Praveen's birthday today and solemnly watched him recieve his birthday bumps. The vast number of kicks that landed on his unfortunate bottom should not suffice not only for this life, but for the next couple of rebirths too.

I've never been a fan of birthday bumps, especially because I have been the unfortunate recipient of numerous well directed kicks. The perverse pleasure obtained from mutilating anothers backside is quite alien to me. I remember nursing a sore bottom for a week. (Word of caution: Never use an Indian style toilet for a few days after the birthday bumps. The anguish suffered while squating down is too painful to even write about).

Also watched my dad frantically search for his green diary. He spent 2 minutes looking for it and about 20 minutes loudly pointing out the ill effects of my mothers perennial desire to tidy the house. That my mom hadnt actually touched anything in his room was immaterial. His reasoning went like this: My mother loved to organize therefore the diary was missing. Why didnt she just let things be?. I finally found the diary in the file containg all my MBA applications. Mom and I watched dad slowly swallow his words.

I have to fill out the application form for SPJMR. It includes a number of painful questions like " If you had a choice, what aspect of yourself would you change?" and " What are your family values? ". Such questions call for certain amount of introspection and I've never been very good at that. I shall postpone writing it till the sheer pressure of the deadline forces me to look deep inside and come up with some suitable fiction.