My Birthday Celebration by Starbucks Partners (Greater Kailash I, New Delhi)

Celebrating my birthday doesn’t exhilarate me anymore, for I find peace in my solitude. I’ve been living alone, working alone, been on my own for quite a while.

However, over the past few days, I’ve found myself debating my construct over not cherishing ‘the’ day.

It was a couple of days ago, I found myself stuck in the daily loop of waking up, getting out of my bed, and going off to work; and by work, I mean the ‘office’ where I find solace in my job – Starbucks. I’ve been going there for the last few years since it exudes that work cordial environment. I settled down, ordered my usual morning coffee. And as I was working I was completely unaware of the sweet little surprise I was about to be given.

The employee ‘Seema Shah’ along with some other employees presented me with a birthday cake along with flowers and a little card that said “Happy Birthday”; they sang me a song as I couldn’t appreciate their thoughtfulness enough. Their smiles were overwhelming and adequately contagious to light mine up for the coming hours and days, and after a long time, my birthday felt like a birthday again.