That's Life

I don't really believe I'm strong enough about certain things I believe in. Church music is one of them and birthday presents too happens to be one. Now I strongly believe that a birthday present should remain a surprise, though of course it goes without saying that if Daddy Boy wishes to know what sort of car I would like for my birthday I'd like it very much if he were to ask me beforehand, infact I'd prefer it that way.

But friend Sonali apparently had other ideas. Or maybe it was just that she derived some sort of pleasure by continuously pressing me to guess what her present for my birthday was going to be. This was totally against my principles and I told her that I'd much rather be surprised. If you think about it you too will realize that the thrill of taking off wrapping paper is magnified if you have no earthly idea of what is inside. Ah, but no.

"No, you have to guess" said Sonali stubbornly.

"Fine, have it your way. A ship in a bottle. A ticket for a luxury cruise around the world, though I hope it's not dated, what with exams around the corner. A designer beach ball..."

"You are mean" declared Sonali.

"Oh, I'm mean am I? Well how mean is it to make someone guess her birthday present when she wants to be surprised?"

"Okay so you can't guess. Bad at it you are, heard me? BAD"

Now that stung. After watching MISS CONGENIALITY 1 I had even entertained ideas about joining the FBI (although I later realized that agent Matthews would not be working there). So grumpily I asked for a clue.

"Some parts you can keep forever and some parts you can't" recited Sonali.

"Perfume? A tub of ice cream?"

"No."

"Well, I give up..."

"Oh, go on... It's funny to watch you guessing away..."

"Gee, glad to be of some help...Look, I have no idea... I didn't want to know in the first place, remember?"

"Please, just one more try..."

"A badly preserved mummy?"

"No, none of those things" said Sonali happily. "Wait and see will you..." Well, I waited and was rewarded (by a triumphant Sonali) with a lovely bottle of perfume, which wasn't really fair of her if you see what I mean.

But on the other hand, it's also somewhat helpful when a few days before your birthday your aunt calls you to find out, this is for her daughter of course, whether you have "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. Now you are very much aware that her daughter reads nothing of this sort. Of course as you are probably thinking that it could be for her English literature class in school, but if the said daughter is a thirty five year old mother of five children (aged one to five), this can hardly be the case.

So of course warning bells go off in your head with a loud clamour and although you don't really have the book you say that you do ("Bro Boy has a copy too" you add for good measure). There will come a time when an aunt, given such an answer, will say that oh how nice and could she please come around in the afternoon to borrow it? In reality this scenario is yet to take place, so you don't really have to be too precautious about this sort of thing.

But sometimes you may have to take matters into your own hands by dropping little hints here and there as to what you would like to have for your birthday. Now I'm most certainly sure that you can do better than asking out aloud at dinner whether anyone would like to know what you would like to get for your birthday. It is an art in itself and subtleness is the key.

You must try to give everyone else the impression that you are not even remotely aware of your impending birthday. With this in mind you must take time to admire your mother's jewellery, if that is what you would like to get.

Got it? You must be a bit strong to try this out because Daddy Boy might be heard snorting away saying "ha diamonds..." and you must appear to be totally bewildered. But birthdays are ever so nice anyway, even without presents, so I certainly hope that you have a nice time on your birthday.

Dilini Algama