August of birthdays and celebrations

Come August, and it feels like a month of birthdays. This month has the birthdays of many inspiring Indians, ranging from Sri Aurobindo to Mother Teresa. This month also has the birthdays of our Governor and Chief Minister. The word birthday immediately gets a host of vivid, colourful images to the mind. As young children, birthdays were associated with gifts, parties, cake cutting, new clothes, games and a whole lot of fun. Over the years birthdays meant crowded candles on the cake, time with family and friends, temples, song and dance, movies, flowers and more.

Yet, after celebrating the birthday thirty, forty times, a sort of ennui sets in. The Internet comes to a funny rescue by suggesting bizarre ideas for unforgettable birthdays. One of these is about offering special flowers with chocolates and music every hour of the birthday, and gastronomic indulgences. They seem to be fun but not quite 'complete' joy and fun. In the state of abundance that life has gifted us, it has also endowed us with a kind of 'shallowness' that occasionally crosses us. I like to call this the 'poverty of prosperity'. There is now a realization that real joy comes from loving and giving, rather than just taking more and more.

When we think of the giving and offering, can we give a part of ourselves? Can we give our presence, our time, or our own blood or organs, each of these being close substitutes for ourselves? We could also inspire and felicitate those who have given selflessly and encourage more and more people to give. I was a witness to a birthday celebrated this manner just last week. This was the 84 th birthday of our own peoples' Governor, OP Kohli.

Governor OP Kohli shared that a blood donation camp on the occasion would help save many lives, in addition to usual birthday celebrations. Over the years, one has seen him as a very inspiring and endearing human being, who lives and breathes harmony and humility. A sensitive leader, very well read, he is always ready to support efforts for making a difference to society in small and big ways.

He adds that from the tender age of eight, he has been associated with a disciplined organization that instilled the values and culture of contributing to social life. His love for literature, especially the works of Jaya Shankar Prasad, Sumitra Nandan Pant and Premchand have further heightened his proclivity for social engagement.

His friends, such as the late Sh Dhanraj Oza have further inspired him to his social commitment and activism. With the efforts of the State Red Cross Society of which he is the Chairperson, 1111 people donated blood on his birthday.

These would go a long way in saving the lives of thousands of people, including mothers battling postpartum bleeding, accident victims, organ and bone marrow transplant patients as well as burn victims. Additionally, 175 centurion donors were felicitated on this special day. What was very stimulating was that the centurion donors showed a great deal of diversity of age, profession, geography and included doctors, academics, monks and politicians, too. This bug has bitten me too, and I have started thinking of the years that would be needed to be a centurion donor in my lifetime! This would translate to a journey of over 25 more years, but the idea is certainly awesome and merits attention. Do you feel that way, too? Would you, too, like to give this a thought?

Later this week, we have our nation's 72nd Independence Day, which coincides with the birthday of another great son of India, Sri Aurobindo. As he said, 'Self-giving is true prayer. It is in a sincere consecration to the Divine that we can find relief from our too human sufferings.'

The author is a Harvard-educated civil servant & writer, and has worked in the education sector 
jayanti.ravi.dna@gmail.com