I attend almost all of the social gatherings,
wherever I am invited. Being an extrovert, I feel energized when I meet and
interact with people from different walks of life. These days there is an
upcoming trend wherein people spend heavily on birthdays. Especially if it’s
their kids first birthday. Birthdays are celebrated in hotels, wherein food,
decoration, cake, DJ, photographer, party games and the entire event is outsourced.
What happens is one ends up inviting a large number of people and it becomes a
gala event. The kid too small to understand anything, except that he will only
have blur memories through hundreds of photographs when he turns into an adult.
The very essence of the birthday enjoyment is to create a grand effect and
spend money. Emotions overshadow all other aspects making the first birthday a
royal gala affair.
My point is, I don’t know why, but I see a
sudden shift in this pattern in last 5 years. I vividly remember that birthdays
earlier used to be a household affair where people would be invited for
birthday parties at home. The decoration was done by parents and relatives
before the actual event, which usually would happen in the evening. Food would
be prepared by mother and sisters with light refreshments like chips brought
directly from the supershoppie. The music, if any, would be played on a compact
recorder or on a home theater which produced the required decibel to create
that wow “atmosphere”. Friends would take the responsibility of clicking photos
and since they knew the family members well, there was no need to tell them
when to capture the perfect picture. Event manager would be either mom or dad
who planned everything meticulously. The only thing outsourced probably was the
birthday cake :)
I wish to express that when the child turns
into an adult and asks his parents as to what all they did on his/her birthday,
the obvious answer will be “they did it a grand way”. But since the adult is
going to be a 21st century man or woman, his obvious reply to his
parents is going to be like “Ohh, so you outsourced it”. People don’t realize
that the entire programming depends on the initial coding. Days are not far
off, when we might see even small kids been outsourced only for an hour for the
so called “Gala Event”, when the cake is cut and kids are distributed return
gifts. I say this because these days there is a massive shortage of kids on
birthday parties, since the focus has shifted to inviting friends of friends,
business partners and utilize the occasion as a networking tool. Prima facie is
looks good until and unless someone really challenges it.
When I try to derive the root cause, in my
opinion it has to do with something which we call recognition. In India, we all
have grown up with a belief system which tells us that we are good, only when
people appreciate us. People appreciation is given maximum weightage ignoring
the gratified feeling which our parents express for us through their eyes when
we achieve or even attempt to achieve something. Celebrities are the ones who
are most affected by this phenomena of “people appreciation” and that’s why
they panic or badly get depressed when their fan following or appreciation
reduces. We all know what nervousness can do to us. It stops the logical flow
of thoughts.
Ultimately it is up to the parents to decide
what kind of party, how big and how much effort needs to be invested. But if
everyone is outsourcing, perhaps the unique parties will soon become old-fashioned.
The day is not far when it will be "unusual to go to a party where you are
just playing around in the house or chitchatting with others over a simple
welcome drink and snacks”.
