9th July, Happy Birthday !

After my 30th birthday, i developed the habit of congratulating my mother on my birthday. On the first occasion she was surprised and said her birthday fell on 4th September and not on 9th July. I explained saying: “on 9th July she was the star attraction for having delivered a baby boy for the Maliekal family ; and then you said to your beaming husband that you wished to name your son 'Babu' ! ”

Papa was most amused and said that it was too common a name and the word 'Tito' would see him through life in a better light. So, though i was Christened 'Mathew' in honour of my grandfather, the name was modified to Mathson for further "better light" over and above the 'light' from the first name 'Tito'. Sure enough i have all this ‘light’ around me all the time. School teachers never forgot my name, Doctors recalled my name on my second visit with lightening speed. When i wrote to Mr Bipin Pal Das (he was my college principal, in Assam), at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Delhi to say i was to join State Trading Corporation head office in New Delhi, he replied saying he could never forget my name. And to think that only at admission time in a crowded hall for B.Sc course in 1967 he had come across my name from a list and commented: " that is an unusual name". He could recall the words Tito Mathson in 1976 and wrote a letter in which the words 'how could i not remember you', came as a surprise to me as I was not an ‘all rounder awardee’ of the college or had any such distinguishing aspect. I have the letter on official letter-head of Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, Government of India preserved along with my degree cerificates. So the name did have some benefits. My Am ma's choice of ‘Babu’ would have been one among millions in India.

It was great fun teasing my Amma about my possible fate if Babu Mathew were to be my name. She would then go into lengthy giggling and say feebly, "Babu is not all that bad a name" !

So every year, I congratulated her on my birthday and she found it preposterous; like some kind of reverse mortgage situation. However, I firmly believe that congratulating the birthday boy/girl for having come in to this world may not be all that relevant. The parents deserve the appreciation for the child’s birth, upbringing and the loads of love that it costs them ( not forgetting the money and effort ) in the process.

I did not get this idea when my Papa was alive, so I do not know what his comment would have been.

So, now that you both are up in the sky somewhere; “many happy returns of the day, Amma & Papa, it is my birthday today”. Please send me a piece of the cake after you both eat it. The cakes must be good there.