Kamarol, who was supposed to be my next door neighbour but ended up being my 10-minutes-by-bike neighbour, called me when I did not turn up at the only class I have today. I quickly reassured him that I would be there as hubby, Huzaifah and I were queuing up to board the bus to Waseda University from Takadanobaba eki. We had just returned from shopping at a Halal shop in Shin Okubo – the first time for hubby since he arrived in Japan.
It turned out that I got no class today after all because the class was cancelled though we did not receive any earlier notice. Apparently Kamarol made that call a few minutes before the announcement was made, so he himself was not aware that the class would be cancelled when he called me. Anyway, I thought having no class on my birthday is pretty cool – so I quickly returned to the place where I left hubby and baby, this time with Kamarol tagging along.
When I woke up this morning, I really had no idea what to do apart from attending class and maybe go out somewhere for lunch with hubby and baby. Then I thought, since I only had one class scheduled for today, why not have lunch at the kebab shop in Takadanobaba, attend the class while hubby and baby wait and then take a walk around the University compound.
But since we had ran out of halal meat stock for quite a while and I had been quite sick of eating just Japanese sticky and short grain rice, hubby thought we might as well go to Shin Okubo, since it is only a station away from Takadanobaba. And so we did.
By the time we were done with the halal stuff shopping in Shin Okubo, I was running late for my class, so we changed the plan to have late lunch together in Waseda after class. Left baby and hubby in front of Waseda clock tower, hurried to GSAPS building, only to be told that there was no class today. Zannen…
Anyway, it took ages for hubby to return to the spot where I left him and baby, and by then Kamarol already had to rush for another class. So, hubby and I had our late lunch at Okuma Garden House cafeteria – 2 bowls of kitsune udon, a side dish of tofu, 2 cups of ice cream with free flow of iced water and green tea all for less than 1000 yen. I smiled to myself as I remembered the cost for us to take a photo commemorating hubby’s 33rd birthday in Disneyland was almost double the price we paid for lunch today, as we quietly celebrated my 31st birthday.
A quiet birthday it really was – no loud wishes from colleagues, huge present from hubby or fancy cake from friends. Instead, all I received were a c-mail from Hien, an e-mail from Jue, an Im from Masni and an e-card from Rina. Hubby sang Happy Birthday in both English and Arabic softly as I woke him up for breakfast. In keeping with the theme, even Huzaifah woke up rather quietly this morning, just merengek for his first feeding instead of the loud wailing I’m used to.
Somehow, the quietness of it reminded me of the day I turned 16. Despite feeling sure that some of the closest room-mates knew it was my birthday, no one in my dorm wished me that morning as we prepared to go to school. No one wished me after class ended and we had lunch. No one wished me after evening prep was over. It was like nobody remembered, and I was quite puzzled. But then I found solace in sharing my excitement with my classmates and same age friends in another room where I used to hang out a lot.
That very night, after being held up at a friend’s room for a while, I arrived at my dorm to find that - “SURPRISE!!!”- my dorm mates had planned and organized a surprise birthday party for me. They asked for help from some of my friends to delay me from returning straight to my dorm after the night prep session and supper was over. They purposely ignored me the whole day to enhance the surprise effect – and yes, it was a big relief to know that they remembered after all.
That was then – when what friends and dorm mates thought about you and how they regarded you meant a lot because we spent more time together than we did with even our own siblings. Friends, particularly dorm mates, mattered a lot back then Their thoughts and wishes meant a lot.
Now that I’m in a small cocoon made up of hubby and baby, miles away from close friends and relatives, with no big fuss over my birthday, somehow the quietness fits. Because what matters most is that I am spending it together with those who matter most to me.
And for that I am most grateful, alhamdulillah.
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