Metamorphosis: Happiness is...

When you feel the love from everyone. Far or near.

My birthday was about two weeks ago and boy I was loaded with so much love and warmth I nearly died from an overdose :P

I'm writing this in the middle of the night so don't mind the horrid use of English here and there :)

And of course, just like every year, my birthday always falls either on exam week, 'cheng beng' or sports week. This year was no different with the first semester exams in full swing and my birthday just happened to be smacked right in between.

Frankly speaking, I wasn't expecting much. In fact, I wasn't expecting anything at all.. Considering the fact that both my housemate and I didn't study very much in the first half of this semester, we were prepared for a bloody all night fight to the death with the books.

My first present is obviously a gift from my parents. Shipped with love all the way from Malaysia. They know me so well that nothing in this world would make me happier than to receive glorious Malaysian food. So they packed 47kg worth of foooooddd and couriered it all the way here :) They sure know their little girl well. Nothing compares to the joy of opening the boxes and slowly pulling out food items that I have so dearly missed since coming to India. It's like Christmas in March :)

Now coming on to the night before the big day:

It all started with me getting really really thirsty in the middle of the night. It's summer over here and I can feel my skin slowly crumpling into a prune each day even with my air conditioning switched on to full blast. That night was no exception. So I ordered Teaze bubble milk tea just to quench my thirst as well as satisfy my insatiable quest for something cool. (p/s insatiable because no matter how cold anything is over here, once it's out in the heat for 10 seconds, it just turns warm). And when it arrived, boy did I jump on that thing like a camel!!

Fast forward one hour later, my ever smart, ever loving housemate (I know she is reading this) anticipated that I was going to use the washroom soon because I finished one whole large bottle of bubble teaze all by myself. How perfectly timed. Just as I was about to leave my room to use the washroom, voila~!!! Typical power cut.

I obviously went outside and started complaining but the corner of my eyes caught a flicker of glimmer. Oh my gosh. Candlelight on my table!!! With a chocolate moist cake in the middle. And what's that? My friends came marching in with my favourite breezer in hand. Oh what joy!!! Apparently the cake was baked immediately after their exams. My housemate even made me a video. Yes I cried like a baby panda. And yes I could just die from sweetness.

24 turned out to be 42. HAIH!!!

Not only that, they hung presents for me all over my house. With labelled stations. Such sweet darlings.

I went to sleep happy.

Not only that, my parents and so many of my friends even stayed up until 12am India time just to call and wish me. I felt so blessed listening to everyone's voices :) I couldn't help but feel sorry for those calls that I missed at 12am sharp because I'm outside celebrating but thank you from the bottom of my heart!

When I woke up the next day, another round of surprise with my housemate making me cute mickey mouse shaped cheese sandwich. Yummy in my tummy!! The day went on with more calls, messages in whatsapp, wechat,skype, instagram as well as twitter!! Every single one filled with so much of love. I smiled so widely as I was reading through every single one of them. My housemate said that was the first time she saw me smiling from the heart since I came back from Malaysia!! That was how happy I was that day :)

I even made BBQ chicken for lunch and she made scallop soup for dinner. I over ate the entire day. But I was so elated I couldn't care less.

Fast forward another one more week and boom another surprise party!!! WHAT? TWO surprise party?!! I must be doing something right to deserve such amazing friends. :)

I was conned to go over to my neighbour's house under the pretense that they have cooked dinner for us. Previously I had gone to Marena and overstayed my run there a little bit so I was running a little (very) late. So the moment I got home, I jumped into the shower, got out and vroom to her place.

But when I opened the door,

That moment I will never forget.

Beautiful.

Homemade cakes, flowers, cards and most importantly a room full of friends. Friends who stood by me, friends who are laughing so gleefully, friends who I feel most comfortable surrounding myself with.

Being overwhelmed by emotions at that time, the first thing that I could blurt out was "Omg my hair!!"

As the party got under way, I realised that they had ordered catering from my favourite shop in Manipal. Not only that, the first year juniors even got me my favourite flavour of ice cream!!! OMG!!!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my neighbour who was having a slight headache from her annual day started making "hokkien mee" for all of us. Love her to bits!

And out of no where, my friend, Steph Chan pops by with a beautiful apple swan, carved entirely from scratch . Oh my!!! It was so beautiful I didn't have the heart to eat it.. It's still in my fridge till now <3 Goodness me, my friends are just amazing!!

Halfway through my meal, my neighbours and friends decide to surprise me with another gift. I just wanted to hug them and tell them that the entire party was more than enough. Truly.

My KMC friends, Syakirah, Nora and Baydah also stopped by to give me a cute monkey with an even more adorable headband. How much sweetness can I have in a day? :)

We ended up playing games and chitchatting way into the night. I forgot what time I went to bed that day but I certainly went to sleep with a big smile on my face. A smile that cant be wiped off from my face any time soon :) tee hee!!!

I'm ever so thankful to my dearest housemate Stephenie for planning the entire thing. Despite everything that she is going through, she made it a point to make me happy. And she did it ever so brilliantly. They say good friends are hard to come by. Man I'm lucky to find one who is better than great. She stands by me through the good, bad and the ugly. She has my back even when I fall. I'm really blessed.

And how can I forget my little brother, Arron whose role ranges from the shoulder I cry on to the awesome chef in the kitchen? Thank you for taking time out to bake such a yummy cake for me, for buying the flowers and cards as well as for planning the party with Steph. You are the most reliable, nicest and fun loving guy ever and you are indeed the bestest best little brother ever. (Others are going to start making noise d when they see this :P)

My neighbours, Hui Ling and Jian. Three words. BEST NEIGHBOUR EVER! Thank you for organizing the entire thing in your house. You two even cleaned out the entire house after the party by yourselves. Oh my!!! How blessed am I to have such awesome housemates? Thank you for putting up so much and for planning the entire thing. I know it must have been very hectic and tiresome for you two, from going out to order the food to cooking the hokkien mee and all the way to buying my presents. I really do appreciate it.

After the party was over, I received a big tube of baskin robbins from my friend of 12 years as well as Lemon tarts and a huge card from my favourite and the most beautiful Canadian babe.