"If you wish today(june 11th)..... Its Two days(too) late!!! " :)

It was the day we were planning for, with the gifts all ready. The cake already ordered, and the venue all made to look normal. No traces of a surprise party to be thrown. But the room next to this one was filled of activity, full anticipation on all the faces. Very crowded and host to the excellent chocolate cake that Classic Foods had baked on our orders. One by one they people started trickling in.

"Why so late da?? We have been waiting for you... And Where the hell is Ashish?? Not yet come?!! Late as always... Call him da!!! "

"Hi Vatsu... I am coming man... I am outside TP only... Had some work in octa..."

That monday morning was full of activity and everyone was doing there work a little too sincerely in the Office room since they wanted to make "The old man"(As Cecil[senior from Mech] calls him :P) happy and also not to give away the impending surprise. It was the first and last time we would, as a team have an opportunity to throw a surprise party for this person we respected and regarded highly. We wanted it to be as perfect as possible. SK had called and expressed his sorrow for not being present able to attend the occasion.

"Finally!! Ashish has come... Are we all ready to do this?? Ok check if sir is there..."

After casually walking into the office room, I found that he was not there. He had been in that big wheel chair of his just a couple of minutes prior to that moment. Then we heard that he had just gone out and would be back soon. This wait added more to our tension and we were too eager now. An hour had already passed from the time we were supposed to spring up the surprise celebrations. 15 minutes passed and finally The Old man finally walked in and took his seat. I walked back into the next room and closed the door behind me.

"Ok people.. He has come. Time to do it.. Come on"

We picked up all the necessary things and as a big group assembled in front of his big table. The cake was placed on top of the glass slab and he was pleasantly surprised.

"Happy Birthday Sir!! A very Happy birthday to you!", we all said in unison.

He initially had no words for a few seconds, but a few moments on he said :
"Oh! What a pleasant surprise?!! I never expected this!! Thank you so much!! But I am sorry to say ITS TWO DAYS TOO LATE!!! My Birthday was over on the 9th of June itself! "

Terror and shock gripped our faces!! We had absolutely nothing to say! We were short of any words!! The only thing we managed to utter was a muffled "OHHHHH!!". After a few seconds we all git back to our senses and realised our blunder. We all passed on our apologies to the Old man who now said that both us and our seniors had committed the same mistake. We felt a sudden hollow within us and did not know how exactly to react after hearing those words from sir's mouth.

But the great man that he is, he brought us into cheerful moods by expressing his happiness at being totally surprised. He then cut the cake and kicked off the party, one surrounded by an invisible cloud of disappointment. How could we have done something like this??!!! But then we moved on and gifted sir the books we had neatly wrapped. He was definitely not expecting this and was taken by further surprise. This brought us back to our spirits and we motioned for Sruti to do the honours with the cake. She ceremoniously cut the cake into a uniform grid of pieces, much like she managed to do several times in the following year.

Thinking back 364 days from today, it all seems so funny and stupid. How we had made the mistake of finding out the wrong birthday and goofing up what should have been a very special day for the Old man. The old man, of course, is none other than Dr. A.K.Bakthavatsalam. Our mentor, our guide, our teacher, our friend, our Head. We owe so much to this man who has inculcated several good habits, values and ideals in the lives of all those who are part of STUD BATCH '08!!! Am sure I am speaking on behalf of all of them when i say He is the best for the job of finding jobs for the students and no one else can take that place.

But today was very different. I made sure I wished him at 0000 hours by message and then gave him a call when he was treating all my juniors at Sangeethas as he always does. A couple of my friends almost made the mistake of forgetting this special day. June 9th, a date that shall never be forgotten for all the reasons I just wrote about. But I am quite sure there will be at least a couple of defaulters who will call up on the 11th and wish him(thanks to the fake orkut profile showing it as 11th).

Well here is a modified version of our theme song for all those who commit that mistake:

"If you wish today(june 11th)..... Its Two days(too) late!!! " :)

Happy Birthday Sir!! Many more happy returns of the day!! :)