Happy Birthday Little Sister | Flash Post 339

Button, when Dost asked me to accompany him to Kolkata on the 5th,  I jumped at the offer.

I know why. I heard you talking with the family about surprising your younger sister on her birthday coinciding with your date of travel.

Yes. I wanted to surprise her by landing up at her place and wishing her, however late, but before 12 midnight.

Did you make it?

We did.

But aren’t you excited to travel to Kolkata given that it’s home for you every time Dost plans a trip?

I am. And this was a double whammy as I’d be travelling to my first home and get to personally wish my sister. But, it’s not like that every time! Especially when I hit depression mode. During that period, I dread packing a suitcase to travel anywhere. I do not know what to put into that suitcase! I take forever to pack the medicines I need to carry, both for Dost and myself. And I dread having to leave Mumbai even to travel to The City of Joy.

Let’s come to the point. You were happy this time because you would be able to wish your sister on her birthday! And it would be a surprise for her!

That was the single-most important point on my agenda this time. So, Dost and I bought a tiny red velvet cake from a Flury’s kiosk just outside the Kolkata airport on landing. I chose the red velvet as it had a bright red velvety top and velvet red cream in-between the layers that gave it that regal look as compared to a bigger almond cream cake that looked boringly characterless. As we were early, we decided to while away some time by grabbing a bite at Yauatcha, a Chinese restaurant at a mall close to my sister’s place of residence.

Ok.

I placed the cake carefully on Dost’s side of the seat after he had alighted from the vehicle and left for Yauatcha. On our return, Dost got in first and sat right on the red velvet cake smashing it beyond recognition!

Goodness! What happened next?

As he was wearing a light coloured pair of trousers, the red from the red velvet cake got plastered all over the back of his trousers. Much like a baboon’s posterior!

What did he do?

First things first, we knew we’d have to pick up a pair of trousers for him which we did and proceeded to pick up another cake for my sister. By then, my brother-in-law texted me saying that they were back home from a wedding they’d attended!

Did you two reach in time to wish the lady in question?

Oh yes, we did. I lit a single candle and placed it on the cake before ringing the doorbell. My sister had already changed into her nightdress over which she wore one of my brother-in-law’s old shirts!

This is getting more and more hilarious.

Guess her reaction, Button!

Tell me.

The minute she opened the door after throwing one of my mother’s really old woollen shawls which she had used every winter for years as long as she was alive, she screamed, surprise written all over her face and ran inside because she had never come face-to-face with her jamaibabu in her current dress code! After I’d told her it was okay to stay in her nightdress, she coyly came out and blew on the candle to put it off and make a wish.

You must be very happy that your plan met with the perfect closure?

I am. This is the first year I gave her the biggest surprise I could have given her. I can’t recall the both of us landing up from another city to wish her in person ever, not even when we were living in Kolkata. We’d made the customary telephone call to wish her in the years gone by and nothing more.

It’s a beautiful story that will be, I am sure, appreciated by our community members.

My old lady and naughty old man must have smiled witnessing all this from wherever they may be. They could be the two twinkling stars I see in the sky above us.

Are you game to put up the video Dost shot of you singing “Happy Birthday” to your sister?

What video are you talking about, Button?