Happy birthday!

I turn 25 today. The silver jubilee. Quarter century. A milestone they say.

So what exactly do I celebrate today? Being alive for 25 years? Sure, that would have been a big deal and certainly a reason for celebration had I been brought up in famine-stricken Somalia or in warzones or had wicked parents that abused me. Or of course, if I had other Darwin award tendencies. Thankfully, none of these are true in my case. I’ve been blessed with the best parents and a very peaceful environment to grow up in. I couldn't have asked for better! So really, I can’t take the credit for being alive for 25 years can I? 

Ok, then let’s talk about achievements and dreams. Yes I’ve managed to graduate from good schools and I have a really cool job (those who know me will understand what I’m talkin about!) and I am pretty much financially stable. I make enough money to keep me going. Dreams… well, from my childhood days, I’ve always wanted to see the world and travel to far off places, learn their languages and eat their speciality dishes. I’ve lived in Chennai, Muscat, Baltimore and Singapore, and I’ve traveled to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, the Himalayas and many parts of the US and India. I can read and write Arabic, studied French in school and right now I’m learning Chinese. I like my idlis as much as the Thai green curry and basil tofu. But again, can I really take credit for all of this? No. It wouldn’t have been possible without appa paying my tuition fees, or my friends accompanying me on the trips, or my labmate teaching me Chinese. Although I’m content with myself, I don’t believe that any of my achievements are so special that a normal 25 year old with similar background couldn’t have achieved. Don't get me wrong - I'm not depressed. Just giving build-up for my next paragraph :)

So what is it that I celebrate today? Why am I going to proudly say ‘thank you’ when people wish me a happy birthday? Yeah yeah, because it’d be mean not to. But what I’m getting at is a little deeper. If you ask my friends, from school or college or work, about me, the majority of them will have nice things to say. That’s true for most of us. We are nice to more people than we hurt. Is that good enough? Yay, I’ve hurt only 3 people! So I’m more good than bad, all is well? The truth is, to those 3 people, I was probably the biggest terrorist of all time, at least for that minute or hour or month of their suffering.  How can that be good in anyway? During one of my projects in undergrad, I was working for a PhD student. She once told me (of course in the context of protein purification that I had messed up) – “Don’t say everyone makes mistakes. That’s no justification. If you take enough care, you’ll be surprised how easily mistakes can be avoided. And by avoiding them, you can spare yourself so much time and effort”. She was very short tempered, and I was very young. Back then I thought she was just being overly paranoid, and I never gave much thought to it. I never forgot it though because not too many people have shouted at me, and surprise! I don’t like being shouted at! It was only earlier this year that I came up with the same thing that she said, and realized how true it is. And in the list of mistakes made by people, I think hurting someone physically or mentally (or both, except if you’re a dentist) is right on top. It’s the worst thing you can ever do. That's because you can only cause pain when you’re in a position of power. When they’re at your mercy. To misuse that power is such a disgusting thing to do! As spider man agrees – with great power comes great responsibility. Be responsible. And once you’ve made the mistake, the time and effort it takes to clean up, if at all it’s possible to clean up, is way too much. I mean mistakes, apart from causing harm, are also a big waste of time, energy and effort. To those of you out there who think you've done shit but gotten away with it, let me tell you. You're probably right. And the fact that you're happy with yourself for it is punishment enough. 

Having caused pain to others in the past, I took a vow this summer that I will never be that person again. And that is what makes this year special for me. And that is what I will be celebrating. To no mistakes! Cheers!