Two Birthdays In A Year

All children eagerly wait for their birthday every year awaiting to enjoy the attention of siblings and parents, bestowed upon them that day. Many grownups also are in the same league. Do you know that one can celebrate one's birthday two times in a year? Well, we did in our home. I was born into a joint family of five brothers and their families and my grandmother. Eldest brother had three children, second one had eight children, the third one, my father had four. The last two brothers were married much later and had two children each. The purpose of sharing this information is, just to let you know the size of the family. Now, coming to the point, I will explain how and why we celebrated our birthday twice in a year. One birthday according to English calendrer and the other according to Telugu calendar. Oh, it looks pretty simple, isn't it? Not really. To understand why? We need to have a simple understanding of basis of Telugu calendar.

The Telugu calendar is a traditional calendar system used in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It is based on the movement of the moon, and it follows the lunar year. The calendar is divided into 12 months, and each month is named after a specific star. Additionally, the Telugu calendar also incorporates the solar year by adjusting the lunar months with the solar year. This results in the addition of an extra month every few years to keep the calendar in sync with the seasons and solar year. The Telugu calendar is widely used for religious and cultural purposes in the Telugu-speaking regions of India. The Telugu calendrer and English calender have no overlap. We had one birthday according to English calender and the other according to Telugu calender. But remembering birthdays according to Telugu calender was not so easy either. For this, one had to remember the 'Tithi" on which a person was born and the day/date on which the same "Tithi" occurs in the current year! Not a simple task to remember, by any means. My second uncle's wife, Ramanamma, had the amazing ability to remember the birth Tithi of all of the children! On the birthday of each one of us she would make us bathe early in the morning and prepare "Semiya Payasam", wish us and say," I have done whatever I could do, within my control. Your parents can do more if they want." Kitchen was under her control totally and one can imagine, with the size of the family it was not an easy job! We would get a new pair of clothes on our birthdays according to English calender as it was easy to remember and some sweets from our parents for the whole family. We remembered and enjoyed the birthday according to the Telugu calender because it was a surprise and also someone remembered it making us feel very special. Indeed, every one of us grew up as a special individual receiving special treatment. Those memories are always fresh and cherished deep in our hearts. All the children are grateful to our aunt Ramanamma for the memorable birthdays we had. Today I very well understand that it was her love for us children which made her remember the birth Tithi more than anything else!

The joint family gave way to 5 nuclear families and the practice of celebrating two birthdays was lost in due course of time. In our family, my father was the only person who happily celebrated both birthdays till his end in 2019. He was a learned man but a child at heart. His birthday according to English calender was on May 2nd. It was easy for him to remember his birthday, according to tithi , which came on Buddhapurnima. He would gleefully say that the Govt. Of India gives a holiday for his birthday! Aunt Ramanamma is 93 years old and continues to wish us on our birthdays at least according to English calender, bringing back our childhood memories. Where else can we get such a precious brithday present!