My 29th Birthday: Family + Friends + Twitter + Faasos!

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Thank you Pic for my Birthday

Like every year, August 4 came once again but this time I truly had an awesome birthday celebration. Before 2012 I've had 28 birthdays and all of them had something unique and special. But this time a string of events occurred and it seemed that the birthday celebration won't end until the clock finally strikes 12am to move on! I've turned 29 today, and some still can't believe it. Some think I'm 21, many 24-25, and when they know I'm working then maybe 27, but 29? Gosh! Something in my genes just doesn't let me grow up and in my case 'age' is truly a number. I can easily be 10 with a 10 year old and 63 with a 63 year old. as I know how a 10 year old would think and on another hand how a 63 year old would judge situations.

Call it my natural intuition or marketing acumen, somewhere in this journey I've mastered the art of understanding people and have developed the capacity to adapt and connect with different age groups in real-time. It just comes naturally to me. Anyways I am 29 and that's perfectly fine as now I don't count my age, I just count:

• What value have I added in strengthening the bonds in our family? Could I generate moments of happiness to cherish forever?
• What value have I added by improving productivity at work? Could I think and innovate something promising in alignment with my organization's goals?
• What value have I added while guiding young students who look up to me? Could I inspire them so that they improve upon themselves?
• What value have I added in making this world a better place? Could I spread positiveness,  goodness and the message of integrity?

Bombay Times, Aug 4, 2012 | Source: TOI

These are the questions that run through my mind whenever I do some activity - personal and professional. Everyone has a purpose in life. Some want to earn lots of money, some want to shine among masses, and some want to  start something new. For me, since adolescence my deepest purpose has been to spread joy and happiness. I've written this in ink at many occasions, texted to friends and even expressed to close ones. And somewhere in this journey, I've begun to see the change. It's all happening! To me, there's no other joy than making someone else happy - be it for his/her life, careers, moment, event, just anything. There's some divine satisfaction in all this and trust me you feel very good at the end of the day when you see someone thank you over phone, email, blog or even through a simple tweet. Happiness does spread. And today when I picked up the newspaper from my doorstep I saw something that just flashed all this in my mind in no time. I couldn't believe how the front page of Bombay Times studied my mind and printed an ad campaign that exactly sums up what I've written above. So, on my 29th birthday once again Mission happiness begins today. In this post, I'll share some moments from my birthday which made it unique and special. Hope you guys enjoy it!


Family

Last night I was thinking about my Ammi and visualized that 29 years ago on August 3 (a day before my birthday) she must have been under extreme stress yet excitement that someone will come in her life. It must have been a special moment for my parents and relatives who were present there on that night. And then next day on a bright August 4 afternoon, I arrived. Now, I neither had any lightening bolt scar on my forehead neither not did I have an extra thumb in my hand, I was just another normal baby who entered this world to bring joy and happiness to our family. I think mission happiness started from Zero Hour only! Haha. My Ammi and Papa have always taken good care of me and my sister and have raised us very well. I have imbibed a lot of traits and values from my parents. It's like the foundation was set through them and then I headed to develop more in this big world. I am, and shall always be grateful to my parents for shaping me up this way. Couldn't have asked for more. I talked with my Papa at 4am before Sehri where I felt his warmth and he wished me success. Later, I talked to my Ammi in the morning and felt very good when she wished me. Now we live in different cities but I always remember how much effort she took in organizing those birthday parties when we were kids. A Mother's love is priceless and I always thank Allah for giving me my wonderful parents. They've added so much to my life and now that I've grown up, I cherish every moment spent with them and always look forward to giving something back which brings joy and happiness in our family.

Surprise gifts received from cousin M.

In June 2012, my Uncle, Aunty and cousins M and B had come from Abu Dhabi, UAE to India for a vacation. We went to Gir National Park, Indroda Park, Gandhinagar, watched movies, went to malls, played games like Hide-and-seek, Ludo and mini-Volleyball. We all enjoyed a lot and had an awesome time together.

