Chubbock's Birthday

After all the weekends spent planning and all the worry about whether we were over or under doing it by comparison with his school friends, Chubbocks's birthday party is over. I find it hard to believe this little guy is already five and, according to Hindu tradition, no longer in the baby stage but the boy stage - Kaumarya. I was looking through our hundreds of digi-photos of him as a toddler and wishing I had pressed the freeze-frame button.

It was a slightly bizarre day. He woke up all cranky for some reason - usually he and Puddi wake up with a smile on their faces - and continued to be not his usual self all day. He was less full of beans than usual and less talkative, and for the life of us we haven't managed to figure out why.


The mood lasted all weekend, and we're wondering if perhaps he had been anticipating the party for too long, or whether he expected to look or feel different now that he had reached this mature stage. He did respond with his own bizarre logic, later, that he thought all his friends would turn 5 that day (???).

Anyway, since I was determined to make it a home-grown party, we were hosting it in a big park within our residential community. The people manning the Columbus came by 8 am, because it apparently takes them a few hours to get it assembled. I decided that not only did I have to cook the food for the party but that we also had to have a traditional birthday meal at home, with Chubs's favourite things, so I was in the kitchen from early on, churning out saaru ( his favourite) and lemon rice, while mom offered to make the payasa and the sabzi. I also had to churn out Bhaaji enough for about 50 people, as well as macaroni with veggies. Chubs had asked for Bhelpuri, so we had to keep the ingredients ready so that it could be made in the nick of time. We decided to order in some food to make it a little easier, so dhoklas and rasbhari ( mini-rasgullas soaked in sugar syrup) were ordered. My in-laws turned up, lugging the return gifts for the boys - a simple but fun toy that shoots discs into the air, like a modern-day Sudarshan Chakra, and we ran around packing those.

Let's just say it was a hectic day, between the powercuts and scheduling baths when we had hot water to the cooking and cleaning...we never got the time to run down to the park until it was almost time for the party, and I was horrified to find: a. A bunch of boys playing cricket in the middle of the park and having torn a nice, muddy, dusty strip out of the grass; b. The balloons still being put up; c. No chairs having been placed for the adults and d. Tons of dust from the commercial buildings surrounding the colony, which seem to have sprung up out of nowhere in the last couple of months. I like having things ready in plenty of time, so my BP must have rushed to all kinds of levels as I ran around waking up A and hustling chairs and tables out of our house and into the park. Thankfully, things just about fell into place by the time our guests arrived.

All in all, the party went well. The Columbus was not a sophisticated piece of equipment as I had feared, but more like something commandeered from a village fair,
but all the kids loved it and sat on it all together, which was just heart-warming. I wonder what it is, about the swing, that gets everyone hooked on. Of course, the people manning it had faulty wires and half the time there was no power so they were manually swinging it but the kids had fun. The puppet show guy was pretty good too, as he was really funny, rather than go all traditional, and we had a horse riding poor Amar Singh Rathod and a snake which used to get the more violent as the madaari played his been so the kids were screaming with laughter.

Eventually, despite the expense of the Columbus and tattoo artist et al, just the simple fact that we were holding the party in a neighbourhood park, without a fancy tent and that none of the chairs for the adults matched ( 6 of our dining chairs, 6 of my parents', our 8 garden chairs and assorted moodahs) made the atmosphere of the party just what I wanted - unsophisticated and ( that most hateful word used to describe marriageable women) homely. Of course, next year I want to invite more work upon myself by hosting it at home, by which time we'll hopefully have a larger home, to make it completely middle class. Everyone loved the food and wiped out most of it, including a rather large Spiderman cake.
As for Chubbocks, after a weekend full of silence, he has more or less reverted to his normal self. Puddi had lots of fun and danced more than the puppets, when the puppeteer sang and played his dholak, and looked too cute with braids and beads in her hair.


I think it's true that kids grow to expect that which we lead them to expect. I could see the kids having a good time chasing each other around the park and swinging away. They don't necessarily need expensive props and 'amusements' in order to have a good time - all they need is each other and some space. So that's going to be my aim for birthday parties from now on.

Ps. Will try and put up some pics later.

Pics added, as well as anti-jinx!