays where no thought except the one of her b'day was allowed to flourish. In her quiet exile to her cousin's place where she was kicked out as soon as school closed she played the almost sacrilegious  play station 3 which stunned her own cousin , who himself had played it everyday since it was bought and couldn't decipher her levels of fervor towards the games!
The night before THE day she started to doubt herself. 'Why couldn't I have been less rude on my friends... at least for a month! Nobody likes me! :O no one shall surprise me. I am so stupid and arrogant , I should have arranged my own party. At least some people would have been bound to attend it. At least for courtesy sake!"  All this was thought in the protagonist's own dialect ; Cheri Tamil. But for the sake of prestige and finesse ( and clarity of course) she forbids herself from going there here.
By this time she was back in her own house - her own centenarian , almost fragile yet majestic house whose pink color looked more like black nowadays.  In her own bed she lay , thinking these pessimistic thoughts and hoping that someone did surprise her tomorrow . She had very good reasons to expect a surprise party :

1. She was going to be 16.
2. She had friends.
3. The poor child hadn't had a birthday party since her second standard one.

The first point has been elaborated enough in the initial paragraphs . The second point can be found be everywhere in the author's blog ( feel free to meddle the archives) and so , the third one shall be the focus for now. As we all know now , samyuktha wasn't the healthiest child and her parents not the wealthiest. However , there weren't a shortage for parties when she was a young child.

It is true that parents love you more when you were young ,as you were cuter and didn't have brains or the tongue to attack them with. Yet the logic defied her! Why would they keep awesome parties when she was too young to enjoy or appreciate them? and expect her to be mature and be a saint when she was in the ripe age to enjoy them?! Concluding that parents are more dilogical than illogical sometimes we move on.

As she was small , she was shy and a loner in her young years. So people invited to her party were invariably her dad/mom's friends children , neighbors and cousins. She did remember one school mate being called. A lad by the name koushik , who was her best friend till 2nd ( he was quiet like her :P so all they did was enjoy the silence or so I imagine) and who mysteriously disappeared out of her ife after that. It must be noted that he did study in the same school and all , but they never me/spoke after that! strange uh? 

These parties were trademarked by the 'party hats' almost threatening to choke the kids with their dangerously thin elastic bands , and the usual cakes in the forms of mickey mouse or spiderman! and the paper cups filled with orange miranda and plates with the greasy pieces of cake ,  potato chips and sometimes a samosa or a sweet. Samyuktha's memory of these parties were from the innumerable photos her dad had taken in his camera as it is rightly said in her psychology textbook that children do not have any true memory of their formative years.( excepting some episodic memories or scenes) 

Although she wasn't demanding such outrageously awesome parties from her friends , she did expect a kutti cake from french loaf as they get that for almost every tom , dick and harry. However , so much was her apprehension that she suddenly started questioning the very fabrics of her friendship with them. 

After being wished promptly at 12 , she sleepily woke up the next morning - amidst the ringing of phone bells , from the early rising relatives of hers. "This is it", she thought! Embracing herself for any outcome she walked the stairs of her school on a Sunday... there in the room was her class teacher to whom her mom informed that it was samyuktha's b'day! As if that would solve all the forthcoming problems. "What is going on?" she wondered .None of her friends were around , she wasn't going to be surprised after all. Hmmm , maybe surprise wasn't all birthdays were about. She turned back to her teacher who opened the blue bundle next to her and retrieved her report card...........

The contents of it aren't necessary here. But lets say she wasn't overly happy about her result. One thing lacking in the her family was definitely ambition. So at least nobody would crib about her marks - anyways she was definitely not informing anyone about it in the first place. She walked back slowly home with her mom for company. She was definitely a tad sad ; but pleasantly, turning 16 had improved her mental maturity.

She didn't give up hope though ; when her mom escorted her to 'saibaba' temple she did have a doubt. She hadn't even done that well to gift the god 2 bucks. Yet, it was just another red herring. "Samyuktha Jayaprakash thou shall not be surprised. Get over it and enjoy the remnants of your b'day." So she started getting prepared for the dinner which was later on in the evening and attending calls more properly. 

Her mom then came up to her and asked her what she was going to do with the guitar she got for her b'day. With the attitude that comes with 16 years on earth she replied "play obviously". Mom like a mom always is, gets immediately perturbed and is like "you better join a class or I am donating it to the poor". She says ok. Her mom being the worker bee she is , immediately called some guitar sir and who asked her to come @ 4 .

Now Samyuu was actually excited." Learning to play a guitar ON my b'day!! How cool! And that too a 'sir"'. Must be some young stud with tattoos all over him! She was definitely excited . So excited that she didn't  get a doubt when her mom said it was unnecessary to bring a guitar along and when the class was in 'mash' a place popular for its surprise parties. 

It was definitely one of the best days of her life!! With the 6 people who seemed perfect to host the day for her. Nomi , suno , Disha , rhea from her present school and Shruti and Sahi from her old school. She had the best cupcake of her life and some tough time trying to react - which didn't happen ( with all the years being lonely :P) and had fun talking nonsense as usual. She would really like to thank her wonderful friends for all their effort and an awesome day. And promises everyone a big hug when she meets them! <3 :* 

P.S - She is still trying to get over the fact that she didn't have guitar classes and that her MOM fooled her :O 

yours third person-ly 

Semi B|