Coming back, just moments before the clock struck midnight, someone knocked at our door and to my surprise there was a guy standing with a bouquet of flowers and a cake! I was stunned, like really? I asked him who sent it to which he didn't reply. So, I collected the flowers and the cake and opened the little card and found my cousin M's name on it. I went WOW! I couldn't believe that M had arranged this wonderful surprise for my birthday. This was truly unique and special. I was very delighted and touched by this surprise! I texted a 'Thank you!' The bouquet was absolutely fresh with a wonderful flower arrangement and the birthday cake was very soft and yummy. It was a good change from the regular 'chocolate' series.

As if this wasn't enough, just before midnight, my cousin connected through GTalk Video and got a cake at their place too. So as I cut the cake here, I & my sister ate here and they ate there! Now this is truly a case of Miss Budding Perfection surprising the Perfectionist himself! Haha. Indeed, a great start to my 29th birthday and I'll always cherish this 'magical' moment with my close ones.


Friends

The clock struck 12 and boom - I saw a flood of messages, calls, Facebook status updates to wish me on my birthday. I must have got a dozen messages (yea, SMS is outdated now) and calls from family and friends. On Facebook, I got 70+ status updated from my friends on my wall and some comments were remarkably touching. All were very good but I've picked the top 3 that I loved the most as they were written right from the heart which took me back in the respective time period. Some memories do stay forever.

Top 3 Facebook birthday status updates

Please note: I consider Facebook as my private space and am reluctant in accepting friend requests just to add to the count. I am very open and converse freely on other mediums like this blog, or on twitter and I hope you'll respect this fact. Thanks! (Sorry, if this sounded awkward). 

Batman T-shirt promo mail won me in no time!

While on one hand I was looking at Facebook for new status updates so that I could read and reply to them, I was also checking my Gmail and found one very smartly made direct marketing campaign. Now, as a Digital Marketing professional I understand how important it is to target the right person, at the right place, at the right time and bang - what do I see here? An emailer which is selling 'Batman' tees! Would I buy? Hell yeah! :D

It was impulsive but I loved it at first sight and couldn't resist. Must congratulate the agency for getting me in. Wonder if they really knew my Bat-abouts?! ;)


Twitter

If Facebook Friends wished me in good numbers, Twitter was not too behind. As my favorite superhero is the Batman, I donned the Batcap as my Display Picture on twitter for a day. It was funny, but a creative experience. 5 people called me Batman straight and that was cool! ^oo^

Twitter Profile showing my Batman DP ^oo^

I got a good 81 birthday related tweets from 48 individuals in 24 hours! Those who have been reading maktion or know me personally are aware how much I admire twitter for it has great power to transform the little and big things in life. You only need to know how? Twitter gives us a voice and helps us connect with folks with common interests. Now a time has come where I find my answers faster, and better on twitter in comparison with the trusted Google Search engine. All I can say today - twitter is here to stay and is revolutionizing making real-time. I can't pick a single tweet and say that it was the best but yes, there were a few which touched me and I've mentioned in the Storify board embedded below (see down).


Faasos

Meanwhile something interesting also happened in all this! Fasso's (Follow @Faasos), a wraps brand which I order a lot when my mind doesn't work on what to eat wished me on my birthday. Now, how often does it happen that a brand wishes you? I really liked it and humorously replied "Do I get s special Batwrap today (as my birthday gift)?" And, in no time Faasos asked me my number to identify the customer information and they actually sent me a Batwrap, especially for me! This felt so amazing, I just can't express in words. See the entire conversation and the Batwrap pic below:

Tweet conversation with Faasos, they gifted Batwraps to me!

Sometimes small things can make a big difference in our lives and I always had praise for Faasos. Highly recommend to try if you're in Mumbai.

So that's it, I think I had a great 29th birthday with a string on never-ending events one after the other. I leave you with my my birthday tweet story below. You can also view it on Storify at storify.com/arifkhan7/birthday-august4-2012 . And, if you want to stay connected, then do subscribe to my Storify page at storify.com/arifkhan7. I would love to hear from you on this entire post which I've written straight from my heart, do leave a comment below.

Till then,
Spread joy and happiness.
As always,
A.

August 4, 2012.

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About the Author:
Arif Khan is a Digital Marketing pro who blends creativity, analytics and social media to create digital experiences and achieve marketing effectiveness. He blogs on everything digital, creativity, education and personal notes. In his spare time, he likes interacting with students and likes to cook. More →
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Views on this blog are his own and do not reflect those of his employer.