My eventful 18th Birthday!

As I recall the events of my 18^th birthday I can’t help but exclaim “what an ‘eventful’ night it was!” Indeed a night of celebration with close friends but a little different from what you’d imagine; one that I would like to chronicle in here to come back and read many years later. I am sure those who are part of the story haven’t forgotten it and never will. 

Turning ‘18’ is a special feeling.  It is the official entry into the world of adulthood. An important milestone in one’s journey of life for it throws open avenues, to many things hitherto forbidden. But as I stood on the brink of turning 18, I didn’t feel any different from what I felt at 17. Expectations from others were several notches higher though.  I was ready to deal with all of that later but just for that one night I wanted to let myself loose and have a good time.

I must admit that the child in me was extremely excited, anticipating gifts and a night of celebration.  The eve of my 18^th birthday is etched into my memory for reasons you will soon discover. I was in the last year of my boarding school life and had the privilege of celebrating this one with friends. Birthday celebrations in boarding schools are very special. The birthday girl becomes the cynosure of the entire school. She is showered with love and affection from teachers and friends throughout the day. I was secretly looking forward to all that attention and much more.

My dear roommates, Jaya, Padma and Chhavi had been up to something a week prior to my birthday. I knew they were planning something big for it since this would be our last celebration together.  I didn’t try to find out too much so as not to kill my own surprise. I waited patiently for a whole week but as the countdown begun my impatience was mounting high.

10 pm was the official ‘lights out’ time for us.  While most girls and the matron were fast asleep, these 3 girls toiled away to make it a memorable night for me. They had sent me off to another room while they did the preparations in our room (referred to as cubicle as each room could accommodate four girls).  As the watch showed 11:55pm I was almost ready to jump up from my seat. ..12am and still no sign of anyone.  I thought to myself that they must be on their way to fetch me in grand style. Fifteen more minutes gone and I was at my wits end. I was worried, sensing something had gone wrong. As I made my way towards the cubicle, I heard a few shrieks. I hastened my step and flung open the door to find Chhavi with a pillow in hand dousing the few flames that were left. Padma was shouting back ‘Don’t do it with a pillow, it might become worse’.  All three of them were panicking. I was in a state of shock. When they saw me, they tried to hide their fears.  

I asked ‘What happened?’

Padma: ‘Oh, Nothing. Just one of my pranks that made them angry (trying to look cool while worry was writ all over her face).’  Of course I didn’t buy that and pleaded for them to tell me the truth.

They exchanged glances, looked at their watch and exclaimed that it was past 12. All 3 of them gave me a hug and began singing…Happy Birthday to you….Happy Birthday to you (pitch of their voices rising) cut short by Chhavi: ‘Shhhh….softly. Don’t make such a ruckus. Matron uth jayegi and then we have had it. If she finds out about the F F Fire….Padma jumped from the other end to cover her mouth. But the cat was out of the bag by now.

Fire? Did I hear fire? Oh my God….what happened?  Are you all okay? What have u guys been up to? Someone please tell me. I was panicking myself by now.

Padma and Jaya (together): Nothing. Nothing. Don’t worry. It is all over and fine now.

I could see water spilled on my desk. Some of the decoration stuff burnt out and of course the worried expression on all their faces. I turned to Chhavi. I knew it would be easier to get the story out of her. She relented after a few pleadings and narrated what happened – they had decorated the room with balloons, streamers, hand made charts with birthday greetings, shimmer and glitter and the gifts spread around. As it approached midnight, they switched off the lights, lit the candle and one of them pulled out a bottle of foam. The idea was to spray it on me when I entered the room. But they decided to test it before and as they pressed the nozzle of the bottle the foam that wheezed out instantly rose up in a huge flame. (It was inflammable material which they found out only once the damage was done.) They were petrified, ran helter skelter and grabbed whatever came in their hands. Jaya - the bottle of water, Chhavi - the pillow and Padma climbed the bed instructing both of them what to do. Thankfully Jaya’s presence of mind helped as she threw water and the flames were doused before it could spread.

I sobbed as I heard their story and was grateful that they were all safe. We all huddled, hugged each other, cried a little and then Padma said ‘Come on guys, lets cheer up…after all it is Shruti’s 18^th birthday…and we will never forget this one, right?’  We laughed at that, hugged some more, gossipped some more and finally decided to get some sleep as the clock struck 2am. Thankfully for us, the rest of the school was oblivious to all the drama that had unfolded in our room.

I was unable to sleep for a long time after that. Shaken from all that had transpired, I was tossing and turning in bed. A day later we were all going home for Diwali break so I started focusing my thoughts on that. Half-packed luggage was strewn all over our room.  As I settled with these thoughts, I felt something skimp by. Must be my imagination I thought.  It happened again. No chance of a mistake I told myself. There is definitely some rodent scampering around in the room. I called out to Jaya. Thankfully she wasn’t asleep and reconfirmed that she felt something on her hands too. What could it be I asked her. ‘I think it’s a rat’. I freaked out. Rat, are you sure? How can it be? We don’t have rats in our room. Oh my God, our suitcases are open. If it gets in then we’ve had it…. Jaya do something I called out in desperation. Wake up Padma and ask her to switch on the lights. (Since she was closer to the switch board)

“Padma, wake up, there is a rat in our room.” I thought she would wake up with a start on hearing that. Far from it she responded in a state of semi-consciousness – “I know there is a rat, I put it in the dustbin and left it outside our room.” Jaya and I laughed uncontrollably at that remark. 

Regaining composure we decided to head to the switchboard ourselves. We were worried about stamping on the two miscreants on our way in the pitch darkness. When I switched on the light, we found that there was not one or two but more than a dozen rats running helter skelter. Jaya and I jumped back on the bed and began screaming our lungs out. That finally jolted Padma and Chhavi out of their slumber and they joined the chorus of screaming girls. We managed to raise an alarm and half the school came to our rescue followed by the matron. She asked with utmost concern and when we gave out the reason she remarked – “Silly girls. You raised such an alarm, I thought fire broke out.” We looked at each other and smiled, suppressing the urge to laugh out loud. She continued “These are only rats, they won’t possibly kill you. Go sleep in another room.” It was well past 4am before all this drama ended. We had only one more hour to sleep before we would have to get up and get along with our day. We didn’t sleep. None of us could, having been through such an eventful night. The time was spent in discussing where the rats came from. We did have a few edible items in our room like dry fruits, milk powder, coffee, tang etc but never before had there been a hint of a mouse.  As we tried fitting in various permutations and combinations, Padma passed the final verdict. “Remember guys, today is Shruti’s birthday and they came to wish her that, add to the drama of the night and make this one of her most memorable birthdays! And indeed it has been that way.

Note: Since school, Padma, Jaya, Chhavi and I have moved to different parts of the country. Many times in our conversation over phone we have recalled the events of that night and have had a good laugh over it. For those of you who read this story it might seem made up but for ‘us’ this is our little secret which is the truth and nothing but the truth.