Growing up, my birthdays followed a stereotype of cutting a cake that, with a lot of difficulty, would bear my 9-letter-long name and wearing a fancy outfit to school and standing out in the midst of all the uniform-donning students. The highlight of every birthday celebration during school years was enjoying watching all my classmates and teachers, alike, croon a birthday song with the highest level of zeal and gusto, while animatedly, clapping their hands. I would be doing great injustice to my classmates if I didn't mention how we would look forward to partake in the ritual of distributing chocolates in the class. What lovely memories these are!
Quite unlike the situation that is prevalent on birthdays, while one is a child, celebrating a birthday as a grown-up entails different idiosyncrasies. Birthdays, at this point, become an annual ritual, just like any other, where everything that makes one happy, including the many obligations one tends to live with, forms the crux of the day which makes the biological clock sail into a new year. My birthday, this year, was a little different. I decided to spend it with a bunch of stray/abandoned canines at an animal shelter home called Animals Matter To Me Rehab Centre. The day of my visit coincided with the day on which the organization was going to reach out to 1200 stray dogs through a sponsored food programme, which saw many animal lovers and social workers come together and take their love for the four-legged animal to another level. All the individuals that contributed to the completion of the task came from different backgrounds; but, the one thing that equated all that were in attendance was our common love for animals, and the fact that each one of us represented the same school of thought; Animals Matter To Me.
I spent a lot of my time, a day before my birthday, mulling over what should be bought for the dogs at the facility. Carrying some packaged food, along, seemed like the best option, given the fact that the sniffers were going to be fed hot snacks earlier in the day. The dogs pleasantly greeted me when I reached their facility. Hundreds of food packets, equally loaded in two vans, were kept ready to be sent out for all the strays in the area. What seemed like a noble act, at first, turned out to be a well-defined step, serving a bigger purpose of shaping the perspective of hundreds of pedestrians that bore witness to this act of kindness. Some of the dogs in the facility were seriously wounded and needed extra care and attention. A lot of the dogs were under treatment after facing high amounts of abuse as stray animals. A few of the dogs were abandoned pets who were found on the roadside in a deplorable condition. The canines that were deemed fit and healthy, and acted like the perfect hosts for the day, were up for adoption. The friendly and gamesome animals that these dogs made, they won all our hearts over with their conduct. I soon began distributing the food I was carrying along, among all the canines. The sight of seeing 20 tails wagging, in unison, every time I reached out for a new packet of food, was absolutely priceless. Never did I think that a bunch of dogs could manage to entertain me much more than I could possibly entertain them. Some of the dogs that were caged, due to ill-health, howled and desperately wished to be a part of the fun and merrymaking.
On my way home, I made a few halts to distribute the food, I was carrying from the facility, among the strays. By the time I reached home, I was filled with an inexplicable sense of joy and contentment. Looking back, I felt happy prioritizing this visit over any other plans. I couldn't have asked for a better celebration, on my birthday, than getting to spend a few precious moments with some pure and innocent souls, who let me in on how they spread joy, day after day. I felt a little fatigued when I reached home, but not without a reason. My pooch, who was waiting for me to get home, was ready to shower me with his sloppy kisses and show me how he had eaten into my bouquet of flowers and covered the floor with its petals just to welcome me.
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