Everybody Loves Arslan

No, let me make it clear in the outset, I do not plan to be boisterous.

It's nearly my twentieth birthday. Twenty-first for some. Nineteenth for others. Sigh. Why does everything have to turn into a mission?

Recently, I have been inundated by gestures of love and affection, from all around and from every direction. People I know often speak very highly of me, both while I am there and behind my back.

I must confess, it feels great.

To know that one of your teachers always enquires about you, makes an effort to call you and remember all important events in your life, is quite heart touching.

My mentees coming up to me and thanking me personally (when they, in the least, don't have to) for helping them sort out academic and their personal issues, is an extraordinary feeling.

My friends, who happen to be housemates, bringing me and my cheerful nature into their conversations, is both intriguing and satisfying.

Intriguing because, sometimes I fail to understand myself. Sometimes, I do not believe I have it all that deserves such ubiquitous plaudits from everywhere. After all, I don't try too hard to get people to like me.

I just act like myself.

I am not cool. I don't have the height. I don't have the looks. I don't own tonnes and tonnes of branded (artificial wants-creating) items. I don't usually have the coolest clothes. I own only one pair of sneakers. I know nothing about musical instruments, except when they sound good...and when they don't. I can't sing, or possess any of the other quantifiable forms of measuring talent.

So, of course, I am a little perplexed at all the attention I am getting. For all the right reasons, too.

Do I truly deserve such praises and high regard?

Do I deserve to be looked up to?

Am I the best person for advice?

I don't know. And probably, I'll never come to terms with it.

What I do know, on the other hand, is that I have great people around me. People, great enough to recognise me as something out of the ordinary. For making me feel special.

It is to these wonderful people in my immediate and otherwsie vicinity, that make my life worth living. Those meaningful thankyous. Those remarkably amazing words about me that often sound like an overstatement, yet are appreciated, always. And those tacit gestures. When you all say nothing, yet express to me how much you truly care.

In order to be loved, you need someone to love you.

If it were not for all of you, no body would have loved Arslan.

But, because you love Arslan, Arslan loves you back.

Thank you for being the great people that you are. I owe you the twenty fun-filled, unforgettable and beautiful years of my life.

P.S: I have just been subject to my very first proposal for marriage. Hilarious, I tell you.