Birthday bumps (or rather goosebumps)

I woke up today startled by the rather unpleasant ringtone of my mobile and barely managed to say hello when a  warm voice said "Happy b'day dude" and all the swearing that I did before picking up the phone was gone in no time.....and with a Colgate smile I said "Thank you so much"............Well we believe that the morning shows the day.....does it really?????? Bcoz the very next call would be my supervisor who demanded in a rather grumpy voice why the presentation had not been prepared yet. Whether it was my birthday(my only special day) or not
approximately 20 people in my department couldn't care less.
So, after a series of "Thank you"-s and  alternate apologies ( for the presentation) I got myself out of bed and stood in front of the mirror and said "Happy B'day mate.....today you will do just great" !!!!!!!!!!!!
Feeling good about myself I quickly got dressed and set out for my battlefield (read office).....and there too I would have to offer cakes and pastries to my fellow soldiers and commanders who do not leave a stone unturned to make my day just awesome (read awful).After slight distraction caused by the pastries and some light-hearted talk they all wished me in unison and for a fleeting moment I felt special and felt good about my colleagues.I then realised that these soldiers are human after all and probably were just like me when they had entered this battlefield but due to over-exposure to radioactive criticism and monumentous workload they had all become institutionalised. And I shuddered at the very thought that I could someday turn-out to be one of them and then a new guy in the block would have the same perception about me as I have about them.........I wouldn't be like this....I promised myself. Suddenly the words "I want the presentation ready by today" got me back from Neverland and I turned around to see that my supervisor meant business today and so I sunk into my chair and got back to my "battle"..........I guess that one fleeting momen of feeling special should see me through the day.
By the way en-route to office I had another realisation about birthdays.When we were younger, we probably awaited our birthdays with more anticipation than we do now.I vividly remember that during the first few years of school, I would celebrate my birthday at home with some of my close friends from school and neighbourhood. It used to be low-scale on sometimes or grand some other year. Sometime all my relatives would come down as well as we used to have a blast with all the cousins and friends.Also the gifts would be something that we all await on our birthdays. All nicely wrapped with shiny ribbons. It used to be a special feeling to unwrap the gifts, the anticipation with baited breath to know what lay inside, maybe a book, a nice pencil box, some automatic car or simply a large box of crayons. Especially the moment of blowing out the candle felt very good and the singing of "Happy birthday to you.....". It was so much different , so much better.At that time we hardly could afford expensive gifts or to go out to good resturants.....but irrespective of the monetary value of the gifts and the standard of the resturants it all felt so close to the heart, so special!!!!!!
Now, my birthday gifts are just cash,jeans or something like that ,which I receive a week or two before or after my birthday bcoz everyone (including me) is busy in their respective "Rat race" and silly birthdays don't count for much.....A hang-out  with friends or dinner with relatives at good resturants isn't much of a thing nowadays......
but what I miss the most is the warmth,the anticipation, the joy , the laughter and that fleeting moment of feeling Special !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!