I made my birthday Special

June 28, 2007, was supposed to be my special day, the day I was born according to the tithi 'lunar calendar'! The first ever birthday, I was going to spend very differently than my past ones. No puja, no 'Sagun' nothing. I got up a little late and sat for a while trying to gather the dream I had. I was not sure myself if I was expecting any birthday wish early in the morning but definitely I felt like my phone was ringing, my mobile was vibrating ...but it was not.... who would know!..nobody...all the people in my circle had already celebrated my official birthday on the records!

I felt I should do something extraordinary to mark the day. I felt like I should visit a temple and pray for myself. I thought it was not possible to find a temple inside AIT. But Whenever I went back to my room from my office, I had noticed a place having a small shade like of a temple which was close to a corner of the first crossroad on the way to my room. I did not know what it was till the day before when one of my thai colleague, Thapakorn, explained me about it. He ruled it out as temple as there was no monk. He thought probably the place was kept so that the thai people could pray to protect themselves from evil spirits by offering some drinks. He had told me one usually would go there, offer food and pray. So, I did not think anything else, just grabbed a small bottle of milk from fridge and went to that place to offer...I didn't know to whom I was going to offer but I felt I would at least pray for myself.

Amazingle the place was full of offerings and it was surprising to note that there were not puja, not ladoos, not flower and not even red powders. There were several small statues kept inside a small shade and they were statues of men and women wearing beautiful clothes. Lots of mineral water, coke, chocolates, biscuits and so many other foods were kept there as if these were going to be readily consumed anytime. I put my offering inside the shade and I did a quick pray and came back to my room. I was quite happy that I was able to pray in a temple. I did not know what kind of temple was that and also to which god it belonged to but I was walking with a peace in mind and feeling a kind of happiness. I thought to myself I really made my day Special!