Birthday Bash

Birthdays are a very exciting event in every person’s life, regardless of their age. Although the idea of celebrating their mark in the world varies. Somehow birthdays have begun a way to represent a person’s or a family’s social position. The capability of parents’ investment in their children’s birthdays are enormous. Same happened with our little Aryan’s parents. Although, the pandemic was in the corner, they were really excited to celebrate their son’s 4^th birthday. Almost two weeks in prior they started planning, what will be the surprises, whom to invite as it would be a small gathering, how should it be conducted, etc. they hired the best catering service that was available during the moment for assurance of the hygiene. They planned to celebrate it in their home, to take the safety measures for their precious son.

Weeks passed by and his birthday was only five days away. Aryan was so excited that every morning he used to wake up early and rode his cycle circling around their yard, screaming happy birthday to himself. At first, he did not understand the fuss regarding this situation, but as soon as he realized that he has been the center of attention for everybody from the past few days, he caught up on the excitement too. His interest to be involved in his birthday increased day by day. One day, he kept on annoying his mother by telling her how much he hated fish and did not want to look at them or hear about them during his birthday. He kept on asking his father, can he get a superbike in a smaller size, so that he could ride it without being worried about his tiny legs reaching it. Every morning there was something new with him.

Three days were more to go for his birthday. It was the month of July, so the heat was unbearable. Still, bearing the heat, taking risk of getting affected by COVID-19, his father attended his office everyday because it was the government’s order. There are various perks of being a government employee but these employees are the very first who need to set an example to the society during crisis. Aryan was lucky as he did not have to go to school, as children were the first priority of the government. His mother, also had the regular life, only difference was that she avoided going out as much as possible, to spend time with her son and keep him safe. That evening, his father called home and told them that somebody had been found positive, in his office and so, their office was put under containment zone and all the office workers were asked to be quarantined.

Everybody in the office decided that they would prefer home quarantine rather than other forms as they had not been directly contacted by the patient. They all took the test and planned to wait for the result. Aryan’s father decided to not go back to home as he was unaware of his position and did not want to put the lives of his kid and wife at risk. So, he decided to crash at one of his bachelor colleagues till he got his result. He knew that guy from the very first day of his work and felt comfortable too. His colleague welcomed him with open arms. Everybody appreciated his decision and praised how great he was.

That night when Aryan realised that his father was not coming back, he started bombarding his mother with numerous questions. he did not understand the situation and why it was a pandemic. For him, it was like an average year, only that he managed to avoid school and kept on planning to do so. He really hated going to school because he did not like to do homework and then there were tests, where he had to recite poems. He never understood the logic of memorising the poems and then to recite them. He preferred to create his own poems in his own language. Finally, when his mother explained the situation to him, he remained quite for a while. The smile on his face disappeared. After sometime, he asked about his birthday cake to his mother. He wanted to know, who would be bringing it to him. He could not miss the birthday cake on his birthday. His mother asked him to sleep as his father would be back before his birthday.

Next morning, more than half of Aryan’s friends’ parents said that they would not be able to make it to the party given the situation. His mother felt helpless, her husband was not at home and her son was so excited about something that was collapsing right in front of her. She was the sole saviour of the moment. She started cleaning the house, convinced the remaining friends to attend the party. Invited the neighbours as well. She stepped out of the house after three months, to save the happiness of her son. She decorated the house, blew the balloons, attached the lights, got the cake. It was a very hot day; she was very tired till the time she finished it. She was feeling good how grateful her husband would be after coming back to home. She was proud of herself.

It was around 3 PM, when she finished her work and sat on the couch to relax and enjoy her refreshment. Her phone rang. It was a call from her husband. She was really excited to tell him everything. Aryan’s father told her that they had got their results and it was negative. However, the person he was staying with turned out to be positive. So, he had decided to not go back to home and go to hospital for immediate medical care. He asked her to take care of Aryan and cancel the party as it would be appropriate for the situation. She agreed with him and did not mention anything about the effort she had put into it. It was easy for her to handle her son, but how would she handle herself.