In just a few hours, I’m all set to officially turn a year older. The primary purpose of this post, on the eve of my birthday is to ensure that I have a few ‘Happy birthday’ wishes on my birthday as opposed to ‘Belated birthday’ wishes in the days to come. Not that I don’t mind the belated messages (better late than never), but there are few things more pleasant than knowing that you are remembered on your birthday. Ok ok! That’s enough of shameless plugging for wishes for my own birthday! What does the day really mean to me?

Like on many of my recent birthdays, I’m going to do some quiet contemplation on whether I’m better off than I was, a year earlier, physically, mentally, emotionally and in every other way (did I mention financially? ;) For sure, the year has brought in a lot of changes. I’ve been trying to metamorphose into a more observant, a lot more disciplined and a lot less vocal individual. Have I been trying to change myself into a fly on the wall? Not exactly, but I have my reasons for trying to be less vocal. Probably the need for a greater amount of discipline has a lot to do with it.

I have once again started indulging in my favorite pastime activity, bicycling. I just can’t even begin to describe how badly I was missing bicycling. Like most of my friends predicted, I seemed to stop bicycling as soon as I bought my motorcycle, but it was really a lost key to the bicycle that stopped me from pedaling. Sounds crazy but even something as trivial as a lost key can keep you away from your favorite pastime when you are preoccupied. The other day, I was watching this movie called Juno when I saw the protagonist, a young girl, riding around on a bicycle. That visual was more than enough to kick me awake and I knew right then that I had to get on my bike again. I had thought about the lost keys a hundred times before, but I always procrastinated about breaking the lock, telling myself that I would find the keys to it, even though a part of me knew that they would never be found anytime soon. Not this time. I grabbed a screwdriver, forced the lock open and there was my bicycle, all ready to be, well, lugged to the bicycle shop for a few fixes! After inflating the tires and lubricating the chain, I immediately got the broken lock replaced and there! I had my bicycle ready.

Riding for the first time in over a year, my breathing went shallow and I started sweating buckets till I settled into the rhythm.. and then, I seemed totally at ease, at home, doing something that come naturally to me. I couldn’t help but feel the regret for having put away this joy for such a long time, but I knew that once again, I had surprised myself when I believed that I was beyond surprises. I suppose it’s the best birthday gift that I have ever given myself!