Talking of birthdays, one of my friends had a bit of a hassle with his birthday this time around. He was plagued with phone calls from all his class girls on Vinayagar Chathurthi wishing him happy birthday. Since his birthday had been celebrated two weeks ago, he assumed that they were extending their belated greetings. After the first few calls, he got suspicious as everyone seemed to think his birthday was that day (Vinayagar is on the plumper side and so is my friend). After being flooded with calls, he found out that his friends had been playing a practical joke by fooling all the girls in our class (including me) with SMSes that Vinayagar Chathurthi was his birthday. My friend didn’t find the comparison between him and the plump Vinayagar one bit amusing.
But birthdays sometimes fall flat. For my parents I am their only child and a pampered, spoilt brat at that so a table overfulling with gifts is a must. With no siblings to rival for attention I was queening it over our rambling large household, our dogs (numbers vary, but currently my parents have five), our servants and my devoted grandparents. The drawbacks were my parents had this horrible habit of gifting me “useful things.” It usually meant boring, educational toys, which remained clean, bright and unused till I graduated. They finally had to off load all their “useful gifts” to me to other poor, unsuspecting kids like my cousins.
My dad once gifted me J R R Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings for my 11th birthday. I was disappointed and furious with him as Tolkein was his favourite author and not mine and I saw the birthday gift as a means to sneak into the house a Rs 2,500-useless-huge book without incurring my mother’s disapproval.
Other disappointing gifts over the years were the Holy Bible, the Book of Good Children, a personal planner, a diary and a football. All the more disappointing considering that I used to get nice presents for my parents’ birthdays like kittens, stray puppies, baby sparrows, squirrels, worms and caterpillars.
As a kid, my parents used to humour me and accept these gifts; though pessimistic about introducing more puppies and kittens to a house already overpopulated by canines and felines and revolted at the thought of having to touch worms and caterpillars.
By the time, I was a pre-teen my parents caught on to the game and placed a blanket ban on “gifting live animals.” Despite the ban, we always had a steady stream of dogs and cats becoming members of our household. This was because my parents, the soft-hearted, generous people that they were, couldn’t resist the combined pleas of a snivelling kid and warm, soulful-eyed puppy.
So here’s my wishlist (a very loud hint to near and dear ones):
Saigon – By Anthony Grey
Eat Cake – By Jeanne Ray
Complete collection of Somerset Maugham/ Saki
P.G.Wodehouse novels
Tintin & Snowy (anyone of the series except Tintin in America & Destination Moon)
Asterix & Obelix (anyone of the series except Asterix in Switzerland)
Titles by Georgette heyer
- Beauvallet
- Powder and Patch
- Devil’s Cub
- The Convenient Marriage
- Friday’s Child
- Arabella
- The Grand Sophy
- Sprig Muslin
- Sylvester
- Fredrica
- The Nonesuch
Titles by Betty Smith:
- A tree grows in Brooklyn
- Tomorrow will be better
- Maggie Now
- Joy in the Morning
Titles by Paul Gallico
- The Snow Goose
- Mrs Harris Goes to Paris/ Flowers for Mrs Harris
- The Small Miracle
- Love of Seven Dolls
- Snowflake
Titles by James Herriot
- All Things Bright and Beautiful
- All Things Wise and Wonderful
Titles by Gerald Durrell
- The Overloaded Ark
- Three Singles to Adventure (Three Tickets to Adventure)
- The Bafut Beagles
- The New Noah
- The Drunken Forest
- Encounters with Animals
- A Zoo in My Luggage
- The Whispering Land
- Menagerie Manor
- Two in the Bush
- Birds, Beasts and Relatives
- Fillets of Plaice
- Catch Me a Colobus
- Beasts in My Belfry (A Bevy of Beasts)
- The Stationary Ark
- Golden Bats And Pink Pigeons: A Journey to the Flora and Fauna of a Unique Island
- The Garden of the Gods
- The Picnic And Suchlike Pandemonium
- Ark on the Move
- How to Shoot an Amateur Naturalist
- Durrell in Russia
- The Ark’s Anniversary
- Marrying Off Mother and Other Stories
- The Aye-Aye And I: A Rescue Journey to Save One of the World’s Most Intriguing Creatures from Extinction
- The Best of Gerald Durrell
Titles by Pearl S Buck
- The Good Earth
- Sons
- The Mother
- A House Divided
- The House of Earth
- The Patriot
- China Sky
- Dragon Seed
- Portrait of a Marriage
- Pavilion of Women
- Imperial Woman
- The Three Daughters of Madame Liang
- Mandala
- The Goddess Abides
Titles by Marion (Zimmer) Bradley
- Ancestors of Avalon
- Ravens of Avalon
- The Forest House
- Lady of Avalon
- Priestess of Avalon
Spinnin' a yarn 