Love magnet!

Sometimes, love outsmarts you. Or rather, the people who love you, outsmart you. Especially, when you feel that there is only this much "love" that you could possibly receive in this lifetime, (may be a little less or more) and then suddenly "Love" comes knocking at your door and won't leave until you realise that love in itself is limitless and that "people who love you" will ensure that you always have an appetite to receive more love, regardless of how much you think you can hold.  

Okay, so much said about love. (Already repeated the word eight times in one paragraph). Sigh! I am so overwhelmed that I think am going loony. 

Cutting my 27th birthday cake with baby Adya. If mom saw
this, she'd have some "wise words" for me.

But sweet things have happened over the last couple of weeks and the ones who have gone out of their way to make me happy (they know who they are...am not dropping names) probably realise why I am writing this particular post. Yes, because they were the source of all this love! And now that I have turned 27 - my number "9" year - it just feels like I owe them so much more than just a "thank you". So, I shall pen down all that is running in my head because this influx is making my brain go numb.  

Well, it all started on July 24, the morning I was to arrive in Mumbai for a week-long break from Muscat. Two of my really close friends and my brother, welcomed me with hand-made garlands that they had meticulously stitched together while waiting for my predictably-delayed Air India flight to reach base. Since that day on, I've had little reason to not smile...thanks to all the wonderful and special people I met in my home city. It all seemed magical till it lasted and I really owe them for that.   

And yesterday, my friends in Muscat sealed this state of mine and gave it a sense of permanence. So, no matter what happens, I will never forget this day. I finally have an amusing "birthday story" to tell my kids, of how an "entire mall" conspired to wish me on the eve of the 27th year of my birth.    

The August 8th - one friend called it Jane Jayanthi and strangely, it turned out that way - surprise began with my close friends cum colleagues, asking me to join them at a mall to shop for an impending baby-shower of another co-worker. So I headed to the retail outlet at the mall with my lovely friend (the lady in red), and we were scanning through baby items while waiting for the rest to join us when a nine-year-old boy approached me from nowhere, asking: "Are you Jane?" 

I nodded, confused. The next second, he popped out a rose and an envelope: "Happy Birthday," he said and sneakily escaped. 

I read the letter tucked inside the envelope. It said: 

"Jane is gonna go crazy...Seek the store where creativity meets cocoa. Linda and Elaine have something for you."

With the surprise party, after the surprise

I looked at my friend; she stared at me blankly, trying so hard to look shocked and feign ignorance (great actor, must say). 
By now, I realised this was no "baby shower shopping". "Well, you are on a trail birthday girl," she warned. 

What followed was me hopping from a chocolate shop to a coffee house, then an Italian-stationery store and cake shop, before finally landing up at the food court, collecting clues, gifts and birthday wishes from store keepers on my way. 
At the end of it, I looked like a walking-talking goodie bag with a "Happy Birthday" balloon in tow, making all the kids at the mall envious of me. (For a change, someone was checking me out, even if it were babies...okay, very cougarish...sorry!)

The icing on the cake quite literally was the Irish coffee cake that was waiting for me, along with the "baby shower shoppers". Apparently, the boy who handed me the rose recorded my entire treasure trail on the Nikon camera. I know now that he'd do a good job, when he has a girl friend. All in all, it was such an incredible day that it needed to be saved for posterity on this blog. 

To top it all, I received a message from "Notes from The Universe" (Read: www.tut.com) in my inbox last night; it read:  

"See, Jane? 
I told you everything was lining up for you; that the right people were headed your way; that the right things would be said; that you'd become a total love magnet; and that very little of this would be apparent as it was unfolding, yet in hindsight you'd see the stunning perfection. 
It's just that right now, you're mostly in the unfolding part. 
All is according to plan"

P.S. At the back of my head, am thinking, well...I think I am a "love magnet" after all!