Birthday Celebrations!

We had a double birthday celebration in our family last Saturday. It was Durai’s 50th birthday on 4 Aug and we decided to celebrate Jennani’s 21st on the same day as she would have gone back to the States by the time of her birthday. In fact it was also my sister Menaka's birthday and for the first time both she and Durai were together on their birthdays! So in a way it was a triple birthday celebration.

We had dinner at Khansama Tandoori Village at Science Park 1 and it was a family affair. Some of our relatives came gamely dressed in the red and black as requested in keeping with the Kollywood theme.

The thought came to me that after our wedding, this was the first time both my family and Durai’s family had been at the same function! I guess the next time would be my birthday party in November...

Somehow everyone was really tired that day and we didn’t have the energy to play the games I had prepared. I wish I had had my afternoon nap instead of sitting there and preparing the games. Sigh… Anyway, the important things are that the food was good, Durai & Jennani enjoyed themselves, everyone made an effort to come. It was hard finding a balance of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food dishes within the restrictions of the restaurant’s buffet menu but I think everyone would have found something to eat.

The restaurant was pretty accommodating and let us play our own VCDs so we managed to have Kamal & Rajni videos running instead of Hindi songs. My only sore point with the restaurant was that they refused to let us pack the remaining food to take home. This really didn’t make sense to me as we had after all paid for the food! It is the only restaurant I know that has a ridiculous policy like that. But my sister-in-law Sitha and I conspired to beat the system and managed to smuggle some naans and tandoori chicken out. She was better than me – she even smuggled briyani and curry out! Ha ha..

I ordered 2 cakes from an online cake store called ‘7th Manna’. The cakes were really delicious. Almost everyone tried both cakes and the mango especially was delicious.

But the better memory I have is the faith and trust that the owner, Paul, showed. The term of order was Cash on Delivery. But when they delivered the cake I wasn’t back from Serangoon Road, trying to get a suit for Durai. But Paul was unbelievable – he said I could transfer the amount into his account anytime and just left the cakes with Maya’s maid. I am still amazed at the trust with which he did that. But then the company’s mission statement says it all – it is a company built on Faith; and that’s exactly what he did. Left the cakes on faith that I will pay. Faith that God looks after His own. I will definitely be buying from 7th Manna again!

Here are pics of the rest of the family...

Well, I feel as though I have passed a milestone on this year’s calendar – Durai is 50 and it’s my turn next. This week will be taken up preparing for Jennani’s party with her friends. We are really looking forward to it. We bought a Murder Mystery online and all the guests have been given clues. The theme is Death by Chocolate and the game takes 2 hours to play with clues being given at different intervals. It was Maya’s idea as she had organised one before. Once the next party is over, my dears, we need to start preparing for mine!!! Yay!