Change In Plans

This short post is about the rest of our daughter’s fourth birthday, in Jodhpur, India.

After we got back from the wilder-than-expected wildlife safari drive, and after we marched with the wedding procession for a bit, we had lunch at a small hotel in the village of Rohet.

Our guide, Indrajit, organized a chocolate cake for Tallulah, complete with candle. We all sang. I don’t know how he came up with a cake, because it is not a part of Indian cuisine.

Indrajit told us that on a kid’s birthday in India, the child touches the feet of all of the elders in the house, and the family visits a shrine together. For the whole day, the child gets small portions of his/her favorite food (real food instead of cake). That evening there is a celebratory feast for adults, and the birthday child may get a few gifts. Our kids were amazed at what a rotten deal that sounded like.

When we got back to the hotel, the manager presented Lu with a beautiful arrangement of flowers, and she got another chocolate cake. Although we agreed to wait until after dinner, mysterious fingerprints appeared in the cake throughout the afternoon.
At the birthday girl’s request, she and I went swimming in the hotel’s outdoor pool for the last hour and a half before sunset. During that time (very special for me), she started singing a song that she made up. It went, “Today’s my birthday, and I am six years old. Today’s my birthday, and I am six years old.” Apparently the force of repetition convinced her, and she started telling everyone that she was “six today, not five.”

The Crown Prince of Jodhpur and his bodyguards came down to swim while we were in the pool. It is his house, after all. He suffered a traumatic brain injury while playing polo in 2003. We were told that he is greatly improved, but we saw ourselves that his motor control was still poor, and he needed assistance to dress himself and to swim. It was sad and sobering to see this dazzlingly handsome, muscular man in obvious and long-standing distress. The whole scene was almost Shakespearean, and reminded us that our own health and happiness is perhaps fragile.

At dinner, Tallulah received yet another cake, and warm good wishes from many of the hotel staff. She managed to stay awake long enough to blow out the candle and eat two bites of cake. As she slept, wedding fireworks went off above the city of Jodhpur.

I think she had a happy birthday. This morning she woke up and proclaimed to us, “Now I am seven!”