Happy Birthday to u!

I have a 3 and half year old girl and of late, I have realized that she has a crazy number of friends. Okay, all along I thought that was a good thing. To explain myself a little better, I have to delve into history. After Neha was born, we stayed at Vizag for the first 13 months, which was insignificant, friends-wise. Then we moved to Hyderabad where we stayed close to my in-laws. All our friends and acquaintances here were 50-plus. Age-wise. We existed in this set up till Neha was 2+. Then we bought a house in hyderabad’s twin city, Secunderabad. This is a housing complex with about 300 flats. I was thrilled about our social life, Finally Neha and I would have friends our age. Lots of them. Wow!!!

Not so wow. In the past 3 months, Neha must have attended about 20 birthday parties. 95% of them were hosted at KFC. In July, when my daughter attended her first party at KFC, she screamed like crazy when she saw Chicky. She thought it was a monster or something. Now she is often found hanging on Chicky’s backside.

Neha seems to feature on even 9 year olds’ birthday lists. I am stumped. Practically every weekend is spent racing between my in-laws place (25 km away, mind you) and these birthday parties and not to mention hunting for age appropriate gifts that do not make a hole in the pocket.

Yes, I did have a party on Neha’s birthday too. But I asked each and every invitee not to bring gifts. I just wanted a birthday party with Neha’s friends. Little girls and boys running about, having a ball. Since her b’day falls during summer holidays, we plan on taking a vacation every year during that time. So I just wanted that one party for her and it was fun. But I have understood that parents here celebrate all birthdays. With parties. Every year. Wow!!

Secretly, I think they are just trying to recover the money they spent on other kids’ gifts. What a vicious cycle.