Birthday Surprises

Thursday, July 13, 2006

When people say "Have a blast of your birthday!" I don't think they really mean it literally. But that was exactly what I got. Yesterday (7/11 they call it)was a big day for Mumbai. 7 bombs exploded in the first class compartment of 7 different trains during peak hours. More than 100 people were killed and more than 600 people were injured. To think I wanted to try the first class trains one day. Now I will have to think twice.

The bombs went off one by one towards North Mumbai. I heard from a colleague that the bomb that went off nearest to us was 7km away. When we heard the news in the office, we were immediately told to head back to the hotel.

Our hotel is in the South. So traffic back was relatively smooth. I wouldn't say the same for traffic on the other side of the road though. Traffic towards the North was so packed they occupied lanes that were South going. We were told by HR to stay in the hotel till we were given the green light to go out so I got a holiday on my birthday. Sort of. I worked from the hotel today. No training. No vomitting of blood. No waste of time.

I got 3 birthday cakes today. The guest relations of the hotel called early this morning and wished me "Happy Birthday" then they left a cake and a bouquet of flowers in my room. When the Japanese restaurant we had lunch at knew it was my birthday, they gave me a cake on the house. Tina bought a cake for me too. I think I'm going to have cakes for all my meals for the next two days.Zhichao sent me a bouquet from Singapore. So touched.I must say this is my most eventful and memorable birthday I ever had. Floods, protests, bombs, what next?