I woke with a sore throat and stuffy nose. I had planned an active day, in my head, of breakfast, camel fair then mountain walking. By 10:00am I was too lethargic for any of the above. I had resigned myself to a day in bed when Matt told me he had booked me in for a herbal facial at "The White House" (the partner hotel across the alley) at 11:00am. It didn't strike me as strange when 'every man and his cow' in our block wished me a happy birthday as we passed. This is India, word travels. I sat on the chair outside the massage room watching the floor tiles blur in and out of focus and feeling desperate to lie down. Relief came when a man announced "the master is ready for you", and I entered a candle lit room. After my facial I walked upstairs to the 'White House Restaurant' to meet Matt. Coincidentally the election was on TV and Obama had won! I almost forgot, as it's been all talk about the Camel Fair here and no speak of American politics. I slept then for over 5 hours and spoke to my family on my mobile whilst in bed. At 6pm I suggested we have dinner on the White House rooftop, as it was nice and close by and I couldn't muster up the energy to go much further. "Sounds good", says Matt and off we go. As I walk the stairs to the rooftop again random people congratulate me. At the top I find the restaurant unusually busy, but it's the camel fair so I guess it makes sense. Then I am seated at a table covered in rose petals, and a giant love heart made of rose heads strung together. There are 27 candles unlit on the table and a plate of 27 Chocolate balls. The people, I am told, are there to watch me celebrate my birthday Indian style. Some have even cycled their bikes from the other side of town. Quite strange celebrating your birthday with a bunch of people you have never met before. We commence the festivities and everyone watches 'the show' as I light the candles and pass out the chocolate balls. The mother at the hotel performs a gold ring ceremony and paints a bindi on my head and sprinkles me with rice, then ties a band around my wrist and kisses me on each cheek. Then everyone sings 'Happy Birthday', first in English then in Hindi. My favourite part is when they get to the bit where is goes 'happy birthday dear....' and there is a pause. Matt announces my name and the song goes on. And there concludes my Indian Birthday. Later on when we left the hotel the mother and son hugged us and said "your home". Today is our last day here in Pushkar and it really does feel like this town has become just that. xo